Who Was Marshall `Major` Taylor?
“Life is too short for any man to hold bitterness in his heart” Marshall `Major` Taylor was the World One-Mile Champion in 1899, and a rider so dominant on the track that he not only set numerous world records, but often did so by lapping the entire field. He was a rider renowned for his speed, power, and tactical intelligence, yet the most remarkable thing about Marshall Taylor was that he achieved all that he did whilst struggling against social and institutional discrimination – for Mr. Marshall Taylor was a black man in a white man’s sport. Taylor was born in small-town Indiana on the 26th of November, 1878, and began cycling from an early age, after he was given an old bicycle by a family friend. By the age of 13, the young boy was working as an entertainer, doing tricks on the bicycle outside of a cycle shop in Indianapolis. Whilst performing, bringing in curious passers-by, he wore an old army uniform hence the nickname Major. Major Taylor Statue closeup Soon he was racing in, a
