major taylor lowcountry cycling club

Named in honor of the legendary African-American cyclists, we are shining a spotlight on the 1899 world champion, Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor.  Marshall was nicknamed “Major” because of a soldier’s jacket he wore while performing cycling stunts outside an Indianapolis bike shop.  Major Taylor was an early 20th-century African American cyclist and the greatest sprinter of all time. He won numerous competitions and world titles, set multiple world records, and was one of the very first Black celebrity athletes. 

Blacks were banned from amateur cycling ranks in the United States in 1894, just as bicycling’s popularity surged. But the move stimulated the growth of black cycling clubs and black races, which gave Taylor his early opportunities to prove his ability. Major was world cycling champion in 1899, American sprint champion in 1900, and set numerous track cycling records. In the Jim Crow era of strict racial segregation, Taylor had to fight prejudice just to get on the starting line. He faced closed doors and open hostility with remarkable dignity. 

By 1930, Taylor was living at a YMCA Hotel in Chicago, selling copies of his autobiography door-to-door. He suffered a heart attack in March of 1932. He survived thanks to a successful operation but remained in poor health. 

Marshall “Major“ Taylor died in the Cook County Hospital’s charity ward on June 21, 1932, at the age of 53. 

Taylor was initially buried at Mount Glenwood Cemetery near Chicago in an unmarked pauper’s grave. However, in 1948, a group of cyclists got together to give Major Taylor a proper burial. The group included former cycling stars and members of the Olde Tymers Athletic Club of South Wabash Avenue YMCA. Armed with funds donated by Frank W. Schwinn (head of the Schwinn Bicycle Company at the time), they organized Taylor’s exhumation and reburial in a more prominent location of the same cemetery. 

Click below to read a Schwinn Bicycle Company article recognizing Major Taylor as one of the greats!