Today in motorcycle history, June 11, 1996

                                            

 

 

  Hear Me Roar: Women, Motorcycles, and the Rapture of the Road by Anne Ferrar is released.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

   "Hear Me Roar" traces the history of women on motorcycles, shedding light on women riders from the early 1900s to the modern era.  Society's perceptions of female riders are explored in the context of mass media, fashion, entertainment and motor sports, where female bikers have always been viewed either as progressive icons, or through the lens of tired stereotypes.

  More than 100 female riders are shown and/or interviewed, including such    exemplary women in the first half of the 20th century as Bessie Stringfield, the African American “Motorcycle Queen of Miami” in the pre-Civil Rights era ; the Van Buren sisters, among the first women to cross the continent on the eve of America's entry into World War I and Dot Robinson, sidecar endurance champion and Motor Maids co-founder.  Riding further into the present day are Catharine Rambeau, who rode a dirt bike solo from Florida to Patagonia, South America; and Sue Slate and Gin Shear, Arctic adventure riders and founders of the first national motorcycle relay ride to benefit breast cancer research.  Plus many other ladies who refused to "sit down and be quiet".

  To research and write Hear Me Roar, Anne logged 30,000 miles on her own motorcycle, observing, and participating, in charity rides, poker runs, swap meets and biker bars across the United States.