Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) released the following statement after the bipartisan Women’s Suffrage National Monument Location Act, which she introduced with Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), was signed into law. This bill will ensure that the Women’s Suffrage National Monument is located on the National Mall.
“Tennessee has played a critical role in the women’s suffrage fight since we became the 36th and final state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment – granting women the right to vote,” said Senator Blackburn. “As the Volunteer State’s first female United States Senator, I’m pleased that the women who pioneered the way for future generations, like Susan B. Anthony, will finally receive the recognition they deserve on the National Mall.”
Background in Women's Suffrage
- For more than 100 years, the National Mall has honored our national history. Among the 40 monuments on the Mall are 22 monuments dedicated to individual men, 10 to military history and veterans, 3 to foreign relations, 2 to private organizations, 1 to U.S. postal history, 1 to the history of the United States’ canals, and 1 to the history of horses on the Mall.
- Not one of these 40 monuments is dedicated to American women.
- In 2020, legislation passed to create the Women’s Suffrage National Monument on federal lands in Washington, D.C., but it did not authorize construction of the monument on the National Mall.
- A specific act of Congress is required to place a new commemorative work or visitor center on the National Mall. The monument will commemorate the women’s suffrage movement and the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted women the right to vote.
- The 19th Amendment was first ratified in Wisconsin and last ratified in Tennessee.
This legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).
CLICK HERE to see the full text of the BILL
