A chapter for Boston Black Athletes: Essays on Representation and Resistance, Lexington Books, 2024
Excerpt: Kittie Knox. They tried to keep her in a long skirt and on a “ladies’” bike and slow her down, and they tried to kick her out of the League of American Wheelmen. A “scorcher” and 100-mile (century) cyclist of Boston in the 1890s, she defied norms about what proper women should look like and do on a bike, and racial restrictions. This is the story of her resistance, persistence, and opportunities, and the story of her communities, her supporters, and her opponents.
Topics
Introduction
Beginnings
The Boston Context
Dancing and Cycling
The L.A.W. and the Color Bar
The Contentious Cycling Season of 1895
The Return to Boston: Successes and Barriers
Prominence
Isham’s Octoroons and Oriental America
Decline and Death
Legacy
Conclusions
Notes on Racial Nomenclature
Bicycling History 