[.ca] Soul on Bikes: The East Bay Dragons MC and the Black ... (ISBN 076031747X)

A Cool Slice of Hidden History:
Too often the motorcycle enthusiast press and mainstream media atempt to portray motorcycling as a sport whiter than ice hockey: "Soul On Bikes" provides a fascinating and wholly unexpected side of two-wheeled culture that few know of. This biograhy combines some very funny and exciting personal insights and rich historical chronicles of the African-American motorcycle scene on the West Coast during the last half century. Tobie Gene Legingston lived through the rough years of the segregated South, became part of the huge black migration to economic independence in the post WWII years and helped create a biking culture - one of working-class pride in Harley-Davidson motorcycles - that continues to this day. You won't read about this in the pages of Easyriders, but "Soul" provides evidence that custom biking is not white, nor black, not Latino, or Asian, but a uniquely American phenomenon appreciated by all kinds of riders.

a class guy:
I bought this book and about a week later found out that tobie gene and sonny barger were going to be at the oakland,ca harley davidson signing books it truly was a pleasure meeting those two I had seen them many times before and they both signed soul on bikes, and dead in 5 heartbeats. The book was very good having grown up in oakland many times I heard the dragons roaring down the streets on their harleys. Soul on bikes is amazing and talks about him growing up and forming first a car club, and later a motorcycle club. So many people when they saw my book simply focused on the negative like the problems the dragons had with some drug dealers, which was talked about in the book briefly, (and to me just enough) but it was good to read about the positives of motorcycle clubs and how it changed some peoples lives for the better. A truly good read.

WOW on Bikes:
Soul on Bikes, hands-down, is the best piece of non-fiction I've read in ages. Feeling more like I was face to face with Tobie Gene, listening to his story over coffee, the author grabs hold of your attention and takes you on a mind-swirling, 100 mph, yet poignant ride through modern American history and culture. In a time when mainstream culture is so focused on the self, material wants and reality TV, it's refreshing to see that the human side of life still exists in passion, pride and family.

Great reading:
I was born and raised in Mississippi and can relate to most of Tobie's past. Soul on Bikes is very interesting reading.

Black Motorcycles Clubs Were a Part of Bay Area History:
I must admit I had very little knowledge nor contact with bikers or motorcycle clubs. I had heard of The East Bay Dragons, founded in Oakland and of course, everyone knew the Hell's Angels. Both were synonymous with danger and bad news in my sheltered existence. Their rough manner and their reputation of being bad asses was reason to avoid them. So, it was with great surprise while reading Soul on Bikes: The East Bay Dragons MC and the Black Biker Set, Marcus Book Store's April book club Selection, to find out that the East Bay Dragons is an integral part of Oakland history. Tobie Gene Levingston and his family were a part of the northern migration to the East Bay from the southern states in the 1950s; his family being from rural Louisiana. Enticed by the burgeoning factories and other labor jobs and longing to escape the drudgery and endless, vicious cycle of sharecropping that so many black families had succumbed to as a legacy of slavery, California offered new beginnings towards a brighter future. Levingston, then in his early twenties began working in an iron foundry. The work was dirty and back breaking but it enabled him to contribute to his family finances and indulge in some luxuries; one of those being cars. He formed a car club but his group ran into some trouble with the local police and as a result disbanded. Not long after that, Levingston became interested in motorcycles and formed The East Bay Dragons, a black motorcycle club that is active to this day. Because of the problems he had with the car club, Levingston was determined to keep the MC on the straight and narrow. But as this was a group of young black men, just the sight of them on their bikes, raised fear and ire to other residents and law enforcement agencies. There was rivalry with other MCs, white as well as black. There was the political climate of Oakland with racism and later the Black Panther movement. And there were the drugs. Oakland was rampant with drug trade and all the vices that went along with it did not escape some members of the East Bay Dragons. Though Levingston was the heart and moral pulse of the group, he could not control actions of every member. As a result, there were some violent clashes with the police and other MCs. This book was a historical walk though Oakland and surrounding cities. Streets and locales that are familiar to this Oakland raised reviewer were prevalent all through the manuscript. Blues and prostitution on Seventh Street, East and West Oakland neighborhood haunts, and the evolution of blacks coming of age in a city that until the mid-60s was run by whites. Myths about the East Bay Dragons were debunked; these are fellows with families, jobs, with kids in college, who pay taxes and are home and business owners. Such movies as the Biker Boys with Lawrence Fishburn have brought to light that men and women from all walks of life are in the biker community. I was surprised to learn that Levingston and Sonny Barger of the Hell's Angels were good friends with a history that goes way back. They have much respect for each other (Barger writes the foreword to the book) and the animosity between the two MCs were minimal. The Marcus Bookstore Book Club had our book club discussion and Mr. Levingston along with other members of the East Bay Dragons and the Oakland Invaders, another MC club were invited. It was a sight to behold as they roared down Martin Luther King Boulevard and parked their beautiful bikes along the street outside of the bookstore. Bold, black and bad. Dera Williams Marcus Book Club APOOO BookClub