Black motorcycle clubs across the United States hold rides, picnics and other gatherings almost every summer weekend, building on traditions that stretch back decades. Some clubs date to the 1940s, having formed after the second world war partly in response to exclusion from white motorcycle clubs and labour discrimination under Jim Crow, and today's events continue this culture of freedom, community and mutual support.

The article follows Patrice "Foxy" Johnson, who took up riding around 30 years ago after attending a bike week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and now holds several leadership roles in Black motorcycle organisations, including as Carolinas ambassador for Black Girls Ride, a group supporting women of colour in motorsports since 2011. Black Girls Ride holds meetups in cities such as Houston, Daytona Beach and Los Angeles, and around 250 to 300 members travel each July to New Orleans for the Essence festival, where the group has also raised over $30,000 for a local Boys and Girls Club. The piece also highlights the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club, one of the largest in the country with roughly 5,000 members, named after the historic all-Black US cavalry regiments established in 1866.