logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2023
41m 35s

Kittie Knox and the Bike Boom

iHeartPodcasts
About this episode

Kittie Knox was a cyclist during the bicycle boom of the late 19th century. She was biracial and became known not just for participating in a predominantly white sport, but also for the clothes she wore to do it.

Research:

  • Adams, Dan. “Ceremony honors cyclist who broke barriers: Kittie Knox showed pluck on wheels.” Boston Globe. 9/30/2013. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/09/29/long-forgotten-bicycling-pioneer-who-broke-race-and-gender-barriers-honored/VAtfz0av4PqeHuHLiOw3sI/story.html
  • Bashore, Melvin L. "Astoria: The Starting Point in Long-Distance Cycling." Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 123, no. 3, fall 2022, pp. 254+. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A728470987/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=b2fe7364. Accessed 5 Dec. 2022.
  • "Bicycle." Britannica Library, Encyclopædia Britannica, 20 Dec. 2021. libraries.state.ma.us/login?eburl=https%3A%2F%2Flibrary.eb.com&ebtarget=%2Flevels%2Freferencecenter%2Farticle%2Fbicycle%2F79113&ebboatid=9265652. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.
  • "Bicycles." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History, edited by Thomas Riggs, 2nd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2015, pp. 129-132. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3611000095/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=26448255. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.
  • "Bicycling." American Eras, vol. 8: Development of the Industrial United States, 1878-1899, Gale, 1997, pp. 401-402. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2536601761/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=53eefb1f. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.
  • Boyd, Herb. “Kittie Knox of cycling fame and fashion.” New York Amsterdam News. 11/24/2022-11/30/2022.
  • Cambridge Black History Project. “Katherine T. ‘Kittie’ Knox.” http://cambridgeblackhistoryproject.org/project/kittie-knox/
  • Cycling Authority of America. “The Bearings.” Via Internet Archive. Vol. 7, no. 2 (Feb. 10, 1893) https://archive.org/details/bearings111895cycl/
  • “The Science of Cycling.” https://www.exploratorium.edu/cycling/index.html  
  • Finison, Lorenz J. “Boston’s Cycling Craze, 1880-1900: A Story of Race, Sport and Society.” University of Massachusetts Press. 2014.
  • Finison, Lorenz J., "Cycling Historiography, Evidence, and Methods" (2014). Boston’s Cycling Craze, 1880-1900: A Story of Race, Sport, and Society. Paper 1. http://scholarworks.umb.edu/umpress_bostoncycling/1
  • "FIRST CARGO ELECTRIC-ASSIST TRICYCLE ADDED TO CITY FLEET, NAMED AFTER KITTIE KNOX." States News Service, 21 Aug. 2020, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A633136234/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=85ac573a. Accessed 5 Dec. 2022.
  • Friends of Mount Auburn. “A Monument for Kittie Knox.” 9/30/2013. https://www.mountauburn.org/aaht-knox-monument/
  • Friends of Mount Auburn. “Kittie Knox (1874 – 1900).” Mount Auburn Cemetery. https://www.mountauburn.org/kittie-knox-1874-1900/
  • Guroff, Margaret. “American Drivers Have Bicyclists to Thank for a Smooth Ride to Work.” Smithsonian. 9/12/2016. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/american-drivers-thank-bicyclists-180960399/
  • A.W. Bulletin and Good Roads. July 1895. Via HathiTrust. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433109933758&view=1up&seq=148
  • LaFrance, Adrienne. “How the Bicycle Paved the Way for Women's Rights.” 6/26/2014. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/the-technology-craze-of-the-1890s-that-forever-changed-womens-rights/373535/
  • Miller, Grace. “Breaking the Cycle: the Kittie Knox story.” Unbound: Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. 5/26/2020. https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2020/05/26/breaking-the-cycle-the-kittie-knox-story/#.Y4-yfXbMJPZ
  • National Women’s History Museum. “Pedaling the Path to Freedom: American Women on Bicycles.” 6/27/2017. https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/pedaling-path-freedom
  • Neejer, Christine. "A conservative road: the bicycling rhetoric of Mary Sargent Hopkins." Intertexts, vol. 18, no. 1, spring 2014, pp. 93+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A383327852/AONE?u=mlin_oweb&sid=googleScholar&xid=60f8ab60. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.
  • Sani, Hamzat. “League Equity History.” League of American Bicyclists. https://www.bikeleague.org/content/mission-and-history
  • Simpson, Clare, and Rob Hess. "Bicycling." Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America, edited by Gary S. Cross, vol. 1, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004, pp. 95-101. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3434800036/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=b405085c. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.
