Major Taylor may have been a world-renown bicycle racer in his day, but he died forgotten and penniless in 1932 and was buried in a pauper's graveyard in Chicago.
In the past few years, however, more people are learning about the world-class African-American cyclist, due in part to the many bike paths, clubs and even a statue erected in his memory.
Columbus, Ohio, is the most recent city to honor the cyclist by renaming a four-mile section of the Alum Creek Greenway as the Major Taylor Bikeway. It was dedicated last weekend.
It's only fitting that Columbus honor Taylor in this way, as the city is also home to the oldest Major Taylor Bicycle Club, founded in 1979.
Major Taylor clubs
Since then, bicycling clubs bearing Major Taylor's name have popped up in many cities, among them New York, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Dayton, and Los Angeles and East Palo Alto, California.
Worcester, Massachusetts, home to the Major Taylor Association and considered Marshall W. Taylor's hometown, erected a statue in his honor in 2008. The city also had a short stretch of road identified as Major Taylor Boulevard or Major Taylor Bikeway.
In the 1980s, the Major Taylor Velodrome was built in Indianapolis, some 90 years after he was banned from competing at local tracks because of his skin color.
Youth projects
Here in Seattle, the Cascade Bicycle Club hosts the Major Taylor Project. The after-school cycling program introduces those aged 11 to 18 to bicycle basics and maintenance, while instilling the idea of bicycling as an enjoyable form of transportation, recreation and sport.
Naming bicycle club for youth after Major Taylor is a wonderful idea, since he's been quoted as saying:
“I advise all youths aspiring to athletic fame or a professional career to practice clean living, fair play, and good sportsmanship.”
Taylor's life
Sporting the nicknames Major, the Worcester Whirlwind and the Black Cyclone, Taylor grew up in the Midwest and was banned from race tracks there in the 1890s after he won too many races. He moved east and entered his first race, which he won handily, in Madison Square Gardens in 1896.
He suffered racism in the US, but was quite popular in Europe and Australia where he also raced.
Taylor retired at age 32, tired in part from battling racism, and lost most of his earnings over the next 20 years because of bad investments. He died at 53 years old. His body was exhumed from the pauper's graveyard in Chicago and moved to a more prominent location through the efforts of bicycle racers and Frank Schwinn.
It's great to see that his name and reputation lives on.
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