The Wheels: Women & Independence exhibit is on the road!

The exhibit will open soon at the Malcolm Pray Achievement Center in Bedford, NY

Check their website for information on the exhibit by
clicking here

Celebrate the Suffrage Centennials at the Saratoga Automobile Museum!

This exhibit showcases the experiences of the pioneer female automobile enthusiasts from 1900 to 1929.

At the time, women represented less than 10% of licensed drivers, and “autoing” was definitely not for the faint of heart.

Each woman has her own unique story to tell, with a passion for motoring at center.

Izetta Jewel Kenney Brown Miller & Hazel May Jewel Kenney Godwin Horne:  The Jewel Sisters – Acting, Activism, and Automobiles

 Dr. Elizabeth Van Rensselaer Gillette: House Calls - Medicine and Politics

 Joan Newton Cuneo: Banned! Women and Racing

 Alice Taylor Huyler Ramsey: Westward - From Hell Gate to the Golden Gate

Blanche Stuart Scott: The Car, The Girl, and The Wide, Wide World

Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Davis Walker, better known as Madam C. J. Walker: Driving for Freedom

NEWLY ADDED

Luella Bates Coates 

With the largest number of automobiles in the world, New York State also had the highest motor vehicle accident rate, involving a significant number of deaths, including children. Secretary of State Hugo’s “Safety-First” program served as a model for other states, industry, and insurance companies, with Universal Film Company producing several films shown around the state, and later the country, to school children, drivers, and industrial workers. After meeting trucker Luella Bates Coates at the 1920 Motor Truck Show in the Bronx, Hugo enlisted her as a spokesperson to promote the safety initiative.

Lucile Atcherson Curtis 

The headline for a November 1920 story in The Smith Alumnae Quarterly read: “Wanted: A Diplomatic Post for a Woman.”

The hopeful article opined, “Now for the first time there is a real possibility that a woman will be appointed to the United States diplomatic service, a woman who is definitely qualified for the post … lived in Europe for several years, and speaks five languages …  [Lucile Atcherson] was offered the position of private secretary to Ambassador Herrick in Paris, but chose instead to … [return to the United States] to take the necessary Civil Service examination as a preliminary to an appointment in the real diplomatic service.”

Amelia Mary Earhart 

The 16th woman in the United States to receive a pilot’s license, Amelia Earhart was a founding member of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization for women aviators. Amelia financed her love of flying with celebrity endorsements, writing and editing magazine articles, speaking tours, competitive air racing, and even designed a clothing line sold at Macy’s.  A member of the National Woman’s Party, she lobbied for the Equal Rights Amendment, visiting President Hoover at the White House in 1932. Amelia once said: “If enough of us keep trying, we’ll get someplace.”

Girl Scouts - The Order of the Winged Wheel 

From the July 1921 edition of Motor Magazine:

“Since the war so many women have learned to drive that it remained only for the Girl Scouts, a national organization comprising over 108,000 young women, to offer a motor degree which is an inducement for every girl to become a driver. In addition to being a Scout she has, of course, to be eighteen, to have a doctor’s certificate and a driver’s license from the state in which she lives, a First Aid badge and a diploma from a certified training school for motorists with an average of at least 85%. After all this she is an official motor scout and is entitled to wear the winged wheel upon the sleeve.”

 Florence Jaffray "Daisy" Hurst Harriman 

During World War I, Florence organized the American Red Cross Women's Motor Corps in Washington, DC, and later directed the Women's Motor Corps in France. The Girl Scouts Motor Scout program was inspired by and modeled after the Women’s Motor Corps.

Socialite and social reformer, Florence “led a suffrage parade down Fifth Avenue, worked on campaigns on child labor and safe milk, and, as minister to Norway in World War II, organized evacuation efforts while hiding in a forest from the Nazi invasion." Years later, President Kennedy awarded her the first "Citation of Merit for Distinguished Service." 

A world traveler, Florence often found herself in the middle of historic events, saying, "I think nobody can deny that I have always had through sheer luck a box seat at the America of my times."

 A’Lelia McWilliams Walker Robinson Wilson Kennedy

Named president of The Mme C. J. Walker Mfg. Company after her mother’s untimely death in 1919, A’Lelia entrusted company operations to her attorney Freeman Ransom. In a 1925 letter to Ransom she conceded, “I quite agree with you when you say I am a poor businesswoman.”

A’Lelia continued her mother’s philanthropic legacy of “supporting local, regional, national, and international organizations founded by or focused on serving African Americans.” Deemed “the central socialite of Harlem,” A’Lelia is today recognized as a significant patron of Harlem Renaissance artists and writers. 

Grant funding for this exhibit is provided by:

Disclaimer: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibition & website do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities