ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Every month is Black History Month for a St. Pete woman who combines exercise and education into one big adventure.
Josette Green calls it The Black History Bike Tour. It's over five miles long, consists of seven stops and is free to the public.
Green has been studying Black history in St. Pete for 20 years. She thought, why not share what she learned with the rest of the community?
“It was just too important, too important for racial equity, too important for the statistics that are in our city today on the African American community,” said Green.
During the past two years, more than 500 people have cycled alongside her, making stops at history-changing spots like Peppertown, Methodist Town and the Gas Plant District.
Green said 75% of her riders are white, eager to learn a part of their city’s past that’s sometimes hidden away.
“As a parent of a Black child, it's very important that white people understand the history and understand where they are coming from and how to move forward for everybody,” said Susan Wyman.
Many of these riders say they’ve passed by these tour stops hundreds, if not thousands of times.
“You don’t know what you don’t know, and I was really surprised, and it’s very eye-opening how much history we don’t learn about and how important it is to know some of the background,” said Kari Mueller.
Mark Davidson and Todd Soper said they feel a sense of responsibility to take what they’ve learned and forward it on to others.
“We’ve been sharing it with all of our friends and our community in St. Pete, and I’ve taken probably about a dozen people on the very same tour that Josette has because it needs to be out there; we need to hear about this history,” said Davidson.
The end of the five-mile tour concludes with Green leaving her riders with a series of action items to help continue to push positive change.
“We can all make a difference, absolutely; that’s what I’m doing, trying to make a difference by doing these bike tours,” said Green.
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