Race Relations

Talent always shows through in everything from academic performance through to the arts and in particular in sporting endeavours.

In today's environment of multi-culturalism and such initiatives as kick racism out of football it really is the case that anyone with talent can progress and acheive the heady heights of their chosen pursuit.

It was so very different in the latter years of the 19th Century when success in life was determined by social class, wealth and patronage and the colour of your skin. It was near impossible for the underprivileged or minorities to have a route into the elitism of sports and it was this prejudicial barrier that Marshall Walter Taylor took on to become the first african american athlete to be a world champion in track and road cycling.

Born in 1878 and in the Deep South of the USA Marshall Taylor could not have found himself in a more hostile and negative setting for an aspiring black athlete.

He was an obviously natural bike rider and with his first cycle at the age of 12 he was taken on by a local bicycle shop to attract customers by stunt and trick riding on the pavement outside. It was his attire of a soldiers uniform that earned him the nickname "Major Taylor" which stuck for his adult racing career.

His first race was won at the age of 13 (1891). By the age of 15 he held the amateur track record over a one mile distance but was subsequently barred because of his colour.

In a 75 mile road race in Indiana he suffered racial threats so much so that he felt compelled to move his base to the more tolerant Massachusets on the east coast.

Racism in the Southern States was very prominent in cycle sport of the period.

White riders regularly conspired in their tactics to beat Major Taylor including boxing him in and culminating in a physical assault and choking by another competitor. The perpetrator was fined but with no other penalties or sanctions imposed.

Spectators also impeded and interfered with his racing and assaults with nails and ice were not unusual.

Being an amateur bike racer made it necessary to have a serious day-time job to subsidise racing and he worked as a mechanic for the Worcester Cycle Manufacturing Company who also sponsored him with a bike and equipment.

Professional Racing began at the age of 18 and he was very soon regarded as the most formidable rider in America. His greatest supporter was Theodore Roosevelt who was an avid follower of Major Taylor's career.

In 1896 a six day race at Madison Square Gardens in New York was attended by 5000 people and in an international field he impressed particularly in lapping the field in one of the events.

In 1898 he held 7 world records over distances of 2 miles to 25 miles followed by a six week period in 1899 in which he established a further 7 world records.

In his professional racing Major Taylor won 29 out of 49 races and became World Champion in 1899.

The more extensive and mature cycle racing of Europe beckoned and a tour in 1902 to France was soon followed by exhibitions and racing in the Southern Hemisphere including Australia and New Zealand.

An active racing programme did take its toll physically. We know about the drug controversies of modern bike racing and the sophisticated compounds in circulation but in the early 20th Century many riders relied upon nitroglycerine to keep them awake and stimulated during events.

A famous quote from Major Taylor indicated the hallucinatory powers of nitro when he claimed to have a difficulty racing on the track from an imaginary character wielding a knife.

He retired at age 32 giving the advice to those african-americans  keen to emulate his success on two wheels to rather find and pursue their own best talent.

In spite of making a considerable fortune from Professional Cycling Major Taylor lost it all through a combination of bad investments, persistent illness and the Stock Market Crash. He was buried in a paupers grave and it was not until 1948 that his contribution to cycling was acknowledged with fellow riders paying for a proper memorial to be erected in a Chicago Cemetery.

As with many great achievers recognition is not in their own lifetime. It is only in the modern era that Major Taylor has been lauded for his pioneering of not only african americans but his records and impact in the sport. His name is now found on street signs and a Velodrome. The film rights for his life story have been sold and a big screen dramatisation is eagerly awaited.