A Major Taylor exhibit is opening in Indiana

“Major Taylor: Fastest Cyclist in the World,” an interactive experience examining the life and career of professional cyclist Marshall “Major” Taylor, will open Mar. 5 and run through Oct. 23 at the Indiana State Museum.

Taylor was born in 1878 Indianapolis, where he worked in bicycle shops and began racing multiple distances in the track and road disciplines of cycling. He moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, in his teens to escape Indianapolis’s “whites only” tracks. Taylor turned professional in 1896, at the age of 18, living in cities on the East Coast and participating in multiple track events including six-day races.

Marshall Walker “Major” Taylor
The second Black athlete to hold a world championship in any sport. pic.twitter.com/xiMruiVmZH

— autry denson (@autrydenson) February 15, 2022

The interactive experience plans to take visitors into the training room to learn how Taylor developed his speed and agility through his regimen of exercise and diet. Spectators will learn about the racism that Taylor battled on and off the track, including being denied food and accommodations, as well as hear from great contemporary cyclists Justin Williams and Indiana University graduate Rahsaan Bahati about how Taylor’s story has the power to inspire a new generation of Black riders.

MARSHALL “MAJOR” TAYLOR
Also known as the BLACK CYCLONE and “The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World” , Taylor is the world’s first African-American cycling champion, and the first African American world champion of any sport (1899).#BlackHistoryMonth #Day10 pic.twitter.com/92PQtmwnsQ

— Francