We are rolling way back to the late 1800s on this episode to talk about Kittie Knox, a female African American cyclist who as a teenager took cycling to a new level for both women and women of color. AP digs deep into Kittie’s life and what it was like to be a cyclist in the 1890s.
Sources for this episode:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kittie_Knox
Kittie Knox: The Black Cyclist and Activist Who Challenged Race and Gender Barriers in the 1890s
The Outer Line: The Kittie Knox Award – for equity, diversity and inclusion in cycling
https://www.kx3lifestyleandcoaching.com/blog/the-history-of-women-s-cycling
Nelson Vails Episode: https://soundcloud.com/justgobike/episode-214-meet-olympian-medalist-nelson-vails-retired-road-and-track-cyclist
Have a topic for a future episode? Message us at justgobikepodcast@gmail.com.
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www.murphologypodcast.com
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You’re listening to the justo bike podcast we’re all about the culture of bicycling just for the fun of it your host Kathy Murphy from the morphology podcast and Andrea parrot from parrot talk are joined by a wide variety of guests each week that delve into the social site of cycling with Tales From
Ragb Nation come for the bikes stay for the fun and leave with a smile and now here are your host murf hey that’s me and AP and that’s me well hello AP hey murf what’s going on uh at the time of this recording spring has sprung the sun is
Shining the birds are chirping whatever other thing I’m supposed to say about spring well I’m a bird and I’m a chirping and my windows open so if you hear other birds chirping that’s why so it’s my favorite time of year I love gardening I just got all my seeds set up in the
Basement so they’re growing down there we got a couple Sprouts coming up already and the garlic in the garden has already shown itself so ooh yep so we are well on our way into spring even though I think maybe today is as of this recording this is the first day of
Spring yes yes but it sounds like you’re already a little bit ahead of the game but that’s fine because you know things take a while to grow well you know me I’m always ahead of the game listeners I am not always ahead of the game but well the other thing is
Outdoor events are starting to creep up at least for me on my calendar and um this past weekend I uh got to go down to Oklahoma Stillwater Oklahoma for an amazing gravel event called Mid South that is so cool I saw a bunch of your pics and your um Instagram stories and
It looked really really fun it was there were like so many people and they’re the vibe like they’re really good with their Vibe like it’s super friendly super inclusive um I think that they call it a race but you know like the very front of the pack those guys are definitely
Racing there some of them are pro cyclists um but then you have like the back of the Packers and the um the party pace and so it’s a little bit of everything it was it was I don’t know I I loved it um and I got to see a bunch
Of people that have been on uh either my podcast or the justco bike podcast so that was fun you know because a lot of times when we record it’s via the phone so it was fun to like yeah you know I feel like I already know these people like you know um Marley
Blansky and Kaylee kouser they were the uh founders of all bodies on bikes so they were both both there that was pretty pretty cool to see them and yeah um I got to give a shout out to the ride director so his name is Bobby wintle I
Think his last name is he has the most high energy of any like person I’ve ever met and okay listen to this I I probably should tell Mr Matt fippin our rag brry ride director this but this Bobby guy stands at the finish line and he hugs
Every single finisher a every single one a so a lot of people spent you know their whole day saying oh I can’t wait for my Bobby hug or you know like it’s he’s famous for it a well and was it is the ride difficult like was it were you
Worthy of a hug at the end I mean everyone’s worthy of a hug always but yeah it is super crazy it’s like gravel single track there’s water Crossings there’s mud there’s um a little bit of everything as far as gravel goes so I would say yes it’s a pretty extreme
Event and um extremely popular oh that sounds so fun and I didn’t know it was in Oklahoma so that’s kind of cool yeah I guess mids South that makes sense yeah okay so can I tell you one story that connects to today’s interview topic why of
Course okay so like I said you know this is Midsouth gravel it’s kind of a race it’s a timed event I should say that so you know if you want to be up in the front trying to actually get on the podium that’s great or you can be in the
Back of the pack blah BL blah so a lot of races that are timed events have you know the last place right and Riders In general call it dfl and it means dead effing last so dead freaking last literally means you are the last Rider and most people that
Are dfl they know they’re the last Rider because the support vehicle is bringing up the rear behind them so they know I remember this is exactly Beyond prde I know just what you’re talking about yeah exactly so um at Midsouth they have a huge party for the dfl rider and um you
