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Is the ERA momentum taking a back seat?
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Happy March and Women’s History Month! Activism is urgent NOW!
NEWS FLASH:
The House and Senate have introduced new joint resolutions affirming the validity of the Equal Rights Amendment (HJ Res 25 and SJ Res 4), and there will be a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing sometime soon, followed by a vote.
According to the ERA Coalition, there are a lot of moving pieces to all of this, but the most important piece is YOU! Call your members of Congress and send them messages asking them to sign as cosponsors of the new resolutions! Write an OpEd to your local paper, explaining the need for the ERA and why it’s so important.
Special thanks to those visionaries of a different generation and today who have believed in women’s history so much that they created the month of March to celebrate. They are continuing the work and passing a torch to others who are moving the work forward. Tens of thousands of volunteers from many backgrounds worked within limitations and passed a torch to future generations. The dedication and persistence continues.
SuffrageCentennials.com is focusing on an equal rights amendment passed and placed into the US Constitution. The women in the United States have been working on an ERA for 100 years.
SuffrageCentennials.com has been publishing since 2013.
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Hearing on an equal rights amendment to the US Constitution today…
2023…US women have been working nonviolently for 100 years for an equal rights amendment to the US Constitution. You can watch online and take in the process. It’s easy to throw good money into weapons. It’s uphill to insist on making progress nonviolently. Women and children are targeted as servants in this nation. Let’s keep these equality issues alive!
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Tune into the legislative hearing about the Equal Rights Amendment. . .
Go to the web platform for the ERA Coalition to click through to the hearing.
SuffrageCentennials.com has been publishing since 2013. US women have been working for an equal rights amendment to the US Constitution for 100 years.
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Happy Valentine’s Day from SuffrageCentennials.com with reflections from Marguerite Kearns
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Here’s a film by director Sarah Polley that will be streaming soon. It’s a must see.
by Marguerite Kearns
Just to publish the book, An Unfinished Revolution: Edna Buckman Kearns and the Struggle for Women’s rights, was a major accomplishment due to the research and work involved in telling the tale of one family. It’s very relevant now that ERA advocates are lining up support for a new round of legislation.
Several years ago I made an audio podcast for KSFR public radio in Santa Fe (2015) to ask what New Mexico’s elected officials think about the ERA momentum. It’s fascinating to hear what they had to say then. Are our representatives’ names on the current legislation sponsoring a change in the ERA time requirements. I wrote to find out what is happening. Here’s what they had to say in the past.
https://www.ksfr.org/ksfr-local/2015-09-23/sept-23-equal-rights-amendment-to-us-constitution-has-strong-support-in-new-mexico
I made it clear in the introduction to my 2021 book from SUNY Press in Albany, NY that I was not writing a researched account of all the campaigning and individuals going back to the start of the nation who felt compelled to support or oppose an extension of women’s rights.
I wrote about what intersected with my family, as well as what others told me about my grandparents and their ups and downs relative to their condition at the turn of the 20th century through 1920.
THE INVESTMENT AND THE SATISFACTION INVOLVED
This effort in terms of one branch of my family took tens of thousands of hours of consulting and researching with my mother when she was alive. I gathered as much content as possible from others with basic knowledge, and I never had funding or suport from a grant or academic position. The work adapted to our respective schedules.
When I realized around 1996 that my mother had a different editorial agenda than I did, I set the project aside. We clashed over whether or not the story about my grandmother’s first menstrual period in 1895 should be included in the account. I believed it was important. My mother worried over what others might think.
Automobiles in the Suffrage Movement on Vimeo. With thanks to Ken Florey.
I WASN’T ABLE THEN TO PROBE THE BOUNDARIES AND NUANCES
I kept the subject matter limited when I wrote about my family. Even then, it’s an approximation of what happened. I did not live during the period from 1900 to 1920. When I was ten years old, none of the teachers or students at my school ever heard the word “suffrage.” My efforts represented a coming of age for me, more related to the widespread perception that the women of the nation were boring, as was their history. From what I knew, the extension of rights was uphill and time consuming.
