Adeline & Augusta VanBuren
Pushing the boundaries of what “average little girls” are supposed to be interested in – that was the way for my sister and I. Born five years apart, just like the VanBuren sisters, my sister and I would play catch in the yard, play with the worms while we were fishing in the woods, and obsess over hockey in winter and motorcycles once warmer weather finally arrived.
For years, society has taken pleasure in restricting women from doing what was socially acceptable for boys and men. These fabricated societal regulations are, and have always been, nonsensical. Adeline and Augusta VanBuren must have agreed back in the early 1900s when they sought to prove to the U.S. Military that women were fit to serve as dispatch riders.
As descendants of former President Martin VanBuren, these two sisters were supposed to be classic “society girls”. But before women were even granted the right to vote, these ladies were fighting the limitations society had placed on their gender through their unconventional participation in wresting, swimming, skating, and of course motorcycling.
The VanBuren sisters were decidedly aware that convincing the U.S. Military to allow female dispatch riders would be no easy feat. They planned for a transcontinental journey meticulously with the knowledge of what was riding on their adventure – an increased access to equity and independence for American women.
On the Fourth of July, 1916 – still four years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the two sisters set out on their journey. Their bikes of choice were the Indian Power Plus and would carry them from Brooklyn through Chicago, Omaha, Salt Lake, the Rockies, becoming the first women to ride Pikes Peak, the Colorado Springs, San Francisco, Los Angeles and finally to their last stop in Tijuana.
These ladies rode coast to coast before highways were paved as gloriously and conveniently as they are now, they rode through rough terrain and handled unprecedented adversity. These “society girls” were arrested multiple times in the smaller towns outside of Chicago for the terrible crime of wearing men’s clothing. Thankfully, they reached a compromise with the law after explaining that corsets and petticoats were not as conducive for a transcontinental journey as men’s leathers.
Despite this noble journey, the military and the media took these feats as a petty joke rather than a valiant adventure. Adeline’s application to become a military dispatch rider was rejected, meanwhile the media praised the Indian motorcycles rather than these two sisters for enduring such an adventure. Their ambition to prove a point may have failed in their time, but would carry an effect in the next war, as women became dispatch riders swiftly during WWII.
There is no documentation or evidence that these two ladies continued riding after their transcontinental journey, but they certainly never stopped pushing the boundaries of what was “acceptable” for women of their time. Adeline became an English teacher, just like a certain Feminist Motorist we all know, and eventually completed her law degree at NYU. Her sister, Augusta, became a pilot and member of the 99s – the flying group created by fellow gender-equity pioneer Amelia Earhart.
These ladies pushed the limit and worked to prove that, as coined by Augusta:
“Woman can if she will”
If you feel inspired to know more about the VanBuren sisters, check out the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame page. If you or a fellow lady rider are interested in being featured, message me via email or through Instagram and Facebook @feminist_motorist. If you have any suggestions for future Moto Miss Monday posts, please feel free to message as well! Until then, ride on, lades.
the feminist motorist 