Know it’s 100 miles and so the the race starts at like 8:00 in the morning the dfl rider this year rolled in 16 hours later wow so yeah and of course you know the the driver of the vehicle bringing up the dfl is in communication with the
Finish line so huge huge party I mean we’re talking a band we’re talking everyone jumping up and down there’s champagne you know being shaken and it’s it’s crazy like it’s meant to be a huge celebration for the dfl rider and so her name is Beth McBride and she ended up um
It was her first century ride her first century ride on gravel and she was the dfl and I’m going to say winner because they have like a trophy for her um you know uh what are the cows down there Longhorns so the the cows with the huge horns sticking out of the
Side of their heads they have a skull that’s a longhorn and that’s what the dfl gets so it’s just like I don’t know it was a huge celebration but here’s the best part is I was on a conference call with last night with my gravel camp that
I’m doing next month mhm and she’s in my gravel Camp oh oh how cool is that yeah so we went around to talk about our weekend and I’m like oh I was at Midsouth and she’s like you know when it got to her turn she’s like I was the dfl
And I’m like what so I’m going to try and get her on the podcast so it’s just like you know one more uh plug at you know women in history and women cyclist it it was pretty cool so I would I was gonna say she’s a one uper on you but I
Don’t know if you can really oneup anybody by being last but you’re right yeah that’s awesome it was impactful yeah that’s so cool um and a great Segway to this week’s episode which is a parrot talk about a woman in history named Kitty Knox who is not known for
Being dead freaking last but for doing Century rides and being a lot of fun and just generally sort of being um a boss babe not to demean her history of it anything but she was just a really cool person and a really cool someone I would
Have really loved to know um so um well I’ll tell you the story and the par talk let’s get to our episode all right Yep well hello this is Andrea and that’s right as promised this is parrot talk I thought I’d bring you a different type of story today I know I’m as surprised as you are that it’s not an old new newspaper column anyway it really nicely brings together my interest in history
And the themes of the last two months February which is Black History Month and March which is women’s History Month I was shocked that I’d never heard this story before so I thought I’d share it with you today since I’ve used a variety of sources for this article we have
Included the links in the show notes I especially appreciated the Articles from v/ outside online because they were really well written and interesting and I’ve used a great of their stories for this recording anyway today I’m going to tell you a little story about the incredible Kitty
Knox Kitty Knox was a cyclist and racer back in 1895 which is the very infancy of bike racing in the United States and in fact the whole world it was doubly incredible because she was a woman and she was black so she obviously faced a lot of
Barriers in her um career as a cyclist but let’s get into it Katherine towl Knox also known as Kitty was born in October 7th 1874 in C Bridgeport Massachusetts she was the daughter of a white Mother Catherine from Maine and an African-American tailor from Philadelphia John Knox when Kitty was
Just around 7 years old her father passed away from an unknown cause in the wake of her father’s death Kitty her mother and her older brother Ernest moved to the West End of Boston in the late 1800s and the early 1890s this particular area in Boston
Where they moved was home to an array of impoverished African-Americans and immigrants while the West End of Boston struggled financially it seemed to be quite Progressive in its successful integration of many different cultures in one neighborhood Kitty found work as a seamstress and her brother found work as
A steam fitter in an attempt to create a better life in an era that seemed to only create limitations for people of color never mind people who had one single parent after saving enough money from her job as a seamstress to buy a bicycle Kitty became well known in her
Neighborhood for her various outings she was known by 1893 for her quote unquote graceful cycling which I would love to see in her early years she wrote in cottage city now known as Oak Bluffs if you’re familiar with Massachusetts historic Center of African-American culture on Martha’s
Vineyard Knox came to cycling as it was emerging into both a competitive sport in the late 1800s and an affordable recreational Pastime for the middle class and the lower class too a hub for cycling Boston was home to the first bicycling Club in the US and headquarters of the National League of American
Wheelman in 1893 Kitty was accepted as a member of this league of American Wheelman this is notable because in 1894 one year later the league of American Wheelman changed its Constitution to include the word white creating a quote unquote color bar bar for the organization this caused many members to
Question the legitimacy of Kitty’s membership it was in 1893 at a time when bicycling was the latest craze for young white women that the then 18-year-old Knox joined the city’s first all black riding group The Riverside Cycling Club sort of like a team as a part of the larger organization she competed against
