Patrice "Foxy" Johnson went to Myrtle Beach for a Memorial Day weekend getaway about 30 years ago and found herself amid an annual bike week with thousands of riders. Watching women ride on the backs of male motorcyclists, she decided she wanted to ride herself. She enrolled in a foundational bike riding class at Johnston Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina, and has since become a leader in the Black motorcycle community nationwide.
History on wheels
Black motorcycle clubs date back to the 1940s after World War II. They formed as a response to exclusion from white motorcycle clubs and labor discrimination under Jim Crow. Today, clubs host rides, picnics and gatherings nearly every summer weekend.
Johnson is the Carolinas ambassador for Black Girls Ride (BGR), founded in 2011 to support women of color in motorsports. BGR holds meetups in cities like Houston, Daytona Beach and Los Angeles, and participates in the Essence Festival in New Orleans. About 250 to 300 members typically attend. "The police officers will clear the street for us to walk down Bourbon Street with a second line band," Johnson said. "We're chanting: 'Black Girls Ride! Black Girls Ride!' We're dancing in the street." BGR once raised over $30,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of New Orleans.
The Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club, one of the largest with about 5,000 members, is named after all-Black military units from 1866. Air force veteran Randy Hayward, known as Detroit Randy, recalled a memorial ride called The Buffalo Thunder from Washington DC to Detroit: "We rode through communities and everybody had their flag out … Black soldiers may not have been celebrated when they came home." The club holds a July convention in cities like Tampa, Florida, and Mobile, Alabama, with safety training, rides, cookouts and outreach. "The best way to fellowship is on two wheels," Hayward said, noting rides to historic sites like Black Wall Street and the home of Col Charles Young.
An investment in experiences and freedom
Membership requirements vary. Anthony "Zeke" Settle, national president of the Black Stallions Motorcycle Club, says members must be 21, own a motorcycle bigger than 600cc, complete a three-month probation, cross four state lines and attend events. Financial costs are high: a basic 600cc sports bike costs at least $10,000 used, while top-of-the-line models run $30,000. Photographer and author Alvin C Jacobs Jr spent over $50,000 on his most recent bike. "It's an expensive hobby and the average millennial is broke," he said.
Jacobs' son, Hassan Jacobs, a millennial rider who served eight years in the military, is not club-affiliated but values the freedom: "I feel like when I'm on the open road, particularly on a bike, I am able to move freely at speeds that don't constrain me… It's almost like having a new body to glide through the road with. Freedom."
Shanika "Tru" Beatty, founder and president of Caramel Curves, an all-Black women's motorcycle club founded in 2005, says they support each other with maintenance tips and financing options. "At the end of the day, motorcycling isn't just an expense to us. It's an investment in experiences, friendships, personal growth and freedom." The club has 31 members across two chapters in New Orleans and Atlanta.
Phillip "Dutch" Boyd discovered riding during the pandemic and later joined The Flaming Knights, founded in 1968. The club recently attended Bike Week in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where about 200 bikers gathered. "One of the biggest misconceptions is that Black motorcycle culture is only about clubs, leather and looking tough," Beatty said. "In reality, it's about community, family, freedom and giving back."
