Major Taylor: Champion of the Race

Major funding for this program is made possible by the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, as it continues Mr. Clowes' legacy of philanthropy in promoting and preserving arts and humanities in Indianapolis.

Information at awclowescf.org.

Additional funding is provided by the IU Student Foundation, presenting the Little 500 Collegiate Bike Race since 1951, supporting students in leadership and philanthropy since 1949.

Details at IUSF.Indiana.edu.

The Al Cobine Recognition Endowment Fund, Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations, After all is said and done and written, my own book of experiences will best show what these obstacles are, and how I managed to overcome them to some extent.

In a word, I was a pioneer, and therefore, had to blaze my own trail.

Marshall "Major" Taylor Major Taylor was obsessed.

He had to be.

To be the first African American World Champion when the whole world was against you, that would fuel his obsession.

Today's athletes, they are the byproduct of what Major Taylor had to have done in order to achieve what he achieved.

NARRATOR: He earned nicknames that often equated to the most powerful forces in heaven and earth.

The Cyclone.

The Whirlwind.

The Comet.

He gained the respect of one of the country's most celebrated civil rights pioneers, and shook the hand of a U.S. President who greatly admired him.

He was the toast of many of the largest cities in America, as well as Paris, Brussels, Munich, London and Sydney.

And for a time, he was one of the most famous people on three continents.

And he accomplished it all riding a bicycle.

The remarkable thing about Major Taylor is that he rose to the height, to the zenith, and remarkably, he was the best that ever did it.

He held up the mirror to the false narrative of racism.

Because racism says, You're not as good as this other group.

And he says through his action, Oh, yes, I am.

NARRATOR: Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor was many things to many people.

A poet, a musician, an author, a businessman, a loving husband and father.

He was one of the most powerful athletes on the planet, the world's first Black sports superstar.

Reporters simply called him: "The Fastest Man in the World."

Major Taylor was big box office.

He was a big draw.

He was a rock star.

NARRATOR: At the turn of the 20th century, speed cycling was the world's most lucrative and popular sport.

In an era when top baseball players earned $2,500 a year, Major Taylor made 20 times that, year, after year, after year.

What Major Taylor was able to earn at this particular time in the history of sports is almost unfathomable.

So for this to be happening in the 1890s and early in the 20th century was really extraordinary.

NARRATOR: At the same time, Major Taylor was a master negotiator, a man who had to navigate the turbulent winds of social change that he helped to promote.

I can't imagine how Major Taylor dealt with it, with the extreme in-your-face racism of the Jim Crow era.

Baseball players had their trials and tribulations, but they were also on teams.

Major Taylor wasn't on a team.

It was Major Taylor versus everybody else, and everybody else was white.

Life is too short for any man to hold bitterness in his heart.

I pray children of my race will carry on in spite of that dreadful monster prejudice, and with patience, courage, fortitude and perseverance, achieve success for themselves.

- Major Taylor This is a quintessential American athlete.

The quintessential American story.

He's an icon, and he wanted to dignify the entire race.

The whole notion of extreme patience and persistence that it took to get where he got is a lesson for all of humanity, really.

This is a pioneering figure in American sport and in American history.

We need to know about Major Taylor.

NARRATOR: The man whom the New York Times once called the "fastest in the world" was born on November 26th, 1878, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Indianapolis, during the time that Major Taylor was living here, there were schools and Black children were attending schools here.

There were Black churches.

And so you had a community.

Major Taylor came up at a time when America was codifying Jim Crow.

And he also came up at a time when America would see arguably its most virulent period of racism in the deconstruction of Reconstruction.

NARRATOR: Marshall's father, Gilbert, served with the US Colored Troops during the Civil War.

After the war, he worked as a coachman for a wealthy White family, the Southards.

Gilbert often took young Marshall with him to help care for the horses.

The Southards had a son, Daniel, who was the same age as Marshall.

The contrast between the way Taylor grew up and the way the Southard family were living is just remarkable.

It was two opposite ends of the economic and social spectrum.

NARRATOR: Arguably, the most prized possessions the Southards gave to both their son and to Marshall, were their own bicycles.

Marshall and Dan enjoyed many of the same opportunities; that is, until Taylor attempted to join his White friends at the local YMCA.

and that was when we went down to the Young Men's Christian Association gymnasium.

