Houston — The Spirit of 1916, the Spirit of Houston, and the Fight That Never Stopped

In May 1916, Alice Burke and Nell Richardson arrived in Houston a day ahead of schedule — rested, ready, and apparently unstoppable. They held a major street meeting, speaking from their Golden Flyer roadster for nearly an hour. Then they led a parade of about 20 automobiles, decorated in suffrage colors, through the streets of Houston. Alice declared that the suffragists would concentrate their work on both Republicans and Democrats, and laid out their plans to proceed westward to the Pacific coast, returning east via the Northern route.

One hundred and ten years later, the Golden Flyer II came back to Houston. Same city. Same mission.

Houston's Representative Sylvia Garcia's advocacy for equality began decades before her serving today in Congress. As a Texas delegate to the landmark 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston, she helped shape a national agenda for women's rights — including support for the Equal Rights Amendment. She quickly moved from the "Spirit of Houston" delegation to decision-maker. 

First elected as the Houston City Controller, then Harris County Commissioner, and then state senator, Representative Garcia continues working on equality issues today, bringing that legacy full circle by fighting for equality in the halls of Congress. She helps her constituents and people everywhere on a wide range of issues from protecting those in the immigrant community to improving health care, and as one of the lead co-sponsors of the ERA Joint Resolution — the focus of the Sign4ERA petition drive.

At the Houston stop of our Tour, Congresswoman Garcia shared with those gathered her personal story about the National Women's Conference and the impact of first meeting Gloria Steinem as a law student. As an attorney, she outlined why the ERA is more important today than at any time in our past, pointing out that rights are being taken away and we must put a stop to the backward movement with full protections of equality of rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

The 1977 National Women's Conference marked a defining moment in modern American democracy for many of us working today on the Driving the Vote for Equality Tour. Gloria Steinem and Ellie Smeal were appointed by President Carter as commissioners to the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year in 1976, chaired then by Bella Abzug. Kathy Bonk was on the Commission staff and ran the communications efforts.

Gloria hosted the initial fundraiser for this Driving the Vote for Equality Tour at her home in February, and Ellie's Feminist Majority Foundation was the first group to endorse the Tour along with NOW and the ERA Coalition. With Carolyn Maloney, Roger Craver, Mary Ann Gorman and Kathy are board members of ERA NOW, the organizer of the Tour.

The Houston Conference was the first women's rights conclave since the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, when delegates then signed the Declaration of Sentiments. As a prelude to the 1977 conference, a torch was hand-carried from Seneca Falls to Houston, where more than 2,000 delegates from all 50 states and U.S. territories gathered to debate and adopt a comprehensive National Plan of Action on women's rights.

Both conferences brought together an extraordinarily diverse coalition — across political parties, races, regions, and ideologies — to address key issues of the times. In Houston, delegates developed a Platform of Action with issues ranging from economic equality and reproductive freedom including access to abortion to education, domestic violence, disability rights, health care, universal global human rights, childcare, sexual preference, political power and the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment — issues we are still fighting for today. The Spirit of Houston demonstrated the power of civic participation at scale, showing that grassroots organizing could shape a national agenda and influence federal, state and local policies.

Equally important, the Houston conference created a durable infrastructure for the women's movement by connecting activists, policymakers, and everyday citizens in ways that extended far beyond the event itself, helping to fuel advocacy networks that continue to this day.

For this 2026 Driving the Vote Tour, members of Zonta International — the first group to endorse the ERA when it was introduced by Alice Paul in 1923 — were the lead organizers across five stops in Texas, with Houston as the kick-off visit.

Mary Quinn, a leader in Houston Zonta, approached Alison Bell, the executive director of the Houston Heritage Society, about helping the Driving the Vote for Equality Tour — Alison immediately offered a fantastic location right in Sam Houston Park, with space in front of the museum for displays and more. "By hosting the Golden Flyer Tour II and presenting programs that highlight women's leadership across centuries, we are sharing stories of courage, advocacy, and resilience that continue to inspire progress today," Alison told the ERA organizers.

At the bandstand event, Mary, a prominent Houston attorney, read the full text of the ERA aloud and explained why women need full protections of the Constitution.

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Dr. Annie Benefield, professor emeritus at Lone Star College and former president of the League of Women Voters of Houston, stressed to the crowd the importance of registering — and if needed re-registering — to vote. The League has an important history in this Tour since its predecessor, NAWSA, sponsored the 1916 Suffrage Tour. As the 19th Amendment was being added to the Constitution, the National American Women's Suffrage Association was the largest and most influential suffrage organization in the United States. It led a long campaign to win votes for women; when passage of the 19th Amendment was inevitable, NAWSA's mission and name changed to the League of Women Voters as it shifted its mission to providing support for women to access the right to vote and use it effectively.

The program also included ERA NOW's Mayors for ERA, with Mayor John Whitmire issuing a special Proclamation declaring March 22, 2026 Driving the Vote for Equality Day in Houston. The mayor is a longtime supporter of the ERA since the early 1970s when the ERA was first passed by Congress as Texas became the second state, after Hawaii, to ratify. His daughter Whitney Whitmire received the special ERA Champion Award on the mayor's behalf — and his office quickly posted photos of the two on Instagram.

After the ceremony, the crowd strolled back to the museum for a fantastic display by the Houston Suffragists Project of the Houston Genealogical Forum. Rae Bryant is a presenter of the group and regularly goes to local high schools, colleges, libraries and community gatherings to share the wealth of information she and others have compiled about suffrage activities in Houston. She described the challenges in 1920 when poll tax laws governed voter qualifications in Texas.

State election laws in Texas did not include women, thus creating a conflict between the 19th Amendment and state laws. Suffragists reacted to the Texas legislature's attempt to impose the poll tax on women and restrict their voting right by filing a lawsuit that led to a tremendous turnout of women voters on November 2, 1920. The unique Harris County outcome, under the terms of the judge's ruling, included record numbers of Black women voting for the first time. Read the outcome and newspaper accounts of the lawsuit and election day and more at their website: Houstonsuffragists.org.

As noted earlier, Nell and Alice stopped in Texas in May, 1916 — a full 20 pages of their accounts are in the book, Driving the Vote for Women: An American Journey for Suffrage, by Jeryl Schriever, who spoke at the event. She shared stories about the adventure of Nell and Alice and speeches they gave in Texas. In Houston, their speech lasted nearly an hour as Alice declared, "…the suffragists would concentrate their work on the Republicans and Democrats…" She described their plans after Texas would be to proceed "westward to the Pacific coast, returning east via the Northern route."

The same plans are being prepared for May after Golden Flyer II takes a short break at the end of May waiting for better weather in the Rocky Mountain states — just as Alice and Nell did in 1916.