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afropunk the black rock and punk music movement and film
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CALVINCHAOS
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Joined: 28 Apr 2003
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Location: CHICAGO, Land Of The Hippies
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 Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 6:19 pm Post subject: Black Bikers |
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as some of you know, there has long been a history of black motorcycle clubs, both outlaw and not in our country. this is just a post for random thoughts on black bikers...kinda sparked off by the fact that i been seein a lot in the past 2 weeks, due to the good weather we been havin in Chicago
personally i might get one a these...(Honda Shadow)
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tony_tone
afropunk: community leader
Joined: 30 May 2005
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Location: texas
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| Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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straight up!  |
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CALVINCHAOS
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| Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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i myself am lookin at a Shadow VLX when i get some loot in my pocket again, but i'm gonna go shoppin for some used ones and pick the best deal. i dig pretty much every Shadow i ever seen. gotta get a nice lil saddle for my "old lady" to ride on the back too...lol
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iluvtha80s
afropunk: community legend
Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 2490
Location: anywhere, Philadelphia
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| Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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| there's a bike club here in west philly that's been around forever. |
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egretcompound
afropunk: community legend
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 4546
Location: In search of the efficient frontier, Southern Cali
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KenKRK
afropunk: community legend
Joined: 03 Mar 2005
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Location: Oxon Hill, Maryland
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:16 am Post subject: |
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That Honda Shadow is no joke!
But yeah, I've definitely noticed a lot of black biker clubs, or just groups of men and women who just ride together unofficially. I've seen plenty of brothas ridin' the big Harleys and whatnot down the highway, and eventually, I'd like to give it a try, see how it suits me. Of course you've also got those crotch rocket kids who go so fast, if they hit a wall, they're basically liquified!
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DeliusIsUnderTheIvy
afropunk: community advocate
Joined: 30 Jul 2005
Posts: 159
Location: SC,USA
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 11:01 am Post subject: |
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They even have a club in this shitty ass city I live in in South Carolina. It's called The Black Cats club. My dad and uncle's a part of it. According to him....."If it ain't a Harley....it ain't a motorcycle" He KNOWS a Harley when he hears it too.  I honestly could care less about bikes, but I do love the Harley logo.
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rosenda
afropunk: community legend
Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 20108
Location: Aztlan, Califas
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 11:25 am Post subject: |
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I saw a place out in South Bay area, past Ingelwatts but before Long Beach, that had a large group of older black men and their bikes out front once. I asked my sister if she knew about them, and she said they are a motorcycle group that originally founded during the 40's and 50's out here among a group of black men and women who had L.A. County jobs who were also into riding, and they have been together ever since, continuing to get new members here and there.
I dont remember the name she told me; perhaps the LA King Cobras? not sure. Yea Delia I been hearing that about Harleys for YEARS. These dudes I saw out in South Bay ALL had Harley's lined up on the street out front.
I had NO idea there'd be SO MANY GROUPS across the US until I saw this page with links:
http://www.blackrefer.com/black_motorcycle_clubs.html
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CALVINCHAOS
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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good links...you got any idea if the Warlords (black) are still around? there was a white Warlords too i think, but the Hell's Angels had a BIG problemin the 70s with the black Warlords.
I have heard a lot of good things about Brothers of the Sun too.
anybody know of any good Black Biker magazines, or if one even exists??
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Ghettopunkrocker
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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There are a few bikers in MD.
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MoleMan
afropunk: community activist
Joined: 11 Jul 2005
Posts: 59
Location: Detroit (Downtown)
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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Those are some really nice looking motorbikes. Wonder if there are black bikers here in D-town.
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sceneless
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Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Posts: 1346
Location: Back in cold ass MI
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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| MoleMan wrote: | | Those are some really nice looking motorbikes. Wonder if there are black bikers here in D-town. |
Shitloads...I seen most of them on the west side though.
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Biggins Goodman
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jahluv
afropunk: community legend
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 3743
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 6:08 pm Post subject: Black Bikers |
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Couple of documentaries on Black biker lifestyle:
"Wheels of Soul" - Philly based biker club on the outlaw tip
"Glory Road: The Legacy of the African-American Motorcyclist" - history of Black biker culture
They can be found here - http://www.guerrilladocs.com/site/html/productions.html
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jahluv
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| Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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One more... taken from the Motorcycle Hall of Fame website
Bessie Stringfield
The life and times of African-American motorcycling pioneer Bessie B. Stringfield seem like the stuff of which legends are made. Bessie has been written about in books, magazines and newspapers. She has been mentioned in television documentaries, and someday there may be a film dramatization based on her life story. In 1990, when the AMA opened the first Motorcycle Heritage Museum, Bessie was featured in its inaugural exhibit on Women in Motorcycling. A decade later, the AMA instituted the Bessie Stringfield Award to honor women who are leaders in motorcycling. And in 2002, she was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
Bessie – BB as she was known among friends – would probably be amused and yet proud of all the attention. Referring to her adventures and her 60-plus years of riding, she once quipped: "I was somethin'! What I did was fun and I loved it."