It was there that I was first introduced to that dreadful monster prejudice, They would want to go to the YMCA to play indoors on rainy days, and Marshall was not allowed because he was Black.

NARRATOR: By the time Taylor and his friends mounted their first two-wheelers, the bicycle craze in the United States had grown to a fever pitch.

Once it was shown that it was efficient and that you could travel great distances far more than you could walk, then there was a great deal of excitement about this invention.

The whole concept was personal transportation, which had never really existed before.

You could take a bicycle anywhere.

I think the bicycle has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world.

I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a bike.

It gives her a feeling of self-reliance and independence the moment she takes her seat.

And away she goes, the picture of untrammeled womanhood.

Susan B. Anthony Cycling was taking off as America's sport.

It was bigger than baseball at the turn of the century.

NARRATOR: Bicycle Row in downtown Indianapolis included several manufacturers and retailers.

Marshall Taylor was familiar with these nearby shops and their owners.

Once, when entering the Hay and Willets store to replace a broken part on his bike, Taylor mounted his two-wheeler with a creative flourish that captured the attention of owner Tom Hay.

Tom had a real eye for the marketing and thought, this kid could really be a draw.

Let's get him dressed up and put him in front of our shop.

And while he did this, Major Taylor was wearing a military-style jacket.

Because Marshall Walter Taylor was wearing this military-style jacket, he became known at a very early age as "Major" Taylor.

NARRATOR: One of the most influential entrepreneurs who set up shop on Bicycle Row was Louis DeFranklin "Birdie" Munger, a former champion cyclist.

He is of a very merry disposition, and everyone he meets is sure to become his friend.

Birdie Munger was a very theatrical, flamboyant-style person and probably met Major Taylor through one of the bike shops.

So, he became his mentor, his coach, his employer.

NARRATOR: Munger sensed that his new employee had the potential to be a successful racer.

While timing Taylor one day at a local track, Munger was surprised to see his young protg speed around the one-mile oval in 2 minutes and 9 seconds, a mere two seconds from the world record at the time.

He's astonished that this young racer, that really most people had never heard of, nearly breaks a world record.

NARRATOR: One of the most influential racers that Taylor met while working for Munger was Arthur Augustus Zimmerman, winner of more than 1,000 national and international races and the current world-champion speed cyclist three years running.

Zimmerman was coming to Indianapolis for a race, and Marshall Taylor was assigned to go fetch him at the train station.

So he got to talk to him on the way to Birdie's.

Zimmerman could offer him insight; he could offer him tips.

He could just really, almost in a way, be another mentor.

NARRATOR: Birdie reasoned that prospects might prove more financially beneficial in the growing manufacturing markets in the East.

In the fall of 1895, he purchased a factory in Worcester, Massachusetts.

He promised to take Taylor along as a shop assistant and to continue his training.

NARRATOR: Munger had grand visions in mind for Major Taylor.

To accomplish their goals, they needed a bigger attraction in the biggest venue they could find, one that would launch Major Taylor into an international spotlight.

And they're off on the six-day grind.

Madison Square Garden was the epicenter of popular culture in America.

So if you're making your debut in Madison Square Garden, it's like a singer in Carnegie Hall making their debut.

This is an event.

NARRATOR: In December 1896, Birdie Munger entered Major Taylor into one of the nation's top sports events, the annual Six-Day Race at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The idea was to go around and around the oval at Madison Square Garden for six straight days, and see who could compile the most miles.

It would introduce Major Taylor to the public.

It may lead to fame and fortune, but it's darned hard work.

And he convinced them that if they can promote the race as a race of Black versus White, that they would actually attract more people.

That this would promote interest in the race.

NARRATOR: As a warmup to the big event, the 18-year-old Taylor entered a shorter race, a half-mile dash, against the top American sprinter, Eddie Bald.

When the starter's gun sounded, Bald shot out to an impressive lead, but as the cheering swelled, Taylor suddenly stunned everyone by rocketing past Bald to capture the checkered flag.

It was an incredible event, and Eddie Bald at the track was quoted by a cycling journalist at the time, and a terrible racial epithet that he couldn't believe that Major Taylor had beaten him.

And this catapulted Major Taylor to fame instantaneously.

Discipline, to me, is when you set your rules and you stick by it.

When you go through and you have a narrow purpose, an overarching goal, that is a life priority, you don't want this.

You need this.

