Bicycles: On the Path to Women’s Rights

What did bicycles have to do with the fight for women’s rights? In this presentation, historian Allison Lange will talk about how, in the 1890s, women embraced the bicycle and the freedom of movement that came with it. While their bloomers and independence made critics anxious, many women used bicycles to seek new opportunities.

$5 CMCH members, $10 non-members; $8 for seniors. Light refreshments will be provided. Includes admission to the museum galleries — come early to view our latest exhibition, The Bicycle Game!

Advance tickets can be purchased here.

Questions? Contact Adult Programs Manager Natalie Belanger via email at natalie_belanger@chs.org, or call (860) 236-5621 x289.

About Our Speaker 

Allison K. Lange is an assistant professor of history at the Wentworth Institute of Technology. She received her PhD in history from Brandeis University. Her book, Picturing Political Power: Images and the Fight for Women’s Votes in the United States, (University of Chicago Press, 2020), traces the ways that woman’s rights activists and their opponents used images to define gender and power during the US woman suffrage movement. Lange’s research focuses on visual culture and politics, especially in relation to social movements.

Image: “The First Lesson,” CMCH 2015.87.3842