There are always consequences
to what we create,
often unintended.
And some can cause
serious problems.
But sometimes, those unintended
consequences are for the best.
Nowhere is this more true
than with our advancements
in transportation.
One early ride came to symbolize
freedom for an entire gender.
Illinois, 1893, Frances Willard,
the famous fighter for women's
rights, experienced
the wind in her face
for the very first time on
the seat of a safety bicycle.
AMANDA FOREMAN: I
think it's hard for us
to imagine today what it
is like to be literally
trapped inside your own house.
Women were literally trapped
at home in the 19th century.
Their clothes trapped them
because they were so heavy.
They weighed up to 25 pounds.
And they couldn't get about.
They were dependent on a man
to either put them on a horse
or put them in a carriage
and take them there.
The bicycle offered
them a way of freedom.
How do you ride it?
With great courage
and dexterity,
of which you are very capable.
And how do you peddle wearing
such cumbersome things?
Carefully.
[chuckles]
Your turn.
She who succeeds in gaining
the mastery of the bicycle
will gain the mastery of life.
And the two things
that must occupy
your thoughts to the
exclusion of everything else--
First, the goal.
Indeed.
And today's goal
will be that plow.
OK, then.
The first is the
goal and the second?
The momentum
requisite to reach it.
Exactly.
Don't look down.
Aim directly for your goal.
Look straight ahead, not at me!
Oh.
[chuckling]
ANNA GORDON: Oh!
[clang]
[laughter]
Go home to your husband!
It's the same as
with all reforms.
Sometimes they seem to lag,
then they barely balance,
and away they go again, as
merrily as if they'd never
been threatened to stop at all.
Ooh.
Oh.
We made it.
[laughter]
Hello.
Hello, lovely to see you.
HOST: The freedom of movement
Frances Willard found
on her bicycle helped her
give her speech on time,
a speech about another
kind of freedom--
[cheering]
--equal rights for women.
And let them know the world
was made for women too.
[cheers, applause]
