[December 13, 2023] On the 100-year anniversary of the ERA’s initial introduction in the House of Representatives, members of a number of organizations from across the country joined national ERA Coalition leaders at Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., and marched down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the U.S. Capitol. Along the way, they stopped at the U.S. Justice Department and at the National Archives to make their voices heard for certification of the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Enroute, the marchers chanted, “It has been 100 years – not one more!”

Representatives Cori Bush (MO), Ayanna Pressley (MA) and Jennifer McClellan (VA) joined the marchers at the National Archives. Congresswoman Bush gave a passionate speech that highlighted the work of women of color in the fight for equality and urging her fellow members of Congress to affirm the ERA.

LWVAAC member Susan Crawford, who also serves as program chair for the AA County Branch of the Association of American University Women (AAUW), joined with LWVUS leaders and staff at the Capitol press conference. Speakers included: LWVUS CEO Virginia Kase Solomón; AAUW CEO Gloria L. Blackwell; former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D- NY), who now chairs the ERA Coalition Board; former Congresswomen (D-NY) Eleanor Smeal, Co-founder and President of The Feminist Majority Foundation; Shalina Effendi, an organizer with Generation Ratify; and YWCA USA CEO Margaret Mitchell. They urged Congress to pass pending joint resolutions affirming the ERA and withdraw the arbitrary time limit set for ratification when Congress passed the ERA in 1972.