Global InformationBlack Bike Week information
| Black Bike Week | |
|---|---|
 A custom Suzuki Hayabusa at Black Bike Week | |
| Genre | Motorcycle rally |
| Date(s) | Memorial Day weekend |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Greater Grand Strand, South Carolina |
| Years active | 44 |
| Inaugurated | 1980[1][2][3][4] |
| Participants | 350,000 |
Black Bike Week, also called Atlantic Beach Bikefest,[2] Black Bikers Week,[1] and The Black Pearl Cultural Heritage and Bike Festival,[5] is an annual motorcycle rally in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area, held on Memorial Day weekend. Called a "one-of-a-kind event" and "an exhibitionist's paradise" by Jeffrey Gettleman, Black Bike Week is "all about riding, styling and profiling," in the words of Mayor Irene Armstrong of Atlantic Beach, South Carolina.[6]
It is the largest African American motorcycle rally in the US.[7] Attendance has been variously reported as 350,000,[1] 375,000,[7] and as high as 400,000.[3][6] It is considered the third or fourth largest motorcycle rally in the United States.[1] Around 10–15 percent of motorcyclists in the US are women,[8][9] while at major African American motorcycle rallies, such as Black Bike Week or the National Bikers Roundup, women make up close to half of participants.[10]
From 1940 until 2008, Myrtle Beach had also hosted a predominantly white motorcycle rally, called Harley-Davidson Week, also called the spring Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealer's Association (CHDDA) Rally.[11][12] The two rallies have usually run consecutively, and because of unequal city policies such as different traffic rules and greater policing during Black Bike Week, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and individual rally participants have charged, as well as sued, the city government and local businesses with racial discrimination because of different treatment towards the black rally.[13] In 2002 Black Bike week had 375,000 attendees, versus 200,000 for Harley-Davidson Week of the same year.[7][6]
The city of Myrtle Beach has used new ordinances to push the 2009 and 2010 motorcycle events, both black and white, out of the city, where they have been welcomed by other municipalities and businesses, and bikers still came in spite of the official efforts to discourage them.[3] After the 2010 motorcycle events the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned the Myrtle Beach city ordinance requiring all motorcyclists to wear helmets, and four other ordinances.[14]
"Black Bike Week" can also refer to a side event to the motorcycle rally Daytona Beach Bike Week at Daytona Beach, Florida that happens two months earlier, in March. Like the South Carolina event, the Daytona rally also has its origins in racial segregation, when blacks created their own parallel event after being excluded from the main white festival.[15][16]
- ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference
Connerwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Cullen, Christine (2 October 2009), "Organizers of Black Bike Week see OC as possible alternative; Hope remains that they can work something out with Myrtle Beach officials", Ocean City Today, Ocean City, Maryland, archived from the original on 9 May 2010, retrieved 31 January 2010
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
Suttles2009was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Stokes2007was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Hudsonwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Gettleman, Jeffrey (May 25, 2003), "Claims of Bias Cloud an American Dream for Black Bikers", The New York Times, p. 122, retrieved 2010-01-31
- ^ a b c Gettleman, Jeffrey (May 21, 2003), "Suit Charges Bias at Rally for Black Bikers", The New York Times, p. A22, retrieved 2010-01-31
- ^ Motorcycle Industry Council (18 May 2009), Motorcycling in America Goes Mainstream Says 2008 Motorcycle Industry Council Owner Survey, Irvine, California, archived from the original on 1 March 2010, retrieved 4 February 2010
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Rothenberg, Jill (11 June 2006), "Hog Wild; Female motorcyclists steer their way to the head of the pack with their own clubs", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2010-02-04
- ^ Samuels, Adrienne P (October 2007), "Black Bikers: the rides and the history", Ebony, vol. 62, no. 12, Chicago, pp. 98–106, retrieved 2010-02-04
- ^ Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealer's Association, We Started It All!, Swannanoa, North Carolina, archived from the original on 2010-03-09, retrieved 2010-02-02
- ^ Anderson, Lorena (3 March 2009), "Motorcycle rally leaving Myrtle Beach for N.C.; Association leaves behind other event promoters", The Charlotte Observer, retrieved 2010-02-01[permanent dead link]
- ^ National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; The Crisis Publishing Co (2008), NAACP: celebrating a century : 100 years in pictures, Gibbs Smith, p. 410, ISBN 978-1-4236-0527-0
- ^ Harley, Bryan (9 June 2010), "S.C. Court Overrules Myrtle Beach Helmet Law", MotorcycleUSA.com, archived from the original on 15 June 2010, retrieved 14 June 2010
- ^ Wood, Bill (May 2007), "Daytona Evolves", American Motorcyclist, vol. 61, no. 5, American Motorcyclist Association, p. 14, ISSN 0277-9358
- ^ "The Best of Bike Week", American Motorcyclist, vol. 55, no. 5, American Motorcyclist Association, p. 38, May 2001, ISSN 0277-9358