Bill Text: TX HR11 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Commemorating the 143rd anniversary of the birth of Minnie Fisher Cunningham.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [HR11 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-HR11-Introduced.html
| 89R1767 BPG-D | ||
| By: Morales of Harris | H.R. No. 11 | |
|
|
||
| WHEREAS, March 19, 2025, marks the 143rd anniversary of the | ||
| birth of trailblazing activist Minnie Fisher Cunningham, who played | ||
| a vital role in securing women's suffrage; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The daughter of Horatio and Sallie Fisher, the | ||
| former Minnie Fisher was born on the family farm near New Waverly in | ||
| 1882; she was one of the first women in the state to receive a | ||
| pharmacy degree but soon discovered that her untrained male | ||
| colleagues made twice her salary; following her marriage to Beverly | ||
| "Bill" Cunningham, she became active in social reform efforts in | ||
| Galveston; she chaired two Women's Health Protective Association | ||
| committees and was a founding member and then president of the | ||
| Galveston Equal Suffrage Association; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Mrs. Cunningham was elected president of the Texas | ||
| Equal Suffrage Association in 1915; membership grew to 10,000 under | ||
| her leadership, and her formidable coalition-building and | ||
| negotiating skills resulted in a bill granting Texas women the | ||
| right to vote in state primary elections; the National American | ||
| Woman Suffrage Association recruited her to lobby Congress and | ||
| President Woodrow Wilson, and she eventually became the group's | ||
| congressional secretary; after passage of the 19th Amendment in | ||
| 1919, she traveled across the Southwest to rally support for | ||
| ratification; her shrewdness and determination were instrumental | ||
| in making Texas the first southern state to ratify the amendment, | ||
| thwarting an attempt to create a regional bulwark against it; and | ||
| WHEREAS, A founder and officer of the National League of | ||
| Women Voters, Mrs. Cunningham successfully championed the nation's | ||
| first social welfare measure, the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and | ||
| Infancy Act; back in Texas, she became one of the first American | ||
| women to pursue a career in party politics, running for the | ||
| U.S. Senate in 1928 and the governorship in 1944; she was an early | ||
| inspiration to Eleanor Roosevelt and in turn energetically | ||
| supported the Roosevelt administration's New Deal initiatives in | ||
| numerous professional and volunteer capacities, including editor | ||
| for the Texas A&M University Agricultural Extension Service, senior | ||
| specialist in the Information Division of the federal Agricultural | ||
| Adjustment Administration, and acting head of the Women's Division | ||
| of the Democratic National Committee; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Mrs. Cunningham returned to New Waverly to run the | ||
| family farm but remained highly engaged in the progressive | ||
| movement; in 1954, she helped establish the Texas Observer, and six | ||
| years later, she managed the local headquarters of the | ||
| John F. Kennedy presidential campaign, which carried Walker | ||
| County; she died on December 9, 1964, at the age of 82; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Through her vision, resolve, and extraordinary | ||
| ability, Minnie Fisher Cunningham contributed enormously to the | ||
| empowerment of American women, and 60 years after her passing, her | ||
| accomplishments continue to resonate; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 89th Texas | ||
| Legislature hereby commemorate the 143rd anniversary of the birth | ||
| of Minnie Fisher Cunningham. | ||
