“Harley” Miniseries Has NY Link

SOMERS, NY – Harley-Davidson may have been founded in 1903 in Milwaukee, but an interesting element in the company’s history can be traced to Somers, which west of I-684 in Westchester County. That’s where William B. Johnson had the first Harley-Davidson dealership owned by an African-American.

Johnson opened the franchise in a converted blacksmith shop sometime in the 1920s and ran it for 60 years. He was also the first African-American to be licensed to compete in national motorcycle racing events, gaining entry by claiming to be American Indian. Johnson’s part in motorcycling’s history is recounted in the upcoming Discovery Channel program “Harley and the Davidsons.”

Stephen Rider plays Johnson in the six-hour miniseries. He found it challenging and exhilarating, and largely open to interpretation because of a lack of information on Johnson.

“The sad part is that he didn’t want to be in the limelight, so there wasn’t a lot written about him. He loved understanding the anatomy of what it took to create a bike,” said Rider when we chatted recently by phone. “I wanted to make sure it was very accurate to the time. That wasn’t always easy.”

Rider got to get aboard recreations of Harley-Davidson’s early machines that were used in board track races and hill climbs. “They’re definitely not as fast (as current models). You had to hand shift. It was a lot more confusing. It

would take me some time; 10, 15, 20 minutes to become comfortable riding some of these bikes. It was very challenging,” he said.

A graduate of Morehouse College who attended grad school at UCLA, Rider used to ride a Suzuki GSX-R. “In college, I was into crotch rockets. I don’t ride as much anymore,” he said. Part of the reason is that he lives in New York.

Having witnessed and participated in the race portions of “Harley and the Davidsons,” Rider has an appreciation for those who tested and raced in motorcycling’s early days. “They had to be extremely courageous. People did die,” he said.

Johnson lived to a ripe old age. He died in 1985 at the age of 95. “Harley and the Davidsons” premieres at 9 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 5 and runs three consecutive nights.

(Originally published in the “Republican-American” on Aug. 27, 2016.)