Bessie Stringfield
"Motorcycle Queen of Miami"
In March 2024 I wrote about pioneering Catholic motorcyclist Bessie Stringfield and the award-winning documentary of her life “Motorcycle Queen of Miami.” Today, we learn that the Harley Davidson Museum (she owned 27 Harleys!) in Milwaukee has created an exhibition display in her memory. It opened September 25 and will be on display for three years.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1911, she was brought to the United States as a young child. Orphaned by her natural father, she was later adopted. 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 [adoptive] 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.”1
She completed 8 cross-country tours and during World War II served as a US Army motorcycle dispatch rider. She died in 1993—her obituary from the Miami Herald:
nationalmcmuseum.org
Truly fantastic!
Another treasure unearthed and shared. Is there no end to the different ways of living for God as a Catholic?