Men in the league of American Wheelman sanction events often placing in the top 20% of century rides and took part in track meets where prizes were awarded for best outfits as well as in short distance races I mean winning as a part of the top 20% of century rides
Including men is incredible even today the following year at its annual general meeting the league of American Wheelman passed a new rule published by member section from the south that none but white persons can become members of The League the new color bar did not deter Knox and her African-American clubmates
Who continued competing in League of American Wheelman events as I go through the rest of the story I’m going to use the descriptions that were written about KNX in the time of her day these are extremely racist and sexist so apologies in advance for using some of these terms I have done my
Best to exclude the worst of them in various journals Knox was described in sexist terms as the murky goddess of beanville a cly colored maiden and a beautiful and Buxom black Bloomer right at a meet on the cycle track in walam Massachusetts on on July 4th
1895 the bearings which I assume is a publication reported one of the most interesting events was a contest between six women each one wearing a different style of cycling costume they rode around the track twice and then were judged the first prize went to Miss Kitty Knox for a suit which consisted of
A shirt waist man’s short coat and Bloomers to the knee with tight leggings from the knee down the whole costume including the Hat was of gray checked goods and remember Kitty was a seamstress so she was able to make this out for herself and she looked fabulous by all accounts UNT fortunately her
Outfit is often centered upon way more than her uh cycling prowess but I’m glad she’s getting props for at least one of the ways she was really cool Kitty’s costume offended some traditionalist long skirt wearing fans who hissed loudly reporters differed on whether the hisses were about her race
Or her dress because remember at that time in history it was really rare for women to race at all shortly after that meet where she slayed in the fashion Department Knox joined thousands of cyclists at the league of American wheelan’s annual meet in Asbury Park a popular seaside resort in New Jersey
This event was covered by national Publications including the New York Times which wrote about the tribulations of this young Boston bicyclist this afternoon Miss Knox did a few fancy Cuts in front of the clubhouse and was requested to desist R the times it is thought that this episode will
Result in temporarily opening the color line question so just time out we’re going to unpack that a little bit um the Asbury Park race was incredibly popular obvious by the fact that National Publications are covering it um so having a woman who was awesome at cycling wearing fantastic outfits and
Doing fancy Cuts in front of the clubhouse was Sensational it was a wildfire of report about her and controversy about whether she should be writing at all first of all because she was black and second of all because she was a woman so this story is largely about the
Wildfire that created at that event the referee and cyle trade Journal which were big Publications at the time reported a considerable sensation has been awakened by the presence of Miss Kitty Knox the pretty colored girl from Boston when she made application at League headquarters for the tickets entitling her to the various privileges
Accorded League members she was refused even though she presented her League ticket the cycling press and hundreds of local newspapers in the US and Canada picked up the story with headlines like Miss Knox could not get a badge at Asbury wheelmen are indignant at the action of the committee color line
Drawn and action of the credentials committee generally condemned Kitty became a central point of conflict as the Trenton evening times put it the dark skinn rider was petted and made much of by her sister wheel woman from the east and west but was scorned and frowned upon by the visitors from
Dixie the southern cycler outraged called her a murky goddess of beanville which was a major Slam at the time Knox did have some members who defended her including massachusett official George Perkins who said at the annual meeting Miss Knox can stay at the league so long as she cares to remain because she
Joined prior to the color bar but the referee added at several places of entertainment she was also refused admission so it seems like they did allow her to ride and they did allow her to participate in some level but she was wildly banned in other ways because of
The restrictions in Asberry Park she could not stay at area hotels or eat at restaurants so she had to Lodge at a local boarding house nevertheless she socialized with League members and danced at the league ball she appeared on the floor attired in a large pink
Leghorn hat a pink waist and a black skirt with a Boston boy as a partner and if you’ve never seen what a leghorn hat looks like I encourage you to Google it because it is fantastic and it would be eye-catching to wear that to a dance this appearance aroused a stormy
Response as reported by the New York Herald among the visiting bicyclers is a bright young girl from Boston and the many snubs which have been placed upon her by many of the women culminated last night in dozens of them leaving the ball at the audit torium because she was not
