Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument
- Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument
A monument to the history of women's equality in the United States on Tuesday will become the latest addition to the National Park System, as President Obama will officially sign the necessary documents under the Antiquities Act to establish the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument in Washington, D.C.
The site has been known as the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, which has been emblematic of the mission to advance women’s rights throughout the 20th century.
The president will be joined Tuesday -- which happens to be Equal Pay Day -- by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to mark the occasion. President Obama has made equal pay a top priority in his administration, taking a number of steps to fight for pay equity and annually recognizing through Equal Pay Day that women should earn wages equal to their male colleagues.
“The Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument will honor and forever remind us of the risk, the work and the dedication of those who gathered in this house to fight for women’s equality. We must never forget their hard-fought struggle for the right to vote and equal rights for women under the law," said Secretary Jewell in a release issued Monday. “This designation memorializes the efforts of the National Women’s Party into a permanent piece of history, preserving the treasures of their work in these walls for the benefit of future generations. The timing could not be more symbolic as we mark National Equal Pay Day, an important reminder that women are still fighting for equality today."
Additionally, businessman and philanthropist David M. Rubenstein has contributed $1 million to the National Park Foundation’s Centennial Campaign for America’s National Parks to repair and restore the building for future generations. This is Mr. Rubenstein’s fourth gift to the $350 million campaign, the largest fundraising effort in the Foundation’s history. Google has also announced that it is creating an Expedition, a virtual tour of the monument, to enable schools – no matter where they are – to tour this important historic landmark. Expeditions is a new product that allows teachers to take their classes on virtual field trips, immersing students in experiences that bring abstract concepts to life and giving students a deeper understanding of the world beyond the classroom.
Located on Capitol Hill, the Sewall-Belmont House – as the property has been known since its designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1974 – contains a museum, library, and extensive collections and archives associated with the National Woman’s Party (NWP), its founder Alice Paul, and the mission to advance women's suffrage and equal rights throughout the 20th century. From this house, Ms. Paul rewrote the Equal Rights Amendment, which became known as the “Alice Paul Amendment," and led the fight for its passage in Congress. Paul and the NWP advocated tirelessly for women’s political, social, and economic equality, not just in the United States, but internationally.
The site will be managed by the National Park Service in cooperation with the National Women’s Party.
“We are honored to be entrusted with the stewardship of Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument as the newest unit of the National Park System," said Director Jon Jarvis. “The National Woman’s Party and the National Park Service were both created in 1916. As we celebrate our centennial anniversary this year, we are dedicated to sharing this monument to women’s equality with future generations."
Efforts to protect the former Sewall Belmont House date back to the early 1970s, and more recently proposals to include the site in the National Park System have garnered Congressional support – including bipartisan legislation introduced by Senator Barbara Mikulski – as well as strong support from local elected officials, community leaders, women’s organizations, conservation groups and historians. The Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument becomes the ninth unit of the National Park System devoted to women’s history and an important part of the National Park Service’s efforts to tell the stories of women’s contributions to U.S. history and culture.
New additions to the National Park System can be accomplished by an act of Congress or by presidential designation. The first step in that process is frequently a National Park Service study, like the one completed last year for Belmont-Paul National Monument. In Congress, a bill can be introduced to designate an area as a national park unit. That bill must then be approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, then signed into law by the president.
A unit of the National Park System can also be created through the use of the Antiquities Act, which allows the president to designate a site as a national monument. Since the enactment of the Antiquities Act by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, 16 presidents have used the authority to protect unique natural and historic features in America, such as the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, Colorado's Canyons of the Ancients and more than 140 national monuments. Later, Congress has often revisited these areas and re-designated them as national parks or other types of National Park System units. Almost half of the national parks in the National Park System today were first protected as national monuments under the Antiquities Act.
Chat rooms • What links here • Copyright info • Contact information • Category:Root