Contribution: an American motorcyclist who was the first African-American woman to ride across the United States solo, and was one of the few civilian motorcycle dispatch riders for the US Army during World War II.
Age: 82 (1911 - 1993)
Mini Bio:
Nicknamed the “Motorcycle Queen of Miami,” Bessie Stringfield was a dispatch rider for the United States Army in the 1940s — at a time when motorcycle riding was considered “unladylike.” When other women were relegated to housework, Stringfield revved and roared through Florida’s palm-tree-lined streets on her Harley-Davidson, sharing stories with friends of being chased off the road in the Jim Crow South and doing carnival stunts on the Wall of Death. Today, hundreds of women motorcyclists make an annual cross-country trek in her honor.
Comments
0 comment