Only there but the first upon the floor to the Walts and she danced The Night Away imagine cutting your fun night short because someone else showed up I mean just kicking yourself really you’re limiting your own self with your preconceptions you don’t have to pay attention to every other attendee at the
Ball if you are a racist I mean it just is really really notable now whereas maybe at at that time it was less no it was more of the norm anyway so when they finally let her race the next day she was set as the Pacer for the 22m sebrite run so that’s
A nice short distance race I assume the sebrite run is a famous run and in the final Scorch of a mile which I love as a term she finished 12th well up in a field of 50 and far ahead of her lighter hued sisters so this is a race of mixed
Company and she F finished 12 ahead of 50 people I mean she’s incredible she was an awesome cyclist and a snazzy dress her I wonder what she wore at that race they didn’t say these events at Asbury Park gain wide publicity and thrust the issues of race and gender
Into the national Spotlight while Kitty received mix’s reception she had attained Renown with her courage stylish outfits and cycling stamina her celebrity continued Beyond her encounters at Asbury Park returning to Boston she was a pacemaker a sure sign of Honor for a large group of Boston cyclists going to the league of American
Wheel’s Massachusetts division summer meet the Worcester daily spy featured a drawing of her coasting down a Long Hill at the meat also petitioned to bring back newspapers called The Daily spy at that time Century which are as you know 100 mile rides were a great opportunity to build the Social Circle
Of cyclist and provided an opportunity for women Riders to show their prowess since racing was close to them Kitty was often among them one August 1895 Century ride from Boston to Providence and back was almost washed out by a thunderstorm and kitty was the only woman in the
Second division who finished she was reportedly muddy but not at all played out so that’s awesome so as you can see she was racing in these but they were not official events so I just wanted to clear that up since I did say she was not racing she only gets cool points for
It Kitty Knox one least some part of the battle of Asbury Park and and continued to be accepted occasionally even lionized in Boston bicycling but unfortunately she did so only as an exceptional individual by 1900s the cycling CRA had collapsed this happened before cars were any major presence on
The road in the huge expansion of the 1890s bicc simply lost it Chic and the original gentleman cyclist largely abandoned it the league of American Wheelman was a wreck the colar bar passed out of memory and practice the league limped along until the 1920s mostly as an annual Banting venue for
Nostalgic older men and a small circulation League bulletin it was revived by Midwestern cyclist shout out Midwestern cyclist from 1942 to 1955 and then as a national membership organization in 1965 the original color bar was rediscovered by cycling historian Andrew Richie and was formerly repudiated in 1999 under the leadership of the
League’s first black president Earl Jones not until 1999 did that color bar become revoked that is insane and now time for a training tip today’s training tip comes from our very own coach erle in his training blog archives so let’s talk about your booty or your seat or your butt whatever you
Want to call it we’ll call it your seat even with moderate training your Lake should be able to make the entire ride without too much difficulty as long as you pace yourself but there’s no getting around the fact that riding 50 85 more miles per day you’ll be sitting on your
Bike saddle for many hours several things can happen when your seat is not properly trained you may notice soreness under your sit bones after a long ride the next thing that may happen is chafing where your seat and your legs rub while you pedal the worst thing that
Can happen is development of Saddle sores these can keep you off your bike and basically ruin your rag brry so here are a few suggestions from coach erle to avoid being or having a pain in the rear first you should wear cycling shorts these are designed to provide
Padding to your seat area the padding also helps absorb perspiration to avoid chafing and development of those Saddles sores an important tip do not wear underwear under your cycling shorts cycling shorts are designed to be worn directly against the skin underwear adds another layer of clothing that can rub
And chafe and if you don’t like wearing tight fitting Lous shorts there are different types of riding shorts including back shorts but they all have an inner liner with a shammy in the olden days shorts came with a real leather shammy but of course modern-day shorts have synthetic ones which provide
More padding and are easier to clean and maintain okay so first tip was wear cycling shorts second tip ride a lot spend a lot of time sitting on your bike saddle as mentioned earlier this isn’t just about training your legs it’s also about training your seat in many cases
It’s more about training your seat gradually build up to longer rides this is also a great reason for riding yearr round once you have toughened up that tush you’ll want to maintain it so you don’t have to retrain it each spring and third to avoid chafing there are commercial products available that you
