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In broader society, where women are a small majority, their stories are underexposed. In motorcycling, where women have always been a minority, their stories are not often told at all.
Women's History Month is a good time to look back at some of those stories. You likely have heard some of them, such as the accomplishments of women who are in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. Some people still think a coast-to-coast ride across the United States is a big deal, but it was a much bigger deal in 1915 when Effie Hotchkiss did a round trip between New York and San Francisco with her mother, Avis, in a sidecar. Some people still think it takes daring for a woman to travel alone, but in the 1930s and 1940s Bessie Stringfield overcame dual obstacles as a Black woman and rode solo through all 48 states, including places where her race meant she couldn't even rent a room for the night. Lots of people still consider it a huge accomplishment when a woman wins a motorcycle race against men, but Dot Robinson was doing it in the 1940s — and that was only a small part of her impact on motorcycling.
And those are just a few of the better known stories. What about the many thousands of others?
A few years ago, Common Tread writer Andy Greaser wrote a piece alerting motorcyclists to the option of getting free images from the Library of Congress, including some historical motorcycle photos that would make great garage art. One photo that popped up in Andy's searches was a black-and-white image of a woman on her motorcycle in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. in 1937. The skimpy caption identified her as Mrs. Sally Halterman, the first "girl" to get a motorcycle license in the city. I wondered about the rest of the story.
Well, it turns out a bit of her story was preserved, because the Washington Post wrote an article about her and the resistance she overcame to get that license. At the time she pursued her motorcycle license, she was Miss Sally Robinson, and the Post reported her account of how she had to overcome the objections of the police officer authorized to issue her the license. He was clearly not in agreement that a woman should be riding a motorcycle.
In the Post article, she related how she first scored 80 on the written test and the officer told her that wasn't good enough, so she took it again and scored 92. She completed the riding test and the officer admitted she handled the machine well, but said he couldn't give her a license because he hadn't witnessed her starting it herself. Her arguments eventually wore down the officer — there was a bit of involvement from a lawyer along the way — and Sally got her ticket to ride.
Then there was another photo that popped up in the search, though it wasn't immediately apparent what it had to do with motorcycling. The photo from 1942 shows a woman identified as Joyce Puopolo sewing parachutes for the war effort. The short caption noted that she had previously been a motorcycle stunt rider in Hollywood.
Really? A woman motorcycle stunt rider in the movies before World War II? Parachutes are great and all, but that's the story I really want to hear. If anyone knows where to find it, let me know.
It all makes me wonder how many other great stories have been lost. It's never been that women don't or can't ride motorcycles or haven't contributed to motorcycling, but that we haven't done a good job of preserving their stories.
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