On Saturday, August 27, BPAC joined forces with the Alexandria Spokeswomen and Alexandria Celebrates Women for a ride commemorating Women’s Equality Day.

About twenty people gathered on a warm summer morning for a six-mile ride from the Braddock Road metro station to Pentagon City. Along the way, we stopped near Annie Rose Avenue in Potomac Yard and celebrated Annie Rose’s dedication to the community. We discussed Patsy Ticer, Alexandria’s first female mayor, and Cora Kelly, who devoted 53 years of her life to teaching Alexandria youth. While pausing in Judy Lowe Neighborhood Park to honor the legacy of the “First Lady of Del Ray,” we also talked about Pat Miller’s tireless work on behalf of the Del Ray neighborhood. We learned why Alexandria maintains a park named after community activist Shirley Tyler, and why Arlington maintains a park named after trailblazing computer scientist Grace Murray Hopper. And we talked about the Little Tea House Restaurant, started by suffragist-turned-entrepreneur Gertrude Crocker.

Some of the riders then took the metro to the Franconia-Springfield station, where we met up with two more people. This smaller group rode to Lorton to visit the Lucy Burns Museum at the Workhouse Arts Center and the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial. These sites honor the suffragists who were imprisoned here in 1917 and discuss how their imprisonment changed the course of the women’s suffrage movement.

Here are a few photos from the ride, courtesy of Eldon Boes, Casey Kane, Josephine Liu, and Robyne McRey:

If you would like to do a self-guided version of our 2022 Women’s Equality Day ride, a guide to the route and stops is available here.

Many thanks to the BPAC volunteers and community partners who helped plan and publicize the ride!