Major Taylor- The story of the Greatest Racing Cyclist in America

One of the best cyclists of his time, Black athlete and cycling hero Marshall "Major" Taylor set a number of world records and took home a World Championship.

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A story from an important era in the United States!

"Life is too short for a man to hold bitterness in his heart." A quote by Major Taylor

Marshall Walter Taylor was the first African-American athlete to set numerous world records by winning world championships and multiple national championships.  He was one the highest-paid athletes of his era and is considered to be the greatest racing cyclist in America. 

While the achievements of  African-American athletes like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson and Bill Russell are well documented and widely celebrated, the story of Major Taylor, cycling’s first Black World Champion, has fallen into obscurity.

Early Life

Taylor was the son of Gilbert Taylor and Saphronia Kelter. They had a large family in Louisville, Kentucky and migrated with them to a small farm in rural Indiana. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1878,  just 13 years after the civil war.

At an early age, Taylor received a bicycle and started practising stunts on his bicycle. He began working as an entertainer at the age of 13 and soon became popular with the locals.  He was hired to perform cycling stunts outside a bicycle shop and as he performed stunts wearing a soldier's uniform, he was nicknamed "Major".

He practised cycling on the track while working in the cycling shop. When he was a teenager, his mentor coached him and he broke many track records at the age of 18 and started participating in many track events. 

Cycling Career

In 1896, he moved from Indianapolis to Worcester, Massachusetts which was then a centre of the United States bicycle industry with half a dozen factories and 30 bicycle shops.  He started working as a bicycle mechanic in the Worcester Cycle Manufacturing Company factory which was owned by Birdie Munger. Birdie later became his mentor and Taylor started racing for Munger’s Worcester Cycle Manufacturing Company. 

In late 1896, Taylor entered his first professional race in Madison Square Garden, where he won during the half-mile race. A groundbreaking black athlete, Major Taylor won the world championship in the one-mile cycling sprint in 1899 —more than three decades before Jesse Owens won four Olympic gold medals, almost 50 years before Jackie Robinson first stepped onto a Major League Baseball field and roughly 60 years before Bill Russell won his first NBA championship. He was referred to as the “Worcester Whirlwind,” 

He won both national and world championships and held numerous world records —including the standing start one-mile world record of 1:41 that stood for 28 years. 

Today in the United States, mainstream sports like football, basketball and baseball have grabbed all the limelight and professional cycling is not very popular as a sport. But in the late 1890s and early 1900s, there was a Bike Boom in the United States and as a result, races drew more spectators and grabbed more press coverage than professional baseball. Cycling was celebrated as an immensely popular sport during that era.

Fought Racism

Taylor lived a life that was far from reality for many African Americans in the U.S. Although he achieved great recognition for his achievements in the cycling world, he suffered due to the prevalent racism in that era.  He was the first African-American to become a world champion and insisted on his right as a black man to compete on equal terms with everybody else. 

The League of American Wheelmen for a time excluded blacks from membership. During his career, he had ice water thrown at him during races and nails scattered in front of his wheels and was often boxed by other riders. Restaurants and hotels also refused to serve him food and lodging.  

But he didn’t let any of it keep him from becoming a champion and he won races and fans all over the world. He overcame racial prejudice as a Black cyclist in a white-dominated sport to become one of the greatest cyclists in the world.

Although Taylor's cycling was greatly celebrated abroad, particularly in France, his career suffered as some local promoters would not permit Taylor to compete against the white cyclists. Being an African-American, Taylor was banned from bicycle racing in Indiana once.

He believed that bicycle racing was the appropriate route to success for him but individuals must strive to find their own best talent in order to succeed in life.

Retirement

Taylor retired in 1910, at the age of 32 and it is believed that he was tired of the prevalent racism. After retiring from competition, Taylor applied to Worcester Polytechnic Institute to study engineering, but he did not have a high school diploma and was denied admission. He took up various business ventures after retirement.

Taylor wrote his autobiography and self-published it after twenty years of retirement. The title of the book was ‘ The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World: The Story of a Colored Boy's Indomitable Courage and Success Against Great Odds: An Autobiography (1928).’

Taylor also claimed he had no regrets and "no animosity toward any man," but his autobiography gave an idea to the readers about the bitterness his heart bore for being treated unfairly in the white world.

In his autobiography, he talked about being attacked on the race track by another rider, who choked him into unconsciousness but received only a $50 fine as punishment. 

But, in the book,  he does not dwell on such events and it is evident that he wants to serve as an inspiration for other African-Americans trying to overcome racial discrimination. 

Financial Difficulties

By 1930 Taylor had experienced severe financial difficulties from bad investments, which included self-publishing his autobiography, the stock market crash, and investing in businesses that proved unsuccessful. He had to sell his home in Worcester and also his ancestral property to pay off debts. He suffered from persistent ill health in his later years.

Little is known of Taylor's life after 1930 when he moved to Chicago due to a failed marriage. Taylor spent the final two years of his life in poverty, selling copies of his autobiography to earn a meagre income and residing at YMCA Hotel in Chicago's Bronzeville neighbourhood.

In March 1932, Taylor suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized at Provident Hospital. He died on June 21, at age 53. Taylor achieved great success in his career but he passed away at the height of the Great Depression, alone and penniless.

His wife and daughter, who survived him, did not learn of his death immediately and no one claimed his remains. 

He was initially buried at Mount Glenwood Cemetery in Thornton Township in an unmarked grave. 

In 1948, a group of former professional bicycle racers used funds to organise the exhumation and reburial of Taylor's remains in a prominent location at the cemetery.

The plaque at the grave reads: "World's champion bicycle racer who came up the hard way without hatred in his heart!”

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