She Was The First African American Woman To Ever Ride A Motorcycle Alone Across America

xkolba - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only
xkolba - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only

If you love riding or learning about motorcycles, you should know who the “Motorcycle Queen of Miami” is!

It was Bessie Stringfield, a motorcyclist who admirably became the first African American woman to ride a motorcycle solo across the United States during World War II.

The details of Bessie’s childhood and upbringing are still mysterious to scholars, but she was born around 1911 and raised in Boston, Massachusetts.

Many believe she was born in Jamaica and later adopted; others say her parents raised her in North Carolina.

Bessie was gifted her first motorcycle at the age of 16. It was a 1928 Indian Scout, and she took that bike on a solo adventure when she was 19 in 1930.

She had no specific plan for where she wanted to go but was desperate to ride, so she’d flip a coin onto a map of America and go wherever it landed.

One of the most fascinating parts about Bessie’s journeys on motorcycles was how she’d ride through southern states during the Jim Crow era. She’d face extreme racism and, at times, was chased down the road by angry mobs of white people.

Yet, she kept riding and kept wowing people with her skills.

Bessie would also perform stunts on her motorcycle at fairs and carnivals. In the early 1940s, Bessie served as a civilian motorcycle dispatch rider for the U.S. Army.

xkolba – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only

She was the only woman in her unit and would carry mail and documents between army bases during WWII.

Since receiving that motorcycle when she was a teen, Bessie rode across the United States eight times throughout her life, making her the first African American woman to do so. She moved to Miami in the 1950s and became a licensed nurse.

She also founded a motorcycle club in the city, despite discrimination she had to put up with from a local police officer.

One day, she was pulled over by an officer and told that Black women couldn’t ride motorcycles in Miami. Bessie proved that officer wrong after performing a series of outstanding tricks on her bike, which was how she earned her title as the “Motorcycle Queen of Miami.”

Besides continuing to ride across the United States, Bessie also did international tours on her Harley Davidson motorcycles, stopping in Europe, Brazil, and Haiti.

Bessie passed away at 81 in 1993 due to a heart condition. She was posthumously inducted into the American Motorcyclist Association Hall of Fame in 2002.

Bessie defied social norms, marched to the beat of her own drummer, and still inspires women who want to defy the odds.

If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe

In 2014, She Vanished From Alaska In The Middle Of The Night, And Her Purse Was Later Found Buried In The Snow Along A Hiking Trail

She Was Considered A Pioneer Of Modern Indian Art For The Way That She Portrayed Indian Women In The 1930s

Instead Of Tossing Your Coffee Grounds, You Can Actually Use Them To Help Your Garden 

She Told Her Stepson He Had To Stay Home To Watch Her Son While The Rest Of The Family Went On Vacation, Which Made Him Cry

After A Really Tough Week, She Got Into A Fight With A Woman Over A Donut At A Coffee Shop

Doctors Are Prescribing Drug Combinations That Have A High Potential For Addiction Without Combined Clinical Trial Testing, New Research Found

Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.

Mentioned In This Article:

More About: