Freedom machine...
Not too long ago, my fellow Trek chick, Susan, posted a blog about Susan B. Anthony. You know, the woman from the coin and someone I would consider one of THE original Women Who Ride.
Ms. Anthony is quoted as having said that “bicycling has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” Imagine that, two wheels helped change American her-story. To women in the late 1800s, the bicycle came to be known as a “freedom machine.” I’ll let Ms. Anthony tell you why…
“The moment she takes her seat [a woman] knows she can’t get into harm while she is on her bicycle, and away she goes, the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood. The bicycle also teaches practical dress reform, gives women fresh air and exercise, and helps to make them equal with men in work and pleasure; and anything that does that has my good word."
"What is better yet, the bicycle preaches the necessity for woman suffrage. When bicyclists want a bit of special legislation, such as side-paths and laws to protect them, or to compel railroads to check bicycles as baggage, the women are likely to be made to see that their petitions would be more respected by the law-makers if they had votes, and the men that they are losing a source of strength because so many riders of the machine are women. From such small practical lessons a seed is sown that may ripen into demand for full suffrage, by which alone women can ever make and control their own conditions in society and state.”
I came across this quote and the connection of cycling to the Women’s suffragist movement in a delightful book by Peter Zheutlin called Around the World on Two Wheels Annie Londonderry’s Extraordinary Ride. Annie was the first woman to go around the world on a bicycle (sort of) to win a wager (or not). I’ll save Annie’s story for another day. It’s pretty fascinating.
Anyway dear readers, I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July holiday weekend. Get out there and ride your freedom machines!!!