NARRATOR: Major Taylor had an unyielding goal to perfect his own mental and physical conditioning.

That goal was much easier for him to attain in Worcester, Massachusetts.

existing among the bicycle riders there as I had experienced in Indianapolis.

And when I learned that I could join the YMCA in Worcester, You know, really to kinda get ready for any kind of competition, it was preparation.

And there's always going to be naysayers.

But mentally, you have to prepare yourself too, because of whether you're being a woman or a Person of Color, the things that are said about you, you have to learn to block out.

NARRATOR: Physically, Taylor sought solace in the gym.

Spiritually, he found salvation at the John Street Baptist Church in Worcester.

Major Taylor had a very close relationship with his mother, Saphronia.

She was a woman of very deep faith.

Before she died, she made him basically promise not to race on Sundays.

For many of the cyclists, Sunday was the preferred day to race, and they could earn a great deal of money.

Major was offered thousands to race on Sunday, but he would not give in.

NARRATOR: While Massachusetts was far more welcoming than his home in the Midwest, Taylor still faced hostile reactions when attempting to purchase a new home on Hobson Avenue, in an all-White neighborhood.

because Major Taylor, the Colored bicycle rider, has purchased a house there.

They are making a tremendous fuss over having him for a neighbor, and all because of his color.

In private life, Major Taylor is one of the most quiet and gentlemanly men in the country, There's people in the neighborhood saying, you know, we can't have Black people living here.

They tried to get him to sell the house back for twice what he paid, but he really didn't want to sell it back at all.

He felt he had the right to live there.

NARRATOR: Eventually, the uproar died down.

Taylor kept the home.

It was super dangerous on the track, because if there was any kind of a mechanical malfunction and a crash, there could be serious, serious injury or fatality.

NARRATOR: At more than 40 miles an hour, the world's top cyclists would push each other at top speed.

This during a time in which cycles were often heavy and difficult to control, and riders never wore a helmet or protection of any kind.

Major Taylor later said that at least 11 of his competitors died during cycling races.

He himself was knocked unconscious, had many terrible crashes.

NARRATOR: For Major Taylor, the threats were constant.

Competitors elbowed him, bumped him from the track, and once a spectator poured a pail of ice water over his head as he passed by.

One athlete, William Becker, grew so incensed after a race that he came up behind Taylor and choked him into what Taylor called, quote, a state of insensibility.

Track racing is controlled chaos.

You have to leave the saddle, rock the bike from side to side.

The bicycle is more or less a weapon at this point, and your job is to chase down everybody in front of you if you're going to win that race.

For Major Taylor to also combat racism at that time, competitors that didn't want to race with him or were boxing him out.

People that are pioneers, they have to welcome that pressure, I think.

White people wanted White athletes to be the stars, generally speaking.

So when a Black athlete dominated the sport, the way Major Taylor did, it was going to be clear that some of those White people would be trying to find the next White champion to replace him.

NARRATOR: Taylor's challengers included Frank Kramer, once called the "New Jersey Nightmare," because of the intensity with which he attacked his opponents on the track.

He often hurled racial epithets at Taylor in the press.

There was Iver Lawson, the "Big Swede," who once intentionally bumped Taylor into the infield and caused such terrible injuries that Taylor was forced into a hospital bed for weeks.

And then there was Floyd McFarland, "the Human Engine," a West Coast champion from San Jose.

McFarland was a big bruiser of a guy, and McFarland was determined.

He would not stop at anything.

He was not going to be beat by a Black man.

NARRATOR: When racing head-to-head, wins by Taylor would send McFarland into a rage.

Major Taylor had the determination to win.

Floyd McFarland had the determination to not allow and to hinder Major Taylor from winning.

that might bring about my failure to win the championship laurels.

Major Taylor would have been racing and training and traveling under a system of segregation.

This would cause him many challenges, challenges of where could he stay when he was going to races.

How would he be able to train?

And all of those things were things that he had to consider.

This is a very dangerous time to be the progeny of enslaved Africans in this country.

To be a performer in a completely White theater was a daunting period.

NARRATOR: Not only did Taylor endure the racial turbulence.

Somehow, he thrived in it.

It was a turning point for Major Taylor.

And he said, I'm not going to try to compete as anything other than what I am.

And I'm going to let the color of my skin be my fortune.

My race is my fortune.

Major Taylor had an explosive sprint.

