Major Taylor: Black Cycling Champion Who Defied Racism
Black History Month: Major Taylor By Brandon Griggs Cycling is viewed mostly as a White sport. But one of the fastest men ever to race on two wheels was Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor (1878-1932), an American who dominated sprint cycling in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A hugely gifted rider, Taylor won the first amateur race he entered, at 14. He turned professional four years later and continued winning races, most of them sprints around oval tracks at Madison Square Garden and other arenas in the eastern US. Soon Taylor was competing in races across Europe and Australia, becoming