Can use to apply to your skin where it contacts the shammy of your shorts there are many Brands out out there most of them come in the form of a cream that you apply directly to your Shamy or to your skin prior to your ride to help provide a smoother
Ride now back to the show all right so I’m going to take a little break to talk about women’s cycling history a little bit to kind of put kitties performance uh in perspective as I said in the late 18 00s in the early 1900s it was the early days
Of cycling the first recorded women’s cycling race took place in 1895 so which was organized by the london-based Stanley cycle cup so the first recorded women’s bike race in 1895 that was the same year that all this Asbury Park Kur fuffle happened in the 1920s to the 1950s women cycling gained
More recognition um the women’s Racing League was established in Britain in 1927 um the UC I the union cyclist international governing body for cycling held its first Women’s World Championships in 1958 and that organization still exists today as many of you know in the 1960s to the 1980s
Women cycling continued to grow with the women’s Tour de France called the Tour de France feminine was held in 1971 it continued until 1989 and they have reinstated that race and it exists today which is awesome in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles they featured the introduction of women’s cycling events
Including road races and track events that’s track cycling not track racing and I would like to add just as a shout out to Nelson veils this was the time period in which he won his Olympics medals and he was the first africanamerican and first person of African descent to win an Olympic medal
In cycling in 1984 he won the silver medal in the Olympic Games Sprint um and you can find out more about him online I encourage you to look up more information about Nelson bales and I remind you that when Nelson veils won his Olympic medal neither he nor
Kitty Knox could have joined the league of American Wheelman because that didn’t happen until 1999 when the color bar was revoked the history of women cycling has grown Leaps and Bounds all the way up till today but that’s another parot talk we have also covered Nelson fails in the
Justo bike podcast and I encourage you to look up that episode that episode will will list in our show notes so you can easily find it now to Circle things back to Kitty Knox I just want to add a little note since I kind of abruptly cut
Off her story that is because super sadly 5 years after her 1895 Asbury Park National meet Knox died from complications of kidney disease at the young age of only 26 and was buried in an unmarked grave this is incredibly sad but unfortunately incredibly common for black people especially women in that
Time period I can only imagine how awful it would would have been to die of kidney disease in that time period where they would have had zero resources to properly treat her more than a century later an author researching for a book on Boston cycling history uncovered nox’s story Descendants on her mother’s
Side of the family subsequently arranged for a headstone to be made featuring the image of an 1890s bicycle it was unveiled at a ceremony in 2013 and in 2019 the city of Cambridge also recognized her Legacy with a paved bike path dedicated to Kitty KNX an African-American bicyclist and activist
Who challenged race and gender barriers in cycling in the 1890s in 2020 the league of American bicyclists presented its first Kitty Knox award which recognized the champion of equity diversity and inclusion Aisha mwan was the recipient Aisha is the nation’s first female black Pro racer unfortunately this award has not been
Presented again I would love to see that come back I think it’s an awesome award and really super important seeing the long history of women fighting to have a spot iny bike racing and the cycling World thanks for listening to my story about Kitty Knox today thanks for
Listening to my story about women’s history and black history and cycling in the US there’s a lot more to cover there of course and I would love to do more parrot talks about it in the future if you have any more Kitty KNX history that I haven’t included or if there’s a
Certain topic that you’d like me to cover for a future parrot talk I would love to hear it send us an email at the just goike podcast gmail.com it’s been great squawking at you as you ride your bike today take a minute to think about Kitty Knox and her fabulous outfits and
How she absolutely dominated in the century ride all the way back in 1895 I know I’m going to channel her spirit as I attempt to ride my next Century in the future and maybe I will get a pink leorn hat Thanks for tuning in to the just goike podcast murf and AP will be back next week in the meantime check us out on YouTube Instagram Facebook and X formerly known as Twitter and if you would like to contact murphin AP with a comment about the podcast or maybe you
Have a topic in mind email them at just goik podcast at gmail.com don’t forget to rate review And subscribe to this podcast especially if you’re a fan until next time just go Fight theme song by Ryan steer logo by Suzanne mosovich produced by Kathy Murphy social media by Andrea parrot Intro by pumpkin until next time just go bike