Suffragists

by CNN from https://kvia.com MISSOULA, Montana (Missoulian) — A group of 24 women packed their motorcycles, zipped up their jackets and revved their engines Wednesday before heading out on Day 5 of their three-week cross-country journey celebrating women’s right to vote. The Suffragists Centennial Motorcycle Ride was originally scheduled for 2020 in honor of the centennial of the 19th Amendment, but it had to be postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I thought, what better way to celebrate women’s freedom than the emblem of freedom, of freedom on a motorcycle, because that’s what it’s done for me,” said event organizer Alisa Clickenger of North Carolina. “That’s what it’s done for all of these other women.” Clickenger began riding motorcycles nearly 25 years ago while in the midst of a divorce. She described herself as a shy housewife prior to finding her community through motorcycling, which ultimately changed her life. Now, she is a best-selling author and founder of Women’s Motorcycle Tours and the Women’s Motorcycle Conferences. “Motorcycling helped me grow into who I am,” Clickenger said. “I want to encourage other women to learn and grow and expand outside of their self-perceived limitations.” She began planning the ride about three years ago to celebrate a century of the 19th Amendment, which granted white women the right to vote through the work of activists in the women’s suffrage movement between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It took more than four decades for all women to achieve voting equality in the United States. Montana ratified the amendment in August 1919, and was one of the earliest states to do so. The ride began at the end of July in Portland, Oregon, and will snake its way across the country, stopping in places like Sturgis, South Dakota, and […]