He could wait in the back of the pack for his moment, and then find an opening and jump.

He was extremely quick, and he could sit right on the wheel in front of him, inches from the wheel.

Above all, he had an incredible ability to burst into speed and win down the stretch, and that become really his trademark.

then timing my jump perfectly.

I would suddenly hop through, leaving my rivals in the lurch.

NARRATOR: Often in direct defiance of promoters' bans, bogus fines and opponents' threats, Major Taylor continued to win races all over the United States.

In more than 12 years of competition, he set 22 world records, and then went out and broke his own records another four times more.

He soon garnered more prize money than any other athlete at the turn of the 20th century.

You look at the guy, and you say, he made $20,000 a year, $50,000 a year.

That doesn't seem that much to people today.

But we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

He made someplace between maybe $2 million, $3.5 million during his career.

That's a -- that's a lot of money.

Major Taylor starts getting headlines, nicknames, the Worcester Whirlwind, the Black Comet, the Black Cyclone.

People just loved to see how fast he can go.

No matter whether they were rooting for the Black man to defeat the White man, or whether they wanted to see white supremacy upheld, they wanted to see it.

NARRATOR: One of the best opportunities for Taylor to show how he could excel, and to claim the title of The World's Fastest Man, would come in August 1899, less than three years into his stellar career, as a finalist in the one-mile world sprint championship, held before more than 18,000 fans at Queen's Park Vlodrome in Montreal.

This was a huge event, and Major describes his feeling, how happy he was, how excited he was, and how proud he was.

NARRATOR: In a final heat that included champions from England, France, Australia and the United States, Taylor vanquished all his opponents.

Officially, Taylor had now earned the title World Champion.

When he competes and races, for example, in New York City or in the South, they would play "Dixie" if he won.

This was the racist anthem of the Confederacy.

But when he won the World Championship, they played "The Star-Spangled Banner," and he said he had never felt more American until that day in Canada!

And indeed, I felt even more American at that moment than I had ever felt in America.

This was the most impressive moment of my young life.

He is now an international superstar.

He is a world champion.

Winning the world one-mile was a wonderful stepping stone.

The Black press urged Major Taylor to go overseas and compete against the White riders and show the world that you are without a peer.

A lot of the top racers were in Europe.

And he needed to level up to get to the next level, and that's where the action was.

NARRATOR: By the time Taylor had captured the global title in 1899, several other promoters were eager to sign and advocate for him in races all over the world.

with which he is under contract, fulfills that part of the agreement, which amounts to $10,000!

The young man with staunch Christian principles He refused the Sunday competitions.

It's significant to point out that the entire structure of bicycle racing was quite literally changed to meet Taylor's demand.

That's how popular he was.

NARRATOR: After the retirement of American Arthur Zimmerman, most racing fans in Europe considered Edmond Jacquelin, the reigning champion of France, to be the rightful heir to the title World Champion.

Jacquelin had not traveled to Montreal to face Taylor in the world championships in 1899, but he was the most powerful force on the European circuit, and the most likely foe for an international challenge with Major Taylor.

When he got to France, he was a sensation.

There weren't that many Black people walking on the streets of Paris at this time.

But he got incredible coverage, and they described him as the most elegant physical specimen that they'd ever seen.

The French public had read quite a bit about Major Taylor's exploits on the track in the United States, and here he was coming to face the great French champion.

One, Jacquelin, is the powerful man, extraordinarily muscular.

The other, Major Taylor, is the thoroughbred.

It is the struggle of the two races: NARRATOR: The duel in Paris would feature two separate match races between the American and European champion.

The first best-of-three match was held on May 16, 1901.

Jacquelin remembered the fierce fight.

I pushed like a demon, he said.

We were elbow to elbow.

By the time they crossed the finish line in the second heat, Jacquelin had prevailed.

and thumbed his nose at me immediately after crossing the tape.

I was hurt to the quick by his unsportsmanlike conduct, A revenge match was set for two weeks later, and that time, Major Taylor won the first heat.

And then on the starting line of the second heat, he reached over and shook Jacquelin's hand, just to unnerve him, to disarm him.

Major Taylor wrote about this later in his autobiography as "a bit of psychology" is what he called it, and it worked.

Major Taylor won and beat Jacquelin.

It's an incredible moment.

Taylor's there.

He is in the biggest place of racing in the world.

