Girl on a bike

“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think
it has done more to emancipate women
than anything else in the world.
I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman
ride by on a wheel. It gives woman a feeling of freedom
and self-reliance. It makes her feel as if
she were independent. 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.”

—Susan B. Anthony, interviewed by Nellie Bly
New York World, February 2, 1896