Major Taylor: The Extraordinary Career of a Champion Bicycle Racer

by Andrew Ritchie

World champion at 19 . . . One of the first black athletes to become world champion in any sport . . . 1-mile record holder . . . American sprint champion in 1898, 1899, 1900 . . . triumphant tours of Europe and Australia . . . Victories against all European champions . . . Until now a forgotten, shadowy figure, Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor is here revealed as one of the early sports world's most stylish, entertaining, and gentlemanly personalities. Born in 1878 in Indianapolis, the son of poor rural parents, Taylor worked in a bike shop until prominent bicycle racer "Birdie" Munger coached him for his first professional racing successes in 1896. Despite continuous bureaucratic―and, at times, physical―opposition, he won his first national championship two years later and became world champion in 1899 in Montreal. This beautifully illustrated, vividly narrated, and scrupulously researched biography recreates the life of a great international athlete at the turn of the century. Based on ten years of research―including extensive interviews with Major Taylor's 91-year old daughter―this is the dramatic story of a young black man who, against prodigious odds, rose to fame and stardom in the tempestuous world of international professional bicycle racing a century ago.

Genres: Cycling, Sports, Biography, Nonfiction, History

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Kusaimamekirai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up black in turn of the 20th century Indianapolis, Indiana was hard even in the best of times one would imagine. Marshall “Major” Taylor however was somewhat fortunate in that as a teenager he was able to get work as a helper in the bicycle shop of one of the state’s most prominent bicycle manufacturers. Taylor’s love of bicycles shone through and after being taken under the shop owner’s wing, began to race competitively against men much older than him, if not always winning, then finishing far above where he was expected to.
Taylor would eventually become the fastest cyclist in America, and then go on to dominate European cycling as well becoming the world champion before he even turned 21.
The road to success however was predictably filled with numerous roadblocks. Taylor often found himself shut out of races and racing associations based on his race, and when he was able to get on a track, he often found himself the victim of verbal and physical abuse. Remarkably however, Taylor was able to weather these obstacles put up in his path without publicly decrying the vile abuse he was receiving. He was in many respects, the cycling world’s Jackie Robinson. Taylor however would be run off the track by racist cyclists a half century before the first spike was aimed at Robinson’s leg.
In his personal life, Taylor was almost saintly. He didn’t smoke, curse, or drink. He was also a deeply religious man who refused to race on Sundays because of the Sabbath, despite the fact that most Championship races were held on Sundays, costing him more than a few titles and quite a bit of money as well (Taylor would toward the end of his racing career, not being able to dictate the terms his previous stardom allowed, begin to race on Sundays out of financial necessity).
When his career was over he found himself shut out of the racing world in any career as a commentator, manufacturer, or any related field that his white colleagues had available to them. He was in fact largely forgotten as he sunk into poverty, dying young and being buried in an unmarked grave. Taylor’s later years are difficult to track as he drifted from town to town but perhaps a poem he wrote about his bicycle after his retirement from racing gives a good sense of his mental state at the time:

A Tribute To My Silent Steed
I now hand up my silent steed That served my purpose well indeed Just like a true and faithful friend It stuck right by me to the end. ...
Now as a reward for faithfulness My trusty bike has earned its rest But not in the attic all covered with dust Nor in the cellar to get all rust
But in my den on a pedestal tall Or better still upon the wall Where I can see it every day And it will keep the blues away
We rode to win in every race
Now as a reward for faithfulness My trusty bike has earned its rest But not in the attic all covered with dust Nor in the cellar to get all rust
But in my den on a pedestal tall Or better still upon the wall Where I can see it every day And it will keep the blues away
We rode to win in every race
Fairly we played in every case
If life grows dull and things break bad
Just think of the wonderful days we've had.

For a man who always tried to do the right thing like Taylor did, it is a tragedy that not only did he have to live out his final days in poverty, but that he remains relatively anonymous today.
Thankfully several decades after his death, some former racers got together to move Taylor’s remains to a more prominent place where he can be better remembered. There is also apparently as of 2021, a film in production about his life.
I hope that this man who has seemingly been unjustly forgotten gets the recognition his talent and importance deserve.

[Mykle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Major Taylor is my fucking hero! I can't believe there isn't a movie of this book yet. The bicycle boom of the 1890s is an amazing slice of history, and this man stood astride his era like a colossus, breaking all records and beating all champions, a paragon of sportsmanship, discipline, skill, cunning, bravery and human power. For a time, he was the fastest man on earth. The! Fastest! Man! On! Earth! He became an international sports celebrity, yet he was shat upon in his own country and died penniless in a Chicago hobo hospital. The story of how racism screwed him is, ironically -- not "ironically" ironically, but in the proper sense in which Irony is defined in dictionaries -- the story of how the bicycle boom screwed itself.

[John Poplett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong, at the turn of the previous century, Major Taylor was the world champion in a sport dominated by whites. Wait a minute? Has anything changed? This guy was so fast that his manager invented (!) the motorcycle because no human being could keep up with him when he needed pacers to beat the wold record for the mile!

His racing career peaks when on the track of a velodrome he is put in a hospital bed by cronies of his white nemesis. Threatened with disqualification, he rises from the hospital bed, orders his stitches to be cut, takes some daring calculations to fool his nemesis and beats the white cheat with blood running from the opened wounds on both of his legs. Why is this not a movie???

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why this ground-breaking athlete remains a relative unknown is beyond me. Quite possibly the only cyclist more accomplished than Lance Armstrong. First African American to form part of an integrated team in U.S. History and world champion several times over, despite the fact that he could not compete in the whites-only venues of the South and that racist riders in the North tried every dirty trick in the book to unseat him.

The biography itself is well-researched and written beautifully.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor, born in 1878, was one of the world's greatest cyclist in a time when black athletes were not welcome to compete. This is a fascinating look at race relations and cycling in early 20th century in America and Europe.

[Jillita · Rating 4 out of 5]

The man who broke all records and lured thousands of people to see him race his track bike in cities around the world back at the turn of the 20th century and who helped bring awareness to civil rights.

[Scott Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched, well written, and very readable. I’ve read several biographies of Major Taylor, and I think that this is the best one. Ritchie was able to access original source material courtesy of Taylor’s daughter.

[pea. · Rating 5 out of 5]

an amazing story with a sad ending... he should be taught in schools... we should all know his name.

[Crckt]

i gotta re check it out from the library. i was loving it. i just overextended my reading capacity while i had it checked out. i hope my page count is close...

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book moved me to tears at the end: Taylor's story is incredible and tragic, and I'm so glad to have come to learn his story in the last year.