In the 1930s and 1940s, Bessie took eight long-distance, solo rides across the United States. Speaking to a reporter, she dismissed the notion that "nice girls didn’t go around riding motorcycles in those days." Further, she was apparently fearless at riding through the Deep South when racial prejudice was a tangible threat. Was Bessie consciously championing the rights of women and African-Americans? Bessie would most likely have said she was simply living her life in her own way.
In interviews with author Ann Ferrar, Bessie revealed how she drew courage from two things: Her Catholic faith in Jesus Christ, whom she called "The Man Upstairs," and the values she learned from her adoptive mother.
Early on, Bessie had to steel herself against life’s disappointments. Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1911, as a child she was brought to Boston but was orphaned by age 5.
"An Irish lady raised me," she recalled. "I’m not allowed to use her name. She gave me whatever I wanted. When I was in high school I wanted a motorcycle. And even though good girls didn’t ride motorcycles, I got one."
She was 16 when she climbed aboard her first bike, a 1928 Indian Scout. With no prior knowledge of how to operate the controls, Bessie proved to be a natural. She insisted that the Man Upstairs gave her the skills.
"My [Irish] mother said if I wanted anything I had to ask Our Lord Jesus Christ, and so I did," she said. "He taught me and He’s with me at all times, even now. When I get on the motorcycle I put the Man Upstairs on the front. I’m very happy on two wheels."
She was especially happy on Milwaukee iron. Her one Indian notwithstanding, Bessie said of the 27 Harleys she owned in her lifetime, "To me, a Harley is the only motorcycle ever made."
At 19, she began tossing a penny over a map and riding to wherever it landed. Bessie covered the 48 lower states. Using her natural skills and can-do attitude, she did hill climbing and trick riding in carnival stunt shows. But it was her faith that got her through many nights.
"If you had black skin you couldn’t get a place to stay," she said. "I knew the Lord would take care of me and He did. If I found black folks, I’d stay with them. If not, I’d sleep at filling stations on my motorcycle." She laid her jacket on the handlebars as a pillow and rested her feet on the rear fender.
In between her travels, Bessie wed and divorced six times, declaring, "If you kissed, you got married." After she and her first husband were deeply saddened by the loss of three babies, Bessie had no more children. Upon divorcing her third husband, Arthur Stringfield, she said, "He asked me to keep his name because I’d made it famous!"
During World War II, Bessie worked for the army as a civilian motorcycle dispatch rider. The only woman in her unit, she completed rigorous training maneuvers. She learned how to weave a makeshift bridge from rope and tree limbs to cross swamps, though she never had to do so in the line of duty. With a military crest on the front of her own blue Harley, a "61," she carried documents between domestic bases.
Bessie encountered racial prejudice on the road. One time she was followed by a man in a pickup truck who ran her off the road, knocking her off her bike. She downplayed her courage in coping with such incidents. "I had my ups and downs," she shrugged.
In the 1950s, Bessie bought a house in a Miami, Florida suburb. She became a licensed practical nurse and founded the Iron Horse Motorcycle Club. Disguised as a man, Bessie won a flat track race but was denied the prize money when she took off her helmet. Her other antics – such as riding while standing in the saddle of her Harley – attracted the local press. Reporters called her the "Negro Motorcycle Queen" and later the "Motorcycle Queen of Miami." In the absence of children, Bessie found joy in her pet dogs, some of whom paraded with her on her motorcycle.
Late in life, Bessie suffered from symptoms caused by an enlarged heart. "Years ago the doctor wanted to stop me from riding," she recalled. "I told him if I don’t ride, I won’t live long. And so I never did quit."
Before she died in 1993 at the age of 82, Bessie said, "They tell me my heart is three times the size it’s supposed to be." An apt metaphor for this unconventional woman whose heart and spirited determination have touched so many lives.
  
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Know, that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it is peopled by Black women, without any man among them, for they live in the manner of Amazons - Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo (1510) |
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