Hear Me Roar: Women, Motorcycles and the Rapture of the Road, New Ed.

by Ann Ferrar

Hear Me Women, Motorcycles and the Rapture of the Road  was the first book to chronicle the hidden history of American women bikers throughout the 20th century. First published in 1996 and groundbreaking in its day, this book of narrative non-fiction explores a hidden facetof women's progression and personal mobility. Journalist, author andbiker Ann Ferrar covers an array of daring but unknown women who wentagainst type in a male-dominated milieu. 
Among the earliest hidden rule-breakers in the book is Bessie Stringfield(1911-1993), an African American motorcycling pioneer who traversed thecontinent on her Harley-Davidsons in the pre-Civil Rights era. AuthorAnn Ferrar, who knew Stringfield personally, recorded the only soundrecordings of Bessie Stringfield in existence. The result was Ferrar'scompelling and colorful true story "Bessie B. The ColorBlue," featured in Chapter Two of Hear Me Roar . This authentic,primary-sourced story by Ferrar was the first to introduce the amazingbut unknown Bessie Stringfield to the world. (SeeBessieStringfieldBook.com for more on this.)
 
Another popular true story in  Hear Me Roar is that of the Van Buren sisters, who in 1916 rode across the USA onIndian Scout motorcycles to prove that women would be fit to serve asdispatch riders in World War I. Ferrar's story "Dot A Rebel in a Pink Disguise" brings to life 1930's sidecar enduranceracer Dot Robinson of the Motor Maids. Despite her gritty determinationas an endurance racer through the woods of Michigan, after she retiredfrom the sport, Dot was known for riding pink Harleys with matching pink outfits.
 
Moving on to the second half of the 20th century, Hear Me Roar looks at dozens of spirited, independent women who excelled inmotorcycle sports and distinguished themselves in different bikersubcultures. These women Becky Brown of Ohio, who in the late1970's founded the international club Women in the Wind; and Sue Slateand Gin Shear of upstate New York, who in the 1990's began the Women'sMotorcyclist Foundation and launched the Pony Express National Ride forBreast Cancer Research. Approximately 100 women bikers are featured in Hear Me Roar , with chapters on female road-racers, nitro-fueled drag-racers andmotocross racers. There is a chapter on veteran female adventure riders, Catharine Rambeau, then 61, who rode her dirt bike named"Mojo" from Florida to the southern tip of South America; and AmyMullins, then 62, who rode her Harley from Michigan up into the Canadian Yukon on the Alcan Highway. The author even explores how Americanfemale bikers have been perceived in the movies, media and fashion. This had never been done before. There are some 100 black-and-white photos in the book, ranging from originalvintage photos of Bessie Stringfield and the Van Buren sisters to rareshots of celebrity bikers like K.D. Lang on her Harley in the 1990's and a young Ann-Margret on her Triumph in the 1960's.
 
This award-winning book is the original women's motorcycling "bible." Accept no imitations. The first edition of Hear Me Roar ( Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1996) and the later printing ( WhitehorsePress, 2000) are identical except for an extra preface by the author and a slightly enhanced cover title design on the later printing.The back of the book has a chapter on rider safety techniques and anoverview of major motorcycle rallies, from the Black Hills Motor Classic in Sturgis, SD to Daytona Bike Week in Florida. There is also anow-dated directory of manufacturers' bike models, women's clubs,businesses and other resources, which is interesting as a periodartifact. Like the rest of this compelling book of true stories, it hadnever been done before.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Motorcycle

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 1996

Reviews

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit that I skimmed through the motor cross chapter. That’s just not my thing. It’s incredible what women have accomplished, including black women pre civil rights era, on motor cycles that have never made it into the history books. I understand that the racing records wouldn’t make it, but the push to use bikes during WWI alone should have been worth mentioning. They proved it could be done. It makes me miss riding that much more.

[Theophilus (Theo) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. A fast-paced (of course, it's about motorcyclists) history of women motorcyclists. Goes way back and tells of some of the brave women who claimed part of a so-called man's world as their own. Absolutely fearless women such as Effie Hotchkiss and her mother Avis, who rode their Harley-Davidson motorcycle (with a sidecar for Mom) from Brooklyn, NY to San Francisco, and back, in 1915. There were not even paved roads all of the way across the United States at that time.

During the 1920s, a young African American woman decided ride her motorcycle across the country also. Bessie Stringfield was only 19 at the time, and she did it solo, then rode through all of the lower 48 states, Europe, Brazil, and Haiti.

There were many others. Ann Ferrar tells us about them and their proud legacy. Things that were left out of the history books. These were women who refused to follow the fifties examples of June Cleaver and Harriet Nelson, not that there's anything wrong with stay-at-home Moms. But Ferrar brings to light that women have hurdled many obstacles through the years, not just socially and economically, but in the so-called rough and tumble world of motorcycling. A great, easy read for adults and teens, girls and boys whether or not you ride a motorcycle.