The impetus for Shantell Williams\u2019 27-day motorcycle journey began in third grade, although she didn\u2019t realize it until years later. A class lesson about slavery impacted her deeply. \u201cI was hurting, and I remember trying to ignore it,\u201d she recalls. After school, she asked her mother, \u201cWho\u2019s a famous hero that looks like me, and not Harriet Tubman?\u201d In those pre-internet days, it was a question that couldn\u2019t be answered by a simple Google search. \u201cI remember watching TV, just to see someone who looked like me. And I remember I started wishing I was other races, because that\u2019s the only thing you\u2019re seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thirty years later, Shantell found her hero. Her husband, Cobbin, showed her a black and white photograph of Bessie Stringfield perched jauntily atop her motorcycle, \u201cand I went, \u2018Oh, she looks like me. And he goes, \u2018No, you look like her.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her curiosity piqued, Shantell scoured the internet. \u201cI remember going to Google, and it just sparked something in me. I went back to third grade learning about slavery, and trying not to let it show that I felt bad. And suppressing [my feelings] until I was 40 years old, my husband showing me that picture, I realized, \u2018So there was<\/em> someone!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though she\u2019d only ridden a short time, Shantell knew what she had to do, telling her husband, \u201cListen, I\u2019m going to do 48 states. I know the kids start school in three weeks, but if Bessie did this in the \u201930s and \u201940s, I can do it.\u201d That was on a Monday, and she left the following Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n Leap of Faith<\/strong> Shantell persevered through long riding days, buoyed by random conversations with strangers at gas stations and encounters with children along with way. \u201cI could see [the curiosity] in kids\u2019 faces and the questions they\u2019d ask,\u201d she explains. \u201cLike, \u2018How\u2019d you get the bike; who taught you to ride?\u2019 And to share those stories with them, you could see the lights come on. I could relate because I knew how I would feel as an eight-year-old girl seeing a woman like me riding a bike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although she rode solo, Shantell was accompanied by what she calls her \u201cMini Me\u201d \u2013 a Muppet-like doll strapped to the passenger seat, complete with dreadlocks and a Harley-Davidson T-shirt \u2013 and that led to some interesting encounters. \u201cI got stopped in Utah by a police officer,\u201d she says. Apprehensive at first, she noticed the policeman laughing as he approached her. \u201cAnd he goes, \u2018We got nine 911 calls saying there\u2019s a Black lady riding a bike with a baby on the back!\u2019 And I was like, \u2018That\u2019s Mini Me!\u2019 and he says, \u2018Oh yeah, I\u2019ve been following you; I can see it\u2019s a Muppet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two Heroes<\/strong> Find out more about Bessie Stringfield at insurance.harley-davidson.com\/the-open-road\/profiles\/bessie-stringfield<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hog.thecreativeplot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Shantell-Williams-MUST-CREDIT-MIKE-DUNN-2-1024x1024.jpg\")
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Shantell, a mother of 10 and owner of Shantell\u2019s Just Until, a popular southern and soul food restaurant in downtown Sanford, Florida, hit the road in late July of 2016. She embarked with no planned route, limited funds, and no specific agenda, other than to draw attention to Bessie\u2019s accomplishments. \u201cI have a lot of faith. And faith brings courage. A lot of times, I\u2019d try to have a plan, and then I\u2019d laugh,\u201d Shantell remembers. \u201cI\u2019d be overwhelmed, thinking I\u2019m going to do a thousand miles and I\u2019d be very discouraged after, say, five hundred. So I\u2019d go, \u2018OK, Shantell. We\u2019re just gonna do three to five gas tanks [each day], and that number would psych me up.\u201d Knowing what Bessie faced also helped keep Shantell going. \u201cBessie did this before the interstates. Before it was safe for a Black woman to ride, so she\u2019d have her goggles, helmet, and face mask; you didn\u2019t know if she was male, female, Black, or white. Not to mention Jim Crow America at that time, not just in the South.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back home in Sanford, Florida, Shantell is now working to produce a television program called \u201cShut Up and Ride Show<\/strong><\/a>\u201d and last year, she re-rode the 48 states accompanied by a video crew. Shantell may have found her<\/em> hero, but along the way she has also given a new generation of young girls two <\/em>heroes to look up to: Bessie Stringfield and <\/em>Shantell Williams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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