B.B. - Motorcycle Queen of Miami

1911 - 1993

I have just come across the truly amazing, Bessie Stringfield aka B.B. who was the first African-American woman to ride across the USA.

Bessie was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1911.   The family moved to Boston but sadly her parents died when she was 5 years old and she was adopted by an Irish woman.  At the age of 16, Bessie taught herself to ride a motorbike and would throw pennies onto a map of the USA which she would call her "penny tours"  which would decide where she would go on her road-trips.  Bessie would go on to travel through Brazil, Haiti and parts of Europe.

Bessie was the first coloured woman to make eight long-distance solo trips across the US visiting places in the South which were well known for their racial prejudice often sleeping at other coloureds houses or sleeping on her bike.

During WWII, Bessie served as a civilian courier for the US Army riding her own blue 1961 Harley.  Again a first - she was the only woman in her unit.

In the 1950s, Bessie moved to Miami where she was told by the local police that coloured women were not allowed to ride motorbikes but after visiting the police captain where they went to a nearby park where she showed off her biking skills, she gained his approval to ride and the harassment ceased.

She would also secretly enter riding contests as a man and after winning first prize would remove her helmet to reveal that she was a woman.   A lot of the time she was denied the prize money.  She also performed at stunt shows which is where the nickname "Motorcycle Queen of Miami" came about.

Bessie died in 1993 and in 2000,  the American Motorcycle Association created the Bessie Stringfield Award in which celebrates "women who have been instrumental in showing other woman they can be active participants in the world of motorcycling".  Bessie was also inducted into the Associations Hall of Fame.

An amazing lady.