I figured that I could, at least, focus on my family in anything I wrote. I couldn’t address foreign policy, patriarchy, racism, or other issues that may have been relevant along the way. The only thing interesting me at age ten was my zeal in finding out about my grandmother Edna who died in 1934, before I was born. I felt insecure about being the family historian. I didn’t believe I had the necessary skills. Other family members came before me with the genealogy research and the amount of effort associated with managing the finances and actions.
I published the book. It could have been better. It would have been worse if I had done nothing. I find that few people today know much or care about this part of history, especially since the 2020 suffrage centennial. I have, therefore, shifted my focus to today.
WHAT IS STILL TRUE TODAY IN TERMS OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS
In 2023, US women will have been working for an equal rights amendment to the US Constitution for 100 years.
Yes, I care whether or not the New York State Museum places my grandmother’s suffrage campaign wagon on permanent exhibit in the years ahead. Yes, I am delighted at the amount of attention given to women’s history over the past decade. It is a major step forward. My writing has uncovered insights about myself and family I never fully realized, even though many of the revelations could be traced to the landscape right in front of my face.
I am finished with the book. It exists. Many people pitched in and assisted me over time. I hope I gave the story the importance it deserves. The next step is to pass the torch to the future. We Americans have done an admirable job of uncovering the diversity of those who participated. The “why” is less well known without probing and immersing one’s self in mystery and the unknown.
I TRY TO BE DETACHED AND KEEP AN EMOTIONAL DISTANCE—I CAN’T.
These are concerns that others may share with me. And there are other nuances that may never be known. This is a limitation for everyone who studies and comes to know about the past. Even scholars may not have a full grasp of what it may have been like to face injustice and take appropriate action during that era.
I hope this gives others some of the difficulty in writing and producing my first book. At a certain point, I am exhausted and thankful the content has two covers. That is all I can think of in terms of responding to what may have once been a passion. This is true, just as much as the satisfaction I experience when crossing it off of my “to do” list.
A PART OF HISTORY THAT NEEDS FRESH EYES AND PERSPECTIVES
I had a direct connection to a part of history the professionals and “experts” claim to know all about by reading books. I did my best in.relating how my limited knowledge and experience was nourished by my family members and how this impacted my life. The main thing is that my grandmother Edna influenced four generations in my family. She passed on her spirit to my mother, me, and others.
For this, I am grateful.
We have sent another LETTER TO SENATE MAJORITY LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER…to get him paying attention to the reminders to make an equal rights amendment to the US Constitution possible in 2023. Let’s get the ratification time limit restrictions onto the Senate floor for a vote!
SuffrageCententennials.com published almost a decade with only the efforts of volunteers.
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The old wagon spirit INCLUDES “Sylvia’s Suggestions”
This is what Sylvia Ramos has to say about the ERA—
At the end of January, two identical resolutions were introduced in Congress. H.J.Res.25 and S.J.Res.4, to affirm the validity of the Equal Rights Amendment (“ERA”) as the 28th Amendment. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings in next few weeks.
None of our Senators or Representatives in NM are listed as cosponsors of the Joint Resolutions. Please email, send postcards and write on their congressional websites asking them to do so.
And email/send postcard to Senator Murkowski thanking her for her support.
A SUMMARY OF WHAT IS GOING ON…
H.J.Res.25 — 118th Congress (2023-2024)Removing the deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment. Sponsor: Pressley, Ayanna [Rep.-D-MA-7] (Introduced 01/31/2023) Cosponsors: (137) Committees: House – Judiciary Latest Action: House – 01/31/2023 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. (All Actions)
S.J.Res.4 — 118th Congress (2023-2024) A joint resolution removing the deadline for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Sponsor: Cardin, Benjamin L. [Sen.-D-MD] (Introduced 01/24/2023) Cosponsors: (1) Latest Action: Senate – 01/25/2023 Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 3. (All Actio Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska is the only cosponsor. Email Lisa (senate.gov)
For more info: Equal Means Equal Contact your Senators: New Mexico
Thanks.