He becomes this incredible figure in world cycling, and he races all over Europe after that.

NARRATOR: Taylor traveled by train to destinations in other European capitals.

He defeated the champion of Germany.

The champion of Belgium.

The champion of Denmark.

The champion of Italy.

The champion of England.

He garnered headlines in papers all over the continent.

The French press called him Le Ngre Volant -- The Black Flying Machine.

His face was being seen in newspapers.

There were many stories being written about him.

And when he traveled overseas and when he was in France, when he was in Paris, he was on the cover of many French publications.

NARRATOR: Taylor's reception in Europe was far different than in America.

Overseas, he was an object of curiosity and awe.

He was still the only Black face in the crowd.

But at least in the capitals of Europe, Taylor demanded attention, respect, and many times, admiration.

men who over the years have passed before our eyes, seeing anyone whose body bears such a fine touch of manly beauty and elegance as this young Negro You would have to put Major Taylor in at that level, at the Muhammed Ali, Jack Johnson.

He'd have to be in at that level because of his experience and his championships.

He's cycling everywhere!

He's representing his family.

He's representing his community.

But whether White folks liked it or not, he's representing the United States.

NARRATOR: On the track, Major Taylor was a master of physical training and technique.

Away from the track, he had many other outside interests.

His command of the English language was exquisite, and he would write and deliver sermons at local churches all along his journey.

He gave back to the community.

He was a poet.

He spoke three languages.

He was popular all across the globe.

This was unique at that particular time.

NARRATOR: Civil rights pioneer, Booker T. Washington, once came to the docks in New York City to wish Taylor good luck as he shipped out on one of his European tours.

And later in life, former President Theodore Roosevelt, on a visit to New England, shook Taylor's hand and congratulated him.

"Major Taylor, I am always delighted to shake the hand of any man who has accomplished something worthwhile in his life.

NARRATOR: And then there was Daisy Victoria Morris, a young woman who likely met Taylor at a church function in Worcester.

The two of them met, and she was an absolute gorgeous woman.

And so, it's not surprising that a young Major would have kinda been tripping over himself to meet her.

I understand she was incredibly elegant well-spoken, and he fell head-over-heels.

They had money.

They had fine clothes.

They traveled.

They were a class act.

I think Taylor's one of the trailblazers of social justice or social activism in sports.

You know, for him to have that public persona, for him to excel in cycling, it's that period of racial uplift and ensuring that we are presenting our very best.

NARRATOR: In December 1902, the summer racing series in Australia was kicking off, and the continent's top sports promoter asked Taylor to compete in a circuit literally on the other side of the world.

This time, he would be traveling with Daisy on a trip that would also serve as a type of honeymoon.

NARRATOR: With new racist restrictions being adopted into law in Australia, Taylor was unsure whether or not he and Daisy would even be allowed into the country.

The couple was surprised then, when the ship eventually pulled into Sydney Harbor.

and saw hundreds of boats decked out with American flags with their whistles tooting As they got closer into port, they started seeing just dozens of ships out there, and people were cheering, and that is the most beautiful moment.

NARRATOR: Australia's top speed cycling champion, Don Walker, would escort the couple to large, enthusiastic receptions all over the continent.

He's treated like royalty.

He's put up in the best hotels.

When he arrives in Australia, for example, in the harbor, there's this armada of ships that comes out to greet him.

He's given parades.

When he returns from Australia, he takes with him an Australian championship.

To be celebrated in France and the UK and Australia, where ships were waiting to applaud you, I think it's absolutely one of the most phenomenal stories that we've never heard.

NARRATOR: The entire experience was so positive that when Taylor's daughter was born in May 1904, Major named her for the city where he received such a glorious greeting - Sydney.

It raised money.

It made money for the promoters.

But it also created enormous joy in the Black community.

It showed that they could -- given an equal opportunity, that they could excel, that they could win, that they could overcome their difficulties.

NARRATOR: At the conclusion of the tour, Don Walker accompanied the Taylors on their journey back to America.

But when they arrived in California, the Australian champion was stunned to see how poorly the Taylors were treated in the hotels and restaurants of San Francisco.

Major Taylor used his position as a cyclist.

He was someone that promoters had to -- in many ways -- accept, had to include, because he was someone who could attract a crowd, who could bring audiences, and most importantly, he could win.

This was important that he succeed, not only professionally, but that he maintained his character, despite the personal attacks.

