Celebrating Bessie Stringfield: The Motorcycle Queen of Miami

Brand Switch

Bessie Stringfield was still a teenager when she got her first motorcycle — a 1928 Indian Scout. She did not know how to ride, but Stringfield was determined to learn. She later switched brands, stating in a Miami Herald retrospective article, “I never wanted any other bike but a Harley-Davidson.” Twenty-seven Big Twins later, in 1993, Stringfield passed away at age eighty-one. 

Trailblazer Hero

The passion for riding knows no bounds. In pre-civil rights, pre-interstate highway era, Stringfield became a true trailblazer and hero for two-wheeled women everywhere. In 1930, at age nineteen, she became the first black woman to ride solo across the United States. Later, she made seven more long-distance trips, eventually riding through every state. Her international destinations included Europe, Brazil, and Haiti.

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Denied Prize

Stringfield navigated by tossing a penny on a map and riding to wherever it landed. As she crisscrossed the country she earned money at carnivals and county fairs performing motorcycle stunts. She also competed in local flat track events and hill climbs. She once won a race but was denied the prize when it was realized she was a woman.

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Filling Stations

Prejudice was a constant battle, but Stringfield had faith and a can-do attitude. Turned away from motels in segregated states, Stringfield relied on the kindness of strangers and a bit of divine intervention. She recounted, “I knew the Lord would take care of me and he did.” Otherwise Stringfield used her bike as a bed, stating, “I’d sleep at filling stations on my motorcycle.”

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Adopted Account

Born in Edenton, North Carolina, as Bessie Beatrice White in 1912, Stringfield later took the last name of her third husband. She eventually married six times. In the popular account of Stringfield's life, her family migrated to Boston when she was young. Her parents died of smallpox when she was just five and Stringfield was adopted and raised by an Irish family.

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Day Job

When America entered World War II, Stringfield volunteered and worked for the army as a civilian motorcycle dispatch rider. In the 1950s, she bought a house in a suburb of Miami, Florida, and became a licensed practical nurse (LPN). Despite having a day job, she continued performing in exhibitions and established the Iron Horse motorcycle club — which she rode with until she was eighty.

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Motorcycle Queen

Three years before her death, Stringfield was honored in the inaugural Heroes of Harley-Davidson exhibition. In 2000, the American Motorcyclist Association created the Bessie Stringfield Memorial Award to recognize outstanding achievements by women motorcyclists. In 2002, she was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, but perhaps her most notable legacy was the unofficial title, 'Motorcycle Queen of Miami.'

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Heart Condition

In 2017, a short online film about Stringfield's life was viewed twenty million times, and The New York Times published her obituary in Overlooked — a series featuring unrecognized prominent people. While Stringfield suffered from a lifelong heart condition, she was quoted a decade before her death as saying, “I told the doctor that if I don't ride, I won't live long. And so, I never did quit.”

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