  • Smithsonian Bicycle Collection. “The Development of the Velocipede.” Smithsonian. https://www.si.edu/spotlight/si-bikes/si-bikes-velocipede
  • Stanford Braff, Carolyn. "The Perfect Time to Ride: A History of the League of American Wheelmen" (PDF). American Bicyclist: 18–23. November-December 2007.
  • Szczepanski, Carolyn. “Women’s (Bike) History: Kittie Knox.” League of American Bicyclists. 3/8/2013. https://www.bikeleague.org/content/womens-bike-history-kittie-knox
  • Tolman, Lynne. “League rights a wrong, lifting forgotten racial ban.” Worcester Telegram & Gazette. 5/30/1999. Via Major Taylor Association. https://www.majortaylorassociation.org/LAW.htm
  • “How Bikes Became One of the Best Things to Happen to Feminism.” 8/26/2019. https://transloc.com/blog/how-bikes-became-one-of-the-best-things-to-happen-to-feminism/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up next
Yesterday
Behind the Scenes Minis: Pens and Dog Radios
Tracy and Holly talk about their favorite pens, and Tracy describes a unique radio she had as a child.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
20m 27s
Jul 9
Edwin Howard Armstrong
Edwin Howard Armstrong isn’t exactly a well-known inventor, but his work in radio literally changed communications around the globe. But his most famous invention – FM radio – became a source of constant frustration after he developed it. Research: Armstrong, Edwin H. “Frequency ... Show More
33m 22s
Jul 7
The Humble Ballpoint Pen
Before the ballpoint pen, people used their hands, reeds, bamboo, brushes, quills, and eventually nibs to write or draw. But how did things evolve from there to get to things like the fountain pen, and eventually, a ballpoint? Research: "pen." Britannica Library, Encyclopædia Bri ... Show More
35m 35s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2019
Evan Friss, "On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City" (Columbia UP, 2019)
Evan Friss, an associate professor of history at James Madison University, historicizes the bicycle’s place in New York City’s social, economic, infrastructural and cultural politics.On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City (Columbia UP, 2019) curates a history ... Show More
49m 26s
Oct 2020
Chris Boardman, cyclist
Chris Boardman is an Olympic cyclist, businessman and the Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester. Both his parents were keen competitive amateur cyclists and they backed Chris as he gradually became interested in the sport as a teenager. He left school at 16, and ... Show More
35m 27s
Feb 2024
Peking to Paris: the world’s first great motor race
In June 1907, five plucky teams departed the Chinese capital and embarked on a 9,317-mile automobile race to Paris. Traversing scorching deserts and perilous mountain passes in ill-equipped vehicles, the participants regularly risked their lives – but their tenacity would transfo ... Show More
32m 20s
Nov 2019
Kathleen Sheppard, "The Life of Margaret Alice Murray: A Woman’s Work in Archaeology" (Lexington, 2017)
After Napoleon occupied Egypt, Europeans became obsessed with the ancient cultures of the Nile. In Britain, the center of Egyptology research was University College London (UCL). At the heart of the UCL program was the Egyptologist, Margaret Alice Murray. During this golden age o ... Show More
33m 47s
Nov 2023
Can a bicycle change a woman's life?
Can a humble bicycle become a tool to empower women worldwide? Kim Chakanetsa meets two cyclists who want more women to get on their bikes. Lizzie Deignan is a world champion track and road racing cyclist. She got into cycling by chance, when the British Cycling Apprentice progra ... Show More
27m 16s
Jan 2020
Bike Life Rideouts
If you’ve never witnessed a Bike Life Rideout…well, maybe now is a good time to do a quick search on YouTube. When dozens, or sometimes hundreds, of stunt performing dirt-bike and ATV riders take over the city streets of America’s largest and most-populated urban centers, there’s ... Show More
52m 35s
Apr 2021
Michael Wheeler, "The Athenaeum: More Than Just Another London Club" (Yale UP, 2020)
When it was founded in 1824, the Athenæum broke the mold. Unlike in other preeminent clubs, its members were chosen on the basis of their achievements rather than on their background or political affiliation. Public rather than private life dominated the agenda. The club, with it ... Show More
53m 37s
Jun 2024
Alice Milliat et les femmes aux JO
 Alice Milliat est la figure incontournable de la démocratisation du sport pour les femmes. Dans un récit inédit, Virginie Girod vous raconte l’histoire de l’organisatrice des premiers Jeux olympiques féminins.   Alice Milliat naît en 1884 dans la petite bourgeoisie nantaise. À 2 ... Show More
14m 37s
Jul 2024
Athletes: Kerri Strug
Kerri Strug (1977-present) is a two-time Olympian and gold medalist. In 1992, she was the youngest American Olympian. In 1996, she helped the US team win the gold by competing in vault on an injured ankle.   For Further Reading:  Kerri Strug's Unforgettable Determination to Win G ... Show More
6m 42s
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami