Bessie Stringfield

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Bessie Stringfield (* 1911 or 1912 ; †  February 16, 1993 in Grandpa-locka ) was an American motorcyclist who was the first woman to cross the United States alone and the only woman among the civilian motorcyclists of the United States Army in World War II .

origin

Stringfield was born as Bessie Beatrice White and grew up in Edenton, North Carolina . According to his own statement, Stringfield was born in Jamaica in 1911, lost her mother and only came to the USA with her father. After he later left her in Boston, she was adopted by an Irish woman. Using social security and census data, and after speaking to a niece of Stringfield's, the New York Times researched that she was born in North Carolina and raised by her birth parents, whom she left as a teenager.

Life

When she was 16, she taught herself to ride a motorcycle on her first own motorcycle, an Indian Scout . At the age of 19 she started a tour of the 48 states of the Continental United States and during this time earned her living as a motorcycle stunt driver . Due to the color of her skin, she was sometimes refused accommodation on her travels; for example, because of her gender , she was allowed to participate in flat-track races, but she was excluded from the awards ceremony. During the Second World War, she worked four years on her own Harley-Davidson as a motorcycle rider for the US Army, transporting documents between military bases. During this time she crossed the United States about four times. Stringfield moved to Miami in the 1950s . The local police initially forbade her to ride a motorcycle because "nigger women are not allowed to drive motorcycles". After the police repeatedly tried to forbid her to ride a motorcycle, she turned to the local police chief, whom she was able to convince of her driving skills in a park, so that she could obtain a permit to ride a motorcycle in Miami and a driver's license. She later started training and worked as a nurse. Stringfield was the founder of the Iron Horse Motorcycle Club and was initially known as "The Negro Motorcycle Queen", later as "The Motorcycle Queen of Miami". She was married 6 times and kept her third husband's last name, Arthur Stringfield.

Appreciations

The American Motorcyclist Association's first Heroes of Harley-Davidson exhibit was dedicated to Stringfield in 1990. Among other things, 27 Harley-Davidson from Bessie Stringfield were exhibited. The American Motorcyclist Association Bessie Stringfield Award , first presented in 2000 , was named after her and she was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2017 the film "Meet Bessie Stringfield, the Black Motorcycle Queen" was released.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ American Motorcyclist May 1993 p. 67
  2. ↑ American Motorcyclist June 1996 p. 31

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Stringfield, Bessie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American female motorcyclist
DATE OF BIRTH 1911 or 1912
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 1993
Place of death Grandpa-locka