WEBVTT - How Did Bessie Stringfield Shape Motorcycle History?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, the production of iHeartRadio. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum. Here in the United States today, only about

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<v Speaker 1>twenty percent of motorcycle owners are women, and even that's

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<v Speaker 1>a dramatic rise in ownership over the past decade or so.

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<v Speaker 1>But nearly a century ago, a black woman was paving

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<v Speaker 1>the way. If you'll forgive the pun for other women riders,

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<v Speaker 1>Bessie Stringfield in the nineteen thirties, a time when women

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<v Speaker 1>hadn't even had the right to vote for very long,

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<v Speaker 1>Stringfield toured the country riding solo and supported herself performing

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<v Speaker 1>stunts along the way. Not much as known about her

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<v Speaker 1>early childhood, as she was born in nineteen eleven in

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<v Speaker 1>the American southeast, perhaps North Carolina. She received her first

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<v Speaker 1>motorcycle from her mother at age sixteen, a nineteen twenty

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<v Speaker 1>eight Indian scout, though she didn't yet know how to

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<v Speaker 1>ride before the article. This episode is based on how

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Work. Spoke with Anne Farrar, a journalist and the

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<v Speaker 1>author of springfields biography titled African American Queen of the Road.

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<v Speaker 1>Farar said quote, God taught her how to ride in

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<v Speaker 1>a dream. However, she learned it wouldn't have been easy.

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<v Speaker 1>A nineteen twenty eight scout probably weighed over seven hundred

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<v Speaker 1>pounds or three hundred kilos, and Stringfield was only about

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<v Speaker 1>five to five that's around one point six meters tall.

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<v Speaker 1>You have to be pretty fit to handle a bike

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<v Speaker 1>that big, especially when you don't have the leverage that

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit more height gives you. But in nineteen thirty,

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<v Speaker 1>at the age of nineteen, Stringfield took off on that

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<v Speaker 1>scout on her first solo tour, a ride without any

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<v Speaker 1>route or destination plan. She tossed a coin over a

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<v Speaker 1>map and rode to the location where it landed. And

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<v Speaker 1>she did this without the benefit of today's interstate highway

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<v Speaker 1>systems of neatly paved roads, and nor did she have

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<v Speaker 1>roadside service. If something broke down. She had to be

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<v Speaker 1>both rider and mechanic and contend with that heavy scout

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<v Speaker 1>on gravel and sand. At the time, it was very

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<v Speaker 1>rare for women to ride, and she was a black

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<v Speaker 1>woman transversing the Jim Crow South pre civil rights era.

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<v Speaker 1>Ferrar said that Stringfield faced discrimination along the way and

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<v Speaker 1>was turned away from motels and forced to sleep on

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<v Speaker 1>her bike instead. Neither easy nor comfortable She was threatened

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<v Speaker 1>on occasion, and one time was intentionally run off the

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<v Speaker 1>road by a white man in a pickup truck. Ferar

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<v Speaker 1>said the Bessie's superpower was her ability to not focus

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<v Speaker 1>on struggle, but rather in how she reacted to each

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<v Speaker 1>situation and each individual. Bessie was too modest to see

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<v Speaker 1>herself as particularly special. That first ride at age nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>was only the beginning of her two wheeled independence. Between

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen thirties and her death in nineteen ninety three,

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<v Speaker 1>a Stringfield wound up riding solo across the United States

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<v Speaker 1>in eight separate trips, the first woman to ever do so.

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<v Speaker 1>She supported herself by performing motorcycle stunts at fairs, including

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<v Speaker 1>the Wall of Death, in which a large wooden cylinder

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<v Speaker 1>is constructed and while viewers watch from the top, motor

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<v Speaker 1>cyclists ride so fast that they climbed the vertical walls.

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<v Speaker 1>Stringfield also competed in flat track races, riding over oval

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<v Speaker 1>dirt tracks. One story recounts how she was denied prize

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<v Speaker 1>money after removing her helmet and revealing that she was

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<v Speaker 1>a woman. She even used her riding talents and service

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<v Speaker 1>to her country, a country that was still segregated as

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<v Speaker 1>a civilian courier in the early nineteen forties. During World

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<v Speaker 1>War Two, she carried mail and documents between bases for

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<v Speaker 1>the US Army. She was the only woman in an

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<v Speaker 1>all black unit. By the nineteen fifties, Stringfield settled in Miami,

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<v Speaker 1>where she became a licensed practical nurse and founded the

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<v Speaker 1>Iron Horse Motorcycle Club. She was known around town for

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<v Speaker 1>riding her bike to work in church, though, according to

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<v Speaker 1>a feature in the June nineteen ninety six issue of

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<v Speaker 1>American Motorcyclist magazine, she was initially given a hard time

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<v Speaker 1>by local police. She went to see the Captain, who

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<v Speaker 1>challenged her to a series of tricks and figure eights,

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<v Speaker 1>which she performed with ease. Stringfield got her license and

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<v Speaker 1>the her rassment stopped. She eventually became known as the

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<v Speaker 1>motorcycle Queen of Miami. During her six decades of riding,

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<v Speaker 1>Stringfield owned twenty seven Harley Davidson motorcycles and rode more

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<v Speaker 1>than a million miles, hitting all forty eight of the

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<v Speaker 1>continental United States, a plus one on motorcycle trips in Brazil, Europe,

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<v Speaker 1>and Haiti. While Stringfield may not appear to have had

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<v Speaker 1>a direct influence on the civil rights movement, she perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>unknowingly empowered those around her. Ferrar said Bessie made an

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<v Speaker 1>impression on people in her community, who were proud of

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<v Speaker 1>her and always pleased to see this independent black woman

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<v Speaker 1>on a Harley riding around town. A. Ferrara met Stringfield

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen ninety at the American Motorcycle Association's Motorcycle Heritage Museum.

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<v Speaker 1>Stringfield was seventy nine years old and part of the

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<v Speaker 1>inaugural exhibit Women in Motorcycling, and Farrar was then a

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<v Speaker 1>newly minted biker. The two women became friends, and Stringfield

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<v Speaker 1>asked Ferrar to write her biography. Ferrar recorded numerous conversations

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<v Speaker 1>with Stringfield during her final three years so she could

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<v Speaker 1>help others recognize her achievements. In the year two thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>the American Motorcycle Association began giving the Bessie Stringfield Award

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<v Speaker 1>to women leaders in motorcycling, and in two thousand and two,

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<v Speaker 1>Bessie was inducted posthumously into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

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<v Speaker 1>The writer of the article that this episode is based on,

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<v Speaker 1>Sherise Cunningham, is a woman motorcyclist herself I don't ride.

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<v Speaker 1>The things in this episode about the physical difficulty of

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<v Speaker 1>writing are from her. I wanted to end this one.

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<v Speaker 1>Quoting Scherise on why she wrote this piece, she said

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<v Speaker 1>Stringfield was a rule breaker, an icon, an adventurer, a

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<v Speaker 1>free spirit who managed to live her life on her

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<v Speaker 1>own terms. I never gave much consideration to the fact

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<v Speaker 1>that had it not been for the bravery and boldness

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<v Speaker 1>of someone like Stringfield, I might not be able to

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<v Speaker 1>zip around relatively unscathed on America's highways as a woman.

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<v Speaker 1>Learning her story has made an indelible impression on me,

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<v Speaker 1>and I don't think I'll ever be able to sit

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<v Speaker 1>astride my Harley again without thinking of all she gave me.

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<v Speaker 1>Countless other women of any race who enjoy riding with

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<v Speaker 1>knees in the wind. Today's episode is based on the

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<v Speaker 1>article Hidden History on two Wheels, The Story of Bessie

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<v Speaker 1>Springfield on HowStuffWorks dot com, written by Shrees Cunningham. Brainstuff

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<v Speaker 1>is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks

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