You know, that he maintained his composure.

NARRATOR: Matters grew even worse for Major Taylor on his return trip to Sydney the following season.

Floyd McFarland and his sidekick, Iver Lawson, said, Why should Major Taylor -- why should that guy, why should that Black guy, be getting all the money in Australia?

We'll go down there too and race and give him a run for his money.

Of course, what makes it even more dangerous for Major Taylor is at any moment he could be the victim of foul play.

It added a whole other level of skill that Major Taylor had to have in addition to his pedaling abilities.

NARRATOR: At one race in Melbourne, at McFarland's urging, Lawson suddenly swerved and cut off Taylor, knocking him off his bike.

At more than 40 miles an hour, Taylor skidded across the track into the gravel infield.

His skin was torn off his body, and he was practically unconscious.

NARRATOR: For more than two weeks, race promoters paced outside Taylor's hospital room, insisting that he leave immediately for a race in Adelaide.

Fully bandaged and barely able to move, Taylor slowly made his way from the hospital to the train station.

NARRATOR: Australian race officials were shocked by the actions of Lawson and McFarland.

They imposed warnings and fines, then eventually banned Lawson from Australian competition.

Taylor did arrive in Adelaide, bloody and heavily bandaged, then, remarkably, won the race.

All of the racism took its toll on Major Taylor.

There were the physical injuries.

There were also psychic abrasions.

He came back, and he basically said, I almost had a breakdown.

And for several years, he didn't race.

But it was what he, himself, described, you know, as one of the darkest periods of his life.

Major Taylor came home from that season in Australia on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

You could say that racism broke him.

NARRATOR: From the remainder of the 1904 season through all of 1906, Taylor did not mount his bicycle for a single official competition.

Nor did they seem to realize the great mental strain that beset me in those races, and the utter exhaustion which I felt on many occasions both on and off the track.

In most of my races... The mental toll.

The physical toll.

All that he's having to deal with is coming to a head.

The years of travel, the years of maintaining a regimen, a training regimen, and all those things coming together.

NARRATOR: In the spring of 1907, with encouragement from his wife, Daisy, Taylor grudgingly committed to a new European tour.

But he was in no real condition to return to international competition.

On this trip, Daisy and Sydney remained in Massachusetts, while, Taylor -- dejected and alone -- attempted to navigate a long and lonely European tour.

This time Major Taylor did not have the clout to get no Sundays in his contract.

So he ends up racing on Sundays, and he did not feel good about it.

His letters home to Daisy were lonely and melancholy.

NARRRATOR: He was now competing against European champions who were almost ten years younger than he was.

The demands of the European racing circuit proved to be too much.

Taylor decided to retire from competitive cycling in 1909, at the age of 31. and I was certain the day had come for me to step out of the sporting limelight.

NARRATOR: By 1926, Taylor was no longer able to earn money from racing.

And many of his early business ventures failed to take off.

His finances had dried up.

Though Daisy and Marshall never officially divorced, she felt that she needed to take her daughter and leave Worcester in order to secure a job and raise money to help pay for Sydney's education.

They moved to New York City, an action that devastated Taylor, who never lost his love, passion, or dedication to his wife and daughter.

NARRATOR: Taylor had just completed his autobiography, "The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World."

And he sought out new opportunities in one of the top industrial centers in the United States - Chicago.

He had an idea for an automobile tire.

Basically, a precursor of what we call nowadays a steel-belted radial.

And he had a prototype, and he had big investors.

He invested a lot of his own money as well.

His idea essentially was overtaken by other technological advances and did not get beyond a prototype.

So he lost a big investment on that.

NARRATOR: He rented a place at the Wabash Avenue YMCA in the Bronzeville district on the city's south side.

But soon, the financial pressures of the Great Depression, coupled with several diseases and a weakened heart, resulted in Taylor checking into the charity ward of a Chicago hospital.

It's a tough ending to the story, but he said again and again, he wanted people to focus on, you know, what he accomplished, that he had a message.

And that message was that if you were given a fair shake, if you were given equal chances, that that's all that was wanted, that that's what his story should be about.

NARRATOR: Taylor was not able to bounce back from all that was keeping him down.

He died on June 21st, 1932, at the age of 53.

He was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave at the Mount Glenwood Cemetery on Chicago's south side.

We can certainly be inspired by Major Taylor.

