The Pedestriennes: America’s Forgotten Superstars

From 1876-1881, a handful of professional women endurance walkers, called pedestriennes dazzled America with their remarkable endurance walking exploits. Frequently performing in front of large raucous crowds, pedestriennes would tramp for days with little rest on makeshift tracks set up in reconfigured theaters and opera houses. If successful, a pedestrienne could earn more in a few days than the average American took home in a year. Failure meant going home penniless. Top walkers employed coaches, managers and trainers; one even hired a band to play while she performed. Although initially popular, within a few years they ran afoul of the public due to internal fighting, sex-scandals, trash-talking with the press, race-fixing, graft, an extortion attempt that led to a manager’s suicide, and a highly publicized murder. While almost forgotten today, the pedestriennes laid the groundwork for the modern sports model, the revival of the Olympic Games, and the suffragist movement.