President Jimmy Carter established National Women's History Week in 1980, centered on International Women's Day, March 8 — a milestone that Molly Murphy MacGregor and her colleagues at the National Women's History Project transformed into the official designation of March as Women's History Month in 1987. Photo: U.S. National Archives
Where History Lives: Santa Rosa, California
Some places carry history in their bones. Santa Rosa, California is one of them
And our stop here reminded us, once again, that the movement for women’s equality is not a recent invention. It is a river, long and deep, fed by generations of women who refused to accept anything less than full citizenship.
The Saturday Afternoon Club of Santa Rosa — founded in 1894 and the oldest continuously-operating women's club in the United States
The Golden Flyer II pulled up to the Saturday Afternoon Club of Santa Rosa — the oldest continuously-operating women’s club in the United States. Let that settle for a moment. While history books fill their pages with the names of men and institutions, the women of Santa Rosa have been meeting, organizing, and working for their community without interruption longer than almost any organization in America. Walking through those doors felt less like arriving at a venue and more like stepping into living proof that women have always been here, always been essential, always been driving the work forward.
Ellen Bowen, President of the Saturday Afternoon Club, brings the grace of a century of women's organizing to her role as MC — guiding a program that connects the Club's long history of civic purpose to the unfinished business of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Ellen Bowen, President of “The Club,” brought warmth and purpose to her role as MC, anchoring a program that wove together history, advocacy, and community in equal measure. Also in the room was Molly Murphy MacGregor — one of the founders of the National Women’s History Project, now the National Women’s History Alliance, and a driving force behind the creation of Women’s History Month itself. Her presence was its own kind of statement: the women who built the infrastructure of memory are still here, still paying attention, still showing up.
Molly Murphy MacGregor — co-founder of the National Women's History Alliance and one of the architects of Women's History Month — brings living history to the Santa Rosa stop of the Driving the Vote for Equality Tour.
The Tour has brought new Hope to the ERA in a positive, fun way.”
Jeanne Clark, Driving the Vote for Equality
Tour team member Jeanne Clark, whose decades as a feminist organizer have helped shape this journey, puts it simply: "The Tour has brought new Hope to the ERA in a positive, fun way."
And then there was Melissa — who opened her heart and her home to our team. On a tour powered entirely by volunteers, with every dollar going to fuel, food, and petition printing, that kind of generosity is not a small thing. It is the Tour itself. It is what keeps the Golden Flyer II moving down the road.
A tour run entirely by volunteers runs on more than fuel — it runs on the generosity of people like Melissa, who opened their hearts and homes to keep the Golden Flyer II and its crew moving forward.
Santa Rosa reminded us that history is not something that happened. It is something that happens — in clubs that have met for over a century, in rooms where the founders of Women’s History Month sit quietly in the audience, in homes thrown open to strangers carrying a cause worth believing in.
The ERA is still unfinished business. But in Santa Rosa, it felt very much alive.
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Follow the Journey
Watch history happen. The Golden Flyer II is rolling — New York to the Pacific and back. Track every stop as we drive the ERA fight across 25 states. Real stops. Real people. Real pressure.
