On Tuesday, August 18, 2020, Congressman Al Green released the following statement in commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment:

"Today, as we proudly celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment’s ratification and the efforts of the suffragettes we learned about in school such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, we must not forget the valiant efforts of others like Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell who helped to make women’s right to vote a reality as well. Each of these women adamantly pursued voting rights to prove that American women, like men, deserved the rights and duties of citizenship,” Congressman Al Green stated.

“While we applaud the white women who organized and led women across the country in courageous protests campaigning for their right to vote, we must shine a light on women of color who were wrongfully shooed from the frontlines of the movement but made significant contributions to achieving this right, though it would be denied to them for several decades more."

Congressman Green continued, “Although a momentous occasion, women achieved the right to vote 144 years after the United States’ conception and this right was delayed even longer for women of color who were relegated to the shadows of the movement as they continued to fight for their own right to vote. These brave women unabashedly fought for inclusion and intersectionality; their revolutionary work paved the way for suffrage eventually granted to women of color.”

“Today, we still see women of color, like Dolores Huerta, Stacey Abrams, and Alice Wong, advocating for fair and just elections as well as combatting voter suppression that disproportionately impacts marginalized communities"

Congressman Green added, “We are at the crossroads of an historic glimpse in time, as we celebrate this centennial anniversary on the heels of the announcement of the first woman of color as a vice presidential nominee for a major political party. We must not allow this moment to be diminished to symbolism. In this moment – here and now, we must march on in pursuit of systemic and lasting change in voting rights for all eligible Americans as well as gender and racial equity in all facets of American life. Our fight is not won until we do so.”