EMILYs List Statement on Black History Month

For Immediate Release
February 1, 2022

EMILYs List Statement on Black History Month

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In recognition of Black History Month, EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:  

“As we celebrate Black History Month and acknowledge particularly the historic rise of Black women in politics, it’s important that we never forget the countless women who made this moment in history possible. Women like Fannie Lou Hamer, Shirley Chislom and Dorothy Height, Constance Baker-Motley whose work and activism gave way to candidates like Rep. Val Demings, Stacey Abrams, Cheri Beasley and Deidre DeJear, are indelible figures in our history. We also honor women like Rep. Karen Bass, Mayor Muriel Bowser and many others who are running for state and local office, and who will work daily on the frontlines to protect our right to vote, our access to reproductive health care, and our right to fair and equal treatment. 

“Right now, there are no Black women in the United States Senate, and there has never been a Black woman elected to serve as governor. This failure of representation reminds us how much work still needs to be done in order to ensure an equitable and diverse government.”

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.