**Senate Bill 1816 "National Women's Rights History Project Act"**

Testimony by Coline Jenkins, President of Elizabeth Cady Stanton Trust,

Senate Subcommittee on National Parks,

Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,

July 30, 2008, at 2:30 PM, Dirksen Building, Room 366

I am Coline Jenkins, a resident of Old Greenwich, Connecticut, and the
president of the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Trust. I am the great-great
granddaughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of America's foremost leaders of the
women's suffrage movement. In 1848, she publicly called for women's
right to vote. Later, in 1878, she appeared before the Senate Committee
on Privileges and Elections. In 1892, she appeared before the House
Judiciary Committee. At both hearings, she supported the passage of
women's suffrage and the expansion of women's rights.

Today, in this hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks, I
come before you in support of Senate Bill 1816 -- the creation of a
women's rights history trail, its inclusion in the National Registry,
and its support by state historic preservation offices across the
country. Back in the 1800's, when Elizabeth appeared before both the
Senate and the House, the committee members had bigger fish to fry. They
were struggling with the issues of nation building. Were we, as a
nation, going to extend rights to 51% of the population -- women -- or
were women, particularly those who married, to lack fundamental legal
rights, as dictated by the traditions of English common law?

Since women were American citizens, Stanton argued, they also should
enjoy the ultimate right of citizenship - the right to vote!

Stanton would never live to see that right enshrined in the Constitution
with the passage of the 19^th^ Amendment in 1920. My mother, Rhoda
Barney Jenkins, was born one month before its passage; she died last
summer on the eve of August 25, the day Congress granted women the vote
87 years earlier. My mother's life is a measurement of women's rights
progress.

This bill, too, is a crucial and necessary step in honoring our national
history.

We cannot understand the present without understanding our past. The
struggle to gain full citizenship for women is called "America's
Greatest Bloodless Revolution." It was a war unlike most American wars.
The women's rights bloodless revolution lasted 72 years. The first
cannon shot of this revolution was fired with words in 1848 at the First
Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. The first shot was
the public reading of the women's Declaration of Sentiments. It was
modeled on the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson,
72 years earlier in 1776. At this first Women's Rights Convention,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton rose to the dais to speak these words:

> "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men AND WOMEN are
> created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
> unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit
> of Happiness."

More than 125 years later, I visited my great-great grandmother's home
in Seneca Falls, in the early 1970s. By then her house had been secured
by a private foundation. While in Seneca Falls, I decided to also visit
the site of the first Women's Rights Convention, held at the Wesleyan
Chapel. Upon arrival, it was obvious the chapel had been converted into
a laundromat. From outward appearances, one would never know this
building was the birthplace of a blueprint that led to the greatest
bestowal of democratic freedoms in the history of the United States. A
blueprint that enlarged the freedoms of 51% of the population by
touching on voting rights, access to higher education and professions,
as well as other freedoms. In my mind, I heard the voice of Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, saying, "It is wonderful the republic has done as well as
it has when it has used only half of its resources."

When I inserted my quarters into a washing machine, I said to myself,
this is amazing that I, a citizen of the United States, am washing my
dirty clothes in one of America's most historically significant sites. I
realized the neglect of the building was the equivalent of putting a
laundromat inside Independence Hall at Philadelphia. I knew then, it was
a matter of time before America woke up to honor this site and other
important sites. As my clothes were spinning, my consciousness was
rising.

During the past forty years, since my first visit to Seneca Falls, I
have witnessed the creation of many milestones there, including the
establishment of Women's Rights National Historical Park, one of seven
parks, out of 391 units in the National Park system, that is
specifically dedicated to commemorating some aspect of women's history.
I have witnesses the establishment of The National Women's Hall of Fame.
I have witnessed the purchase of the M'Clintock House, where the
Declaration of Sentiments was written; and the Hunt House, where
revolution was fomented with talk and a teaspoon. Both houses are parts
of Women's Rights Historical National Park. The list of milestones in
Seneca Falls goes on and on in the campaign to breathe life back into
the people and places that made this an epicenter of the expansion of
American democracy.

It's important to note that the park service did not spend a dime on
acquisition of these sites. Furthermore, the bill before you has no
authority for land acquisition.

A crowning moment for me came in 1998 at the 150th Anniversary of the
first women's rights convention. Who would imagine that the celebration
of legal rights would attract 20,000 people in just one day to this
national park? What a pleasure to see such a dry subject -- legal
rights - become a rock star.

Now there exists a marvelous synergy between these national park
buildings and neighboring sites, such as the Harriet Tubman Home and the
Susan B. Anthony House, both owned by non-profits and open to the
public. Today, with the passage of this Bill, we link these sites to
others across the nation, where women made history. We will ensure that
women's rights history will not evaporate.

The significance of women's history is captured by Edith Mayo, Curator
Emeritus of the Smithsonian -- The Political History Division of the
Museum of American History. Curator Mayo said, "Women need to see
themselves as actors and participants in American history. \...There is
a very crucial connection between being visible with your history in the
past and empowering yourself in the present and the future." The same
can be said for all American citizens, as our society is based on "*E
pluribus unum.*"

The specifics of Senate Bill 1816 build on this belief.

This bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to establish a
commemorative trail in connection with the existing Women's Rights
National Historical Park. It would create an auto route across upper New
York State that would link other properties historically and
thematically associated with the struggle for women's rights.
Practically speaking, the auto route will include uniform signage, maps,
educational handbooks, interpretive guides and websites. This
legislation does not authorize any land acquisition, but it links sites,
both privately and publicly owned. The legislation would assure that all
sites on the tour have verifiable connections to the expansion of
women's rights.

The second piece of this legislation recognizes that, while upper New
York State is the site of the first phase of the struggle, the national
as a whole granted women their rights. Thus the second piece of the
legislation would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to make annual
grants for up to five years to assist State historic preservation
offices in surveying, evaluating and nominating women's rights history
properties to the National Register of Historic Places. This Registry
would thus become the foundation of an overarching project called "The
National Women's Rights History Project National Registry."

As an aside, many states have already amassed information, on a parallel
course with this proposed legislation, such as Arizona, which has an
excellent web site called The Arizona Women's Heritage Trail;
[www.womensheritagetrail.org](http://www.womensheritagetrail.org/).

Other states have been active in documenting women\'s history. This
relatively inexpensive legislation will help fuel tourism in your states
of Hawaii, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Louisiana, Wyoming,
Colorado, Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon, Vermont and Montana -- all states
packed with women's rights history.

Regarding Bill S-1816, the Secretary of the Interior will authorize the
update of the existing website, "Places Where Women Made History." The
website currently provides travel itineraries based on geographic areas
and themes related to women's rights. Finally, authorization would be
given to make matching grants and give technical assistance to
governmental and non-governmental entities to develop interpretive and
educational programs.

In closing, testifying before Congress is one of the greatest privileges
of my life. Women did not start out as equal citizens, but our system of
government enabled them to achieve that status with its guaranteed
rights of free speech, assembly, and the right to petition government.
It enabled my great-great grandmother to come before Congress; it has
given me the honor of coming before you, the representatives of "We, the
People." Yet I leave with a warning. The 19^th^ Amendment, which was
called the "Susan B. Anthony Amendment," was introduced 41 years to
Congress before it was passed. That is a very long time to wait.

I encourage you to pass Bill S-1816 before the close of the 110^th^
Congress that I understand adjourns in late September. If not, I will
return, for as Susan B. Anthony said, "Failure is impossible!"