Carol Hauck is marking the centennial of women's right to vote in a surprising and appropriate way — by riding a motorcycle across a big swath of the country.
The retired IT consultant from Chaska will join six other women in the commemorative ride. Their goal is to roll into Knoxville, Tenn., on Aug. 18, 100 years after the Volunteer State became the 36th to ratify the 19th Amendment, giving it the majority needed to become a part of the U.S. Constitution. They'll make several stops along the way to pay their respects to suffragists and their movement.
"I think that they would be honored to know that they're being respected for what it is that they did," said Hauck. "I think they would be happy to have some other women, who are probably as badass as they were, trying to do it."
While a motorcycle ride might seem like an unusual way to honor a fight for equity, it echoes suffragists' love for two wheels.
In the 1890s, bicycles offered women a measure of independence and mobility and allowed them to take part in social issues. In fact, women were said to be "riding to suffrage on the bicycle." In the years leading up to the 19th Amendment's passage, suffragists took up motorcycle riding and became the first women to ride cross-country.
This year, many centennial celebrations have been canceled or downsized because of COVID-19. The Minnesota History Center's "Votes for Women" exhibit has been moved online, and events created by the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission have gone virtual.
Even the official "Suffragist Centennial Motorcycle Ride" has been pushed back to 2021. Still, Hauck and the others are taking a truncated version of the ride planned by the Women's Motorcycle Tours company. Founder Alisa Clickenger decided to ride part of the route as a scouting mission for the larger event next year.
This isn't Clickenger's first suffragist ride.