Sylvia
Sylvia Ramos Cruz
Sylvia M. Ramos, M.D.
PO Box 7398
Albuquerque NM 87194
Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. Equal Rights Amendment- ratified by the 38th state in 2020, Centennial of Woman Suffrage in the US.
and here’s a reminder of the old wagon that inspires our spurts of energy. . .
Ode to the Spirit of 1776 suffrage campaign wagon! on Vimeo.
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February is a terrific month for an ERA…new legislation introduced!
FROM: cwest@eracoalition.org
Washington, DC –– Following the news that Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives and Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced a bipartisan resolution in the Senate to remove the time limit on ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment.
Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment in January of 2020, thus fulfilling all constitutional requirements set forth in Article V. However, Congress arbitrarily inserted a seven-year time limit for ratification with a three-year extension when it proposed and passed the ERA in 1972. Even though the ERA has met all the constitutional requirements for an amendment, making it both valid and enforceable today, it has yet to be published as part of the Constitution. To eliminate any doubt that the ERA is now the 28th Amendment to the Constitution, Congress should vote to support the joint resolutions proposed today affirming the Equal Rights Amendment and removing the arbitrary time limit.
The date of January 27, 2022 ended a two-year waiting period for the ERA to go into effect after meeting all the constitutional requirements. The Attorneys General in two of the last three states to ratify the ERA, Nevada and Illinois, are suing the U.S. Archivist to force publication of the ERA to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA Coalition will continue pursuing all avenues to push for full recognition.
BACKGROUND AND THE ROLE OF SuffrageCentennials.com
We’re a member of the ERA Coalition, a group that’s acutely aware of the fact that 2023 is the 100th anniversary of US women working for an equal rights amendment to the US Constitution.
An article in Ms. Magazine delivered a truckload of caution the other day about believing passage of legislation designed to lift the time limits is right around the corner. An article published 1/31/2023 by Roxy Szal says that Republican Party elected representatives are opposed and many in the US Senate are part of an effort to stall any movement forward.
Is there any hope? Miracles can still happen.
TWO PARAGRAPHS OF AN ARTICLE IN MS.MAGAZINE
Some highlights of the Ms.Magazine article:
Suffrage centennials didn’t come about by accident! on Vimeo.
SuffrageCentennials.com has been publishing since 2013.
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February 2023, here we go out the door for an ERA! Women’s right to vote didn’t come easy either. . .
Over one hundred years ago, the right to vote for women was uphill. In 1923 a draft of a US equal rights amendment was submitted to the national legislatures for approval. This year—2023—is the 100th-year observance of this occasion. Will another year pass without an equal rights amendment for everyone installed in the US Constitution. It is what ties the present generation, mine, to my grandmother’s.
The effort on this end is tied to those who came before us, and we’re carrying the torch of freedom by passing the torch to a new generation that’s praising the effort and carrying on the work.
Support Permanent Exhibition of the “Spirit of 1776” suffrage wagon at the NYS Museum! on Vimeo.
SuffrageCentennials has been publishing since 2013.
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This is the 100th year for a US constitutional Equal Rights Amendment!
100 years ago Alice Paul was obsessed with the idea of an equal rights amendment to the US constitution. US women are carrying on the struggle more than 100 years later.
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Join the ERA Coalition and check on the progress of an Equal Rights Amendment
We’re impatient. In 2023 women in the US have been working on an equal rights amendment to the US Constitution for 100 years.
Let’s make it happen.
We here at SuffrageCentennials.com support the US Congress in delivering equal rights to all citizens.
Join the ERA Coalition.
So many of us are involved.
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