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North Dakota Coordinating Council for the Equal Rights Amendment Records
North Dakota Coordinating Council for the Equal Rights Amendment Records
Collection Overview
Title: North Dakota Coordinating Council for the Equal Rights Amendment Records
Predominant Dates:1973-1975
ID: OGLMC289
Extent: 4.0 Linear Feet
Subjects: Women's History - Equal Rights Amendment, Women's History - Women's Organizations
Languages: English
Scope and Contents of the Materials
Collection Historical Note
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was first presented to Congress in 1923. It was sponsored by Daniel Anthony, a representative of Kansas who was Susan B. Anthony's nephew. Attempts to push the bill through Congress were unsuccessful in 1923, and were so until 1970. This was due chiefly to the efforts of New York representative Emanuel Celler, the powerful chair of the House Judiciary Committee, who strongly opposed the bill.
In 1970, the Amendment was finally forced out of the Judiciary Committee through the efforts of Martha Griffith, a representative from Michigan. It was then approved by the House of Representatives on August 10, 1970 by a vote of 350-15. The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 84-8 on March 22, 1972.
For the Equal Rights Amendment to become law, it still needed to be ratified by three-fourths of the states. Hawaii became the first to ratify the amendment, taking only 30 minutes to do so. By August 1974, the amendment had been ratified by 33 of the required 38 states. By June 1978, the number had climbed to 35. Congress had originally set a ratification deadline of March 1979, but this deadline was extended to June 30, 1982. By the time the extension was up, the bill was still three states short of ratification, and failed to become law.
In North Dakota, efforts to pass ERA fell to the Coordinating Council for the Equal Rights Amendment (CCERA). The CCERA was composed of many different political, economic, religious, and social organizations, all of which were supportive of the amendment. Some of the groups included: the YWCA, the League of Women Voters, the North Dakota Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, the American Association of University Women, and the National Organization for Women.
The first attempt at ratifying the amendment failed. In the 1973 session, the amendment was passed by a 30-20 vote in the North Dakota Senate, and by a 51-49 vote in the House. The margin in the House, however, fell one vote short of a constitutional majority, so CCERA was forced to begin again during the next legislative session.
Following an immense lobbying and informational campaign by CCERA, the amendment was ratified in North Dakota in February 1975. It passed the Senate by a 28-22 vote on January 24, 1975. On February 3, 1975, the House voted in favor of the amendment 52-49, which did represent a constitutional majority. CCERA was instrumental in preventing a potential reconsideration vote two days later, on February 5. CCERA rounded up enough supporters to flood the phone lines at the capital in an attempt to forestall a reconsideration vote. Their efforts were successful, and the reconsideration vote failed. In doing so, North Dakota became the 34th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository: Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections
Accruals: Additional material was donated in 1987 (Acc.87-1505).
Access Restrictions: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections.
Acquisition Method: Donated by Donna Chalimonczyk, Fargo, North Dakota, in April 1975 and June 1981 (Acc.81-777).
Preferred Citation: (Description of Item). North Dakota Coordinating Council for the Equal Rights Amendment Records. OGLMC 239, Box #, Folder #. Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.
Finding Aid Revision History: Finding aid migrated to Archon in April 2014.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Box:
[Box 1],
[Box 2],
[Box 3],
[Box 4],
[Box 5],
[All]
- Box 1
- Folder 1: General correspondence: 1973-1977
- Folder 2: CCERA correspondence: 1974-1975
- Folder 3: Constituent correspondence: 1975
- Folder 4: Correspondence to the Legislature regarding ERA: 1974-1975
- Folder 5: Miscellaneous correspondence: September 1974-February 1975 (mostly that of Donna Chalimonczyk)
- Folder 6: Letters for Senate Judiciary and Donna Chalimonczyk
- Folder 7: Personal messages to Donna Chalimonczyk
- Folder 8: Financial material: 1974-1975
- Folder 9: CCERA financial statement: February 22, 1975
- Folder 10: Organizational meeting minutes: May 11, 1974
- Folder 11: Board meeting minutes, memos to board members, questionnaire: May-December 1974
- Folder 12: Petitions for ERA: 1974
- Folder 13: Petitions for referendum: March 1974
- Folder 14: Poll of legislature and legislative candidates on ERA: 1974
- Folder 15: Profiles of North Dakota legislators: 1974-1975
- Folder 16: Strategy: 1974
- Folder 17: CCERA survey: 1972-1977
- Folder 18: Successful candidate surveys: 1974
- Folder 19: Unsuccessful candidate surveys: 1974
- Folder 20: Testifier: 1975
- Folder 21: True/False Questionnaire: 1973
- Folder 22: You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby (true/false informational survey): July 1971
- Folder 23: ERA promotional material from various national groups
- Folder 24: ERA coalitions in other states: May 1974
- Folder 25: Groups in favor of or opposed to ERA: November 1974-January 1975
- Folder 26: Men for ERA, mailing and membership lists: undated
- Folder 27: CCERA Newsletter: June 1974-February 1975
- Folder 28: Various newsletters from political groups in North Dakota, 1974-1975
- Folder 29: The Greeter (Bismarck promotional magazine): March 1978
- Folder 30: The ERA--News and Views: March 1974
- Folder 31: ND Now: 1977
- Folder 32: Newsletters from other states regarding ERA: 1975
- Folder 33: Federal and state labor bulletins: 1972-1973
- Folder 34: Examples of Pro-ERA form letters: 1974-1975
- Folder 35: Miscellaneous notes taken down during the debate surrounding ERA
- Folder 36: Notes on potential pro-ERA lobbyists: October 1974
- Folder 37: ERA supporting documents, including campaign strategy and ERA Coloring Book: undated
Browse by Box:
[Box 1],
[Box 2],
[Box 3],
[Box 4],
[Box 5],
[All]