New York City: The Golden Flyer II Rolls Out

The first day of Women’s History Month dawned cold and mostly cloudy over New York City — high near 31 degrees — but nothing about the crowd gathered at the New York Historical Society felt anything less than electric. History, it turns out, is a powerful warming agent.

One hundred and ten years ago, suffragists Alice Burke and Nell Richardson cranked up a small gold Saxon roadster on the streets of New York City and drove 10,700 miles across America to demand women’s right to vote. They got stuck in rivers. They ran out of water in the desert outside Phoenix. Men in passing cars refused to help them. They walked six miles in the heat. They didn’t stop.

On Sunday, the Golden Flyer II — a gleaming, meticulously restored 1916 Saxon roadster, the exact same make and model — rolled out again. Same car. Same mission. Unfinished business.

At the center of it all was former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, 30-year ERA champion and founder of Sign4ERA.org, who climbed into the Golden Flyer II with the unmistakable air of someone who has waited long enough. “We are where the suffragists were in 1916,” she said. “They decided the 19th Amendment was stalled and they had to raise awareness. Now the ERA is stalled.” The ERA has been ratified by all 38 required states. Congress simply needs the courage to say so.

Then came one of the day’s most unexpected and delightful moments. Tennessee Titans linebacker Anfernee Oji, who had come to lend his support, joined Maloney in the Golden Flyer II for a photo that stopped more than a few people mid-sentence. The big, enthusiastic NFL player said he wasn’t just there to show up — he was going to get his Mom involved, too. The crowd loved it. The image of a 300-pound linebacker and a former Congresswoman side by side in a century-old roadster demanding constitutional equality for women is, frankly, exactly the kind of image this campaign was built for.

Playing the roles of the original Alice and Nell with remarkable authenticity were Jeryl Schriever — author of Driving the Vote for Women, the book that brought the 1916 suffrage road trip back to life — and Susan Nourse, a retired police chief from Freeport, Maine, dressed in full 1916 period costume. As Nourse has already discovered, the Saxon is not a casual drive: the gas pedal is in the center, the brake on the right, no power steering, no power brakes. “You can’t jam the brakes on and expect to stop,” she said. Driving it “takes a lot of concentration.” Not unlike the ERA campaign itself.

Kim Villanueva, president of the National Organization for Women, put the stakes plainly:

The Golden Flyer II now heads south and west through 25 states, with a goal of one million petition signatures by Election Day 2026. As of launch day, the petition stands at over 160,000 names — and growing.

In 1916, Alice and Nell didn’t know the outcome when they pulled away from these same New York streets. They knew only that democracy requires action. One hundred and ten years later, the Golden Flyer II is back on the road for the same reason.