And we can take all of those things, athlete, husband, father, man of faith.

All of those things can be inspirational to us.

He chipped away at it, and others chip away at it.

We're still chipping away at it.

We still are fighting racism.

We still need more examples of people who are willing to go out front and be the first one in some category to break the barrier.

NARRATOR: More than a decade passed before a group of old speed cycling veterans, partnered with Frank Schwinn of the Schwinn Bicycle Company, to dedicate a new memorial plaque, marking the contributions of the man many considered to be the greatest bicycle racer in the world.

Major Taylor is one of the great civil rights icons, just as other great Black athletes after him: Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, on and on.

His story, you know, he was the pathbreaker.

He was the one leading that slipstream, you know, in a race for racial justice and equality.

What Major Taylor did was to show that it's not only important of what you do as an athlete competitively, but what you give back to the community.

He, in many ways, became the role model for that early on in the history of American sport.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce the bipartisan Marshall "Major" Taylor Congressional Gold Medal Act.

The highest honor this body can bestow upon an American.

Major Taylor was the greatest athlete of his era.

America's first sports superstar and a world champion, but he's been left out of our history books.

We need to bring him out of the shadows and recognize his greatness both on and off the track.

The Gold Medal is to seek recognition.

It's our nation's highest honor for the civilian population.

And if there is someone that has truly exemplified America's greatness, America's story, America's hope, I would want more people to be inspired by the life and the legacy of "Major" Marshall Taylor.

Welcome to the Honor Major Taylor Fondo!

NARRATOR: By the second decade of the 21st century, Major Taylor's legacy gained a resurgence in popularity that would be hard to imagine at the time of his death in 1932.

Major Taylor cycling events, held in several large cities across the US annually attract hundreds of participants every year.

Large murals in places like Indianapolis and Chicago remember Taylor's time racing in these and other towns.

A permanent Major Taylor Museum opened in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the fall of 2021.

Other educational and historical exhibits have been featured in Indianapolis, Indiana, and in Roubaix, France.

Other cycling groups across the nation evoke the spirit of Major Taylor in their mission and organized events.

We say a lot of times in Black Girls Do Bike, that there's power in showing up.

There's power in numbers.

We say that, you know, sometimes riding your bike is an act of revolution.

And so, I draw the parallel there, because the fact that we exist creates space, it creates representation.

Major Taylor is known as the fastest man in the world.

For him to achieve despite racial discrimination that he experienced in this time period, and to still have that gumption to keep going.

But also, the ability to be able to challenge that racism.

And I think that that's one of the things that makes him that trailblazer.

What does it profit a man to gain the world and keep his soul intact?

To have and hold the keys to his destiny in his back pocket isn't money.

Is the reward in the revolution?

Major Taylor's canvas was a bike, and he fought in the whitewash game of cycling, using his colored brush hands to paint a more accurate picture of the Black man.

Major Taylor gave history to Paris, and toured the many floors of Europe, but remained a proud Black American.

Major light, shining so brightly that only the sun could rival the speed of which it travels.

Global boy wonder.

Top speed.

Black magic on brand.

This is Major Taylor, the world's fastest man.

For him to compete and succeed the way he did, you know he had to be an incredible human being, and also just an absolute rock, mentally.

And that's something that is pretty unique and special and did make a difference in the history of the sports world and hopefully in society at large.

All Major Taylor wanted was an equal shot.

And all people like Major Taylor want is an equal shot.

And once given that opportunity, he proved himself.

And I think he would look to everyone else and say, This is what they can do.

I felt I had my day, and a wonderful day it was too.

As I think back over those old days, I have no retrospective regrets.

I am a Negro in every sense of the word, and I am not sorry that I am.

We do have numerous white friends and sympathizers.

Together, we are doing all in our power to bring about a new era with regard to equal rights and the brotherhood of all mankind, regardless of creed, race or color.

Marshall "Major" Taylor Major funding for this program is made possible by the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, as it continues Mr. Clowes' legacy of philanthropy in promoting and preserving arts and humanities in Indianapolis.

Information at awclowescf.org.

Additional funding is provided by the IU Student Foundation, presenting the Little 500 Collegiate Bike Race since 1951, supporting students in leadership and philanthropy since 1949.

Details at IUSF.Indiana.edu.

The Al Cobine Recognition Endowment Fund, Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations,