Check out the video General Knowledge made on this topic in partnership with ClioVis.
In 1895, Kittie Knox, a well-known Black female cyclist and member of the Riverside Cycling Club, defended her right to remain in the National League of American Wheelman (LAW). That year, LAW restricted membership to white people but Knox argued that they could not kick her out. Although LAW ultimately refused her admission, Knox kept cycling. Her defiance highlighted the broader significance of cycling for women’s independence.
Bikes offered women a new sense of freedom as they enabled mobility, challenging patriarchal constraints dictating what women could and could not do. The design of late 20th century bikes also led women to resist fashion norms: traditional Victorian skirts were cumbersome for cycling, leading women like Knox to wear bloomers or shorter skirts. These clothing choices often clashed with societal expectations. In this way, cycling allowed women to embrace both physical mobility and greater agency over their fashion.
The growth in women’s agency through cycling must be understood within the context of the women’s suffrage movement. As the idea of “womanhood” broadened in the 1890s, female cyclists championed women’s independence. Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote that the bicycle will “make [women] cautious, courageous, self-reliant, and increase their [practical] common sense.” To ride, women resisted female fashion norms, gained confidence in new technology, and learned basic bike mechanics. This self-reliance complemented the growing suffrage movement, which encouraged women to assert independence through activism and demonstrations, such as the Women’s Suffrage Parade.
The connection between agency in cycling and activism likely led Susan B. Anthony to argue that biking “has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” Anthony continues “the moment she takes her seat she knows she can’t get into harm unless she gets off her bicycle, and away she goes, the picture of free untrammeled womanhood.” The independence of biking can be linked to this renewed idea of female autonomy found in the 1890s. This renewed idea of womanhood became a core tenant of the women’s suffrage movement and contributed to the signing of the 19th amendment.
ClioVis collaborated with YouTuber General Knowledge to trace the evolution of the bike and its ties to the women’s suffrage movement. Former Graduate Student Natalie Johnson and ClioVis interns Evelyn Jackson and Champ Turner worked together to create a ClioVis timeline. A network of ClioVis events allows viewers to better understand the complexity of this story. Inspired by their work, YouTuber General Knowledge created a video bringing this history to a wider audience.
