06-R 124

2006 -- H 7874

Enacted 03/14/06

 

H O U S E  R E S O L U T I O N

CELEBRATING MARCH, 2006 AS "WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH" IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

     

     

     Introduced By: Representatives Rice, Giannini, Diaz, E Coderre, and Dennigan

     Date Introduced: March 14, 2006

 

     

     WHEREAS, Throughout the history of this great state and the nation, women have

pursued just and noble goals, significantly impacting on the very bedrock of our history. Women

faced a unique set of obstacles in having their views recognized and managing work and family,

but had the foresight and initiative to imagine the future's possibilities while still handling the

enormity of their day-to-day responsibilities. They challenged gender barriers, fought inequality,

won the right to vote, overcame job discrimination and gave birth to a more enlightened world;

and

     WHEREAS, Women such as Rhode Island’s founding mother, Anne Hutchinson, who,

after being banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony for her views on religious freedom and

gender equality, helped to settle Aquidneck Island in 1637. This great woman was considered a

rebel for voicing an alternate view of religion and promoting equality against a male-dominated

society, whose law was based on church doctrine. She did this over a century before our

"founding fathers" and at a time when women were chattel, and questioning the church was

unlawful. Her efforts helped to form the cornerstone of Rhode Island’s and America's historic

acceptance and equality for the numerous religious beliefs and various cultures that make this

country so great; and

     WHEREAS, Elizabeth Buffum Chace, often referred to as "the conscience of Rhode

Island," in 1806-1899 subsequently battled slavery, fought for women's suffrage and defended

mill workers' rights; and abolitionist Christiana Carteaux Bannister, who in 1820-1902

subsequently spent her life battling social inequities and prejudice, rose to become a successful

entrepreneur and philanthropist; and

     WHEREAS, More recently, the late retired Supreme Court Justice, Florence Murray was

a pioneer for women. She was a former legislator and in 1978 she was Rhode Island's first

female Chief Judge of the Superior Court, and in November 1999 she was the first woman to

become a member of the Rhode Island Supreme Court; and Senator Lila M. Sapinsley was the

first female Minority Leader in Rhode Island; and the late Honorable Eleanor F. Slater was a

former Rhode Island State Representative and State Senator, who contributed significantly to

Rhode Island's elderly and fair housing laws, known as a true "Grande Dame" of Rhode Island

Democratic politics; and

     WHEREAS, Our foremothers have often been unsung heroines, who sacrificed and

endured immense hardships in order to build a robust and equitable nation, and their efforts have

paved the way for all women, in every walk of life, to succeed and be recognized; and

     WHEREAS, Women's accomplishments in sports, industry and the arts, such as Mary

Katherine Goddard and her widowed mother, who became publishers of the Providence Gazette

newspaper, making her the first woman publisher in America; Mary Kies, the first woman to

receive a patent; Elizabeth Blackwell, the first women to receive a medical degree in the United

States; Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first black woman to receive an M.D. degree; Arabella

Mansfield, the first women granted admission to practice law, making her the first woman

lawyer; Edith Wharton, the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction; Gertrude Ederle, the

first woman to swim across the English Channel; Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo

across the Atlantic; Muriel "Mickey" Siebert, the first woman to own a seat on the New York

Stock Exchange; Pearl S. Buck, the first women to receive the noble prize in literature; Rosa

Parks, whose brave refusal to yield her seat on a bus ignited the civil rights movement; and Diane

Crump, the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby, have helped to strengthen and

enrich this nation; and

     WHEREAS, Great women in government such as Victoria Claflin Woodhull, who was

the first woman presidential candidate in the United States; Susanna Medora Salter, the first

woman elected mayor of an American town; Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to be elected to

the U.S. House of Representatives; and Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman Justice to the

Supreme Court have all helped to mold and shape our democracy; and

     WHEREAS, Let us also never forget all the brave Rhode Island women, and women

across America, who have and are serving in the United States military, facing grave dangers, and

whose actions are courageous and noble beyond words; and

     WHEREAS, Women have thoroughly encompassed every undertaking, advancement,

and triumph, historically and currently attained in this country, and the magnificent women from

Rhode Island's past played a major role in sculpting Rhode Island's history. They are all truly

deserving of our recognition and praise; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

Providence Plantations hereby recognizes the month of March, 2006 as "Women’s History

Month" and proclaims such in the State of Rhode Island. We invite the citizens of the state to

join us in celebrating the myriad of contributions women have made in our state and nation's

history; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the League of Women Voters, the Rhode Island

Commission on Women, the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Organization of Women, and

the Rhode Island General Assembly Women's Caucus.

     

=======

LC02767

=======