Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) speaks during a news conference to announce a joint resolution to affirm the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment on Capitol Hill on Jan. 31, 2023. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images) |
BY BONNIE STABILE | Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) convened an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Centennial Reception Exhibit at the Library of Congress on Dec. 6—one week before of the 100th anniversary of the Equal Rights Amendment’s first introduction in the House of Representatives by Susan B. Anthony’s nephew in 1923.
As ERA Caucus co-chairs, Bush and Pressley saw the reception especially as “an opportunity to highlight the history and pay tribute to the Black and brown women who have been at the forefront of the ERA fight yet were seldom recognized,” according to Bush’s digital press secretary Karla Santillan—echoing their intention for the Caucus’ founding in March of this year.
The exhibit featured artifacts from the century-long struggle to pass the ERA: photographs and documents of milestones and movement leaders, including Mary Church Terrell, Shirley Chisholm, Coretta Scott King, Patsy Mink and Barbara Jordan. Attendees, including ERA Caucus members and advocacy group leaders, had the opportunity to “sift through the pages of history while making history,” said Pressley, as they prepared for the march and rally planned for Dec. 13 in the nation’s capital.
The artifacts on display were part of the Library of Congress’ National Women’s Party (NWP) records. NWP originated in the struggle for women’s suffrage early in the 20th century and turned its focus to passing the Equal Rights Amendment once suffrage was achieved through the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.
The ERA Centennial Reception Exhibit was part of the ERA Caucus’ efforts that Bush described as setting “its own organizing table.”
“We’re not asking people to do their homework,” Bush said. “We’re providing them with information, we’re providing them opportunities to meet with those that are organizing on the issue, historians, activists, leaders in the space to make it easier for them to be able to speak to it in their districts, but also to be able to work with their state legislators on it.”
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