A Quaker and fellow biker shared a meme on my Facebook timeline and that was my introduction to Bessie Stringfield . I ’d seen the meme before , but this time , her adult grinning and kindred spirit called out to me and cue me to search online .
Who was this woman of color in a calamitous and white picture , lay across a big ol’Harley ? This story — her story — is what I found .
Bessie Stringfield’s Mysterious Origins
The item of Bessie Stringfield ’s upbringing are shrouded in mystery . middling much the only consistence is that she was bornBetsy Ellis . Some accounts say she wasborn in Jamaicain 1911 , while others say she was born in America after her parentsimmigrated .
What ’s not clear is whether she was — or was n’t — of mixed race . Was she orphaned by the last of her mother and later abandoned by her don and then take over by a loaded Irish womanhood in Boston ? Or didboth parent buy the farm of variola major ?
The answers to some of those doubt came when The New York Times bring out her2018 obituary(25 old age posthumously ) . In it her niece , Esther Bennett , goes as far as to imply the only thing clean about her was her father ’s last name , and that both her parent were Black American and lived in Edenton , North Carolina . Bennett also tell Stringfield was never adopted .
So Who Was Bessie Stringfield?
Stringfield ’s backstory might bet on where you shore online , butAnn Ferrar , journalist and author of " African American Queen of the route " run into Stringfield in 1990 at theAmerican Motorcycle Association ’s ( AMA ) Motorcycle Heritage Museum . Stringfield was 79 years old and part of the inaugural showing " Women in Motorcycling " and Ferrar was then a freshly minted biker .
The two charwoman became friends and Stringfield call for Ferrar to write her life . Ferrar recorded numerous conversations with Stringfield during her terminal three years so she could help others acknowledge Bessie ’s achievements .
In an electronic mail consultation , Ferrar says she patronise the idea that Stringfield was mixed race , and that Stringfield lived as a fateful char thanks to her dark skin colour and the " one - fall principle " — an antediluvian formula in the South that meant if you had " one drop of Black line of descent " you were Black . And Ferrarnotes on her websitethat Stringfield was " birth into a small home in the Southeastern region of America in 1911 . "
candidly , the muddled childhood details do n’t matter to the centre of Stringfield ’s history and do nothing to diminish her acquisition as a pioneer in the intersecting worlds of motorcycling , Black historyand women ’s history .
Bessie’s Gypsy Touring Begins
Bessie Stringfield received her first bike from her mother at eld 16 — a 1928 Indian Scout — although she did n’t yet get it on how to ride . ( " God taught her how to taunt in a dream , " Ferrar says . )
Now , for those of you who do n’t ride bikes , lease me put this into position . A 1928 Indian Scout weighed probably more than 700 British pound ( 317.5 kilograms ) in Stringfield ’s day — and she was hardly 5 foot 5 inch ( 1.6 meters ) marvellous . I ’m above average height and moderately fit , but even I rule manage that big motorcycle no simple task .
But in 1930 , at long time 19 , Stringfield took off on that Indian Scout on her first solo gypsy hitch — a drive without any itinerary or destination planned . She tossed a coin over a map and sit to the locating where it landed .
And she did this without the benefit of paved roadstead and today ’s interstate main road systems . Nor did she have roadside divine service if something break off down . She had to be both rider and mechanic . My teeth clench just think of navigating on gravel , informal grit or otherwise inhospitable roads and my towing religious service card is the only puppet I have promptly at mitt .
Not to mention she commence her years of gypsy touring in the ' XXX when woman just did n’t ride motorcycle , crisscrossing the pre - civil rights , Jim CrowSouth . Ferrar says Stringfield faced favoritism along the way , and was turned away from motels and was forced to sleep on her bike instead ( not easy or well-to-do , entrust me ) . She was jeopardise , too , and one metre was intentionally run off the road by a white male in a pickup motortruck .
Yet through it all , Stringfield did n’t let those thing stop her , or delineate who she should be . Societal norms were of no consequence to her . " Bessie ’s superpower was her power to not focus on struggle , but rather in how she reacted to each situation and each soul , " Ferrar say . " Bessie was too modest to see herself as [ peculiarly especial ] . "
That first ride at age 19 was only the showtime of her two - wheeled independence . Between the 1930s and her end in 1993 , Stringfield wound up ride solo across the United States in eight separate trips , thefirst cleaning lady to ever do so . She substantiate herself by performing motorcycle stunt at carnival , including theWall of Deathwhere motorcyclists ride tight around the enclosed wooden vertical walls of a cask - regulate domain .
Stringfield also competed in mat - lead race , hinge on over ellipse grime track . One narrative recount how she wasdenied prize moneyafter removing her helmet and bring out she was a woman .
She even used her riding gift in table service to her country , a country that was still segregated even in the rank in which she service . As acivilian courierin the early 1940s , she carry postal service and documents between groundwork for the U.S. Army during World War II . She was the only female in the all - Black unit .
Motorcycle Queen of Miami
By the fifties , Stringfield square off in Miami where she became a licensed practical nurse and founded the Iron Horse Motorcycle Club . She was known around town for riding her bike to body of work and Christian church . But , according to a feature in the June 1996 issue ofAmerican Motorcyclist Magazine , she was ab initio given a surd meter by local law .
And after being tell apart " * * * * er women are not allowed to ride motorcycles in Miami " she finally fail to see the sea captain . He render her a serial publication of " john " and figure eights to do . astounded at her tease power , he remarked he ’d never seen a woman ride like that . She have her license and the harassment stop . She finally became known as the " Motorcycle Queen of Miami . "
During her six tenner of riding , Stringfield owned 27 Harley Davidson motorcycles and rode more than a million mi — gypsy style — hitting all 48 of the continental United States , plus bike trips in Brazil , Europe and Haiti , according to Ferrar .
Bessie’s Place in History
While Stringfield may not appear to have had a unmediated influence on thecivil rights movement , she unwittingly did her part , empowering those who would come later . " Bessie made an impression on citizenry in her community who were proud of her and always pleased to see this independent Black woman on a Harley riding around town , " Ferrar tell .
In 2000 , the AMA began yield theBessie Stringfield Awardto women who are leadership in motorcycling . And in 2002 , Bessie was inducted posthumously into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame .
She was a dominion - breaker , an icon , an adventurer . A free spirit who managed to dwell life on her own term . I never gave much retainer to the fact that had it not been for the braveness and boldness of someone like Stringfield , I might not be able to zip around comparatively unharmed on America ’s highway as a woman . teach her account has made an indelible notion on me and I do n’t cerebrate I ’ll ever be able to sit down astride my Harley again without thinking of all she give me and countless other women — of any raceway — who love riding with knees in the breaking wind .
