Title: Recognizing the heritage, culture, and contributions of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women in the United States.
Policy area: Native Americans

Summary:
This resolution celebrates and honors the successes of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women and recognizes that policy and societal changes are needed to ensure these women can live safely and freely to realize their full potential.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 173 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 173

   Recognizing the heritage, culture, and contributions of American 
 Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 5, 2019

Ms. Haaland (for herself, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. Cole, Mrs. Carolyn 
 B. Maloney of New York, Mr. Case, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Heck, Ms. Gabbard, 
  Mr. Larsen of Washington, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. 
Speier, Mr. O'Halleran, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Moore, Mr. Green of Texas, 
   Mr. Lujan, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Young, and Mr. Correa) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Recognizing the heritage, culture, and contributions of American 
 Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women in the United States.

Whereas the United States celebrates National Women's History Month every March 
        to recognize and honor the achievements of women throughout the history 
        of the United States;
Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women have helped 
        shape the history of the United States since before its inception;
Whereas drawing on many Tribes and Native Nations' matriarchal practices, 
        American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women played an 
        important role in influencing early suffragettes in their advocacy, 
        ultimately leading to the passage of the 19th Amendment granting women 
        the right to vote;
Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women have broken 
        glass ceilings in the fields of science, technology, and engineering, 
        including--

    (1) Mary Golda Ross (Cherokee Nation), who was the first female 
engineer in the history of Lockheed Corporation, worked on the Agena Rocket 
program and other interplanetary space travel as an aerospace engineer and 
was recently honored on a special $1 United States coin;

    (2) Floy Agnes Lee (Santa Clara Pueblo), who worked on the Manhattan 
Project during World War II and pioneered research on radiation biology and 
cancer; and

    (3) Isabella Kauakea Yau Yung Aiona Abbott (Native Hawaiian), who was 
the first woman on the biological sciences faculty at Stanford University, 
and was awarded the Gilbert Morgan Smith medal from the National Academy of 
Sciences in 1997;

Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women activists led 
        the fight for civil rights, including Elizabeth Peratrovich (Tlingit 
        Nation), whose advocacy led to the passage of the first 
        antidiscrimination law in the United States;
Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women have worked 
        tirelessly for legal advances for American Indian, Alaska Native, and 
        Native Hawaiian people despite real barriers in the legal profession, 
        including--

    (1) Eliza ``Lyda'' Conley (Wyandot Nation), the first Native plaintiff 
to present a case before the Supreme Court in 1909;

    (2) Emma Kailikapiolono Metcalf Beckley Nakuina (Native Hawaiian) who 
served as the first female judge in Hawaii; and

    (3) Diane Humetewa (Hopi Tribe), the first Native American woman to 
serve as a Federal court judge;

Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women have served on 
        their respective Tribal Councils, court judges, and leaders, including 
        Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee), the first woman elected to serve as 
        Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, who fought for her Tribe;
Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women serve in the 
        medical profession, stretching back to Susan La Flesche Picotte (Omaha 
        Tribe), who was the first American Indian/Alaska Native person to earn a 
        medical degree in 1889;
Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women have long 
        contributed to the arts and culture of the United States, including 
        Maria Tallchief (Osage Nation), who was the first prima ballerina of the 
        New York City Ballet in 1942 and later a recipient of a Lifetime 
        Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center;
Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women have 
        accomplished notable literary achievements, including author Sarah 
        Winnemucca Hopkins (Northern Paiute) who wrote and published one of the 
        first Native American autobiographies in 1883;
Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women have been key 
        to efforts of culture and language, including Esther Martinez (Ohkay 
        Owingeh Pueblo), who persevered to ensure the continuation of the Tewa 
        language and whose legacy is honored in the ``Esther Martinez Native 
        American Languages Preservation Act'';
Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women have served 
        and continue to serve the country in the military, with over 6,000 
        American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women in active 
        service;
Whereas there are currently 28,000 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native 
        Hawaiian women veterans;
Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women overcame 
        significant historical barriers to women's enlistment in the military, 
        including Minnie Spotted Wolf (Blackfeet Nation), the first Native 
        American woman in the United States Marine Corps in 1943;
Whereas American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women struggle for 
        equity and are paid just 63 cents for every dollar paid to White men;
Whereas more than 4 in 5 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian 
        women have experienced violence in their lifetime, and more than half of 
        American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women have 
        experienced sexual violence; and
Whereas despite significant challenges including the chronic lack of Federal 
        funding in Indian Country and unequal pay, disparities in education, 
        unmet health care needs, and civil rights violations, American Indian, 
        Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women continue to break through and 
        thrive: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) celebrates and honors the successes of American Indian, 
        Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women and the contributions 
        they have made and continue to make to the United States;
            (2) recognizes that policy and societal changes are needed 
        to ensure that American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native 
        Hawaiian women live safely and freely and can realize their 
        full potential; and
            (3) urges the United States Government and Congress to 
        uphold its trust responsibility to American Indian, Alaska 
        Native, and Native Hawaiian women and to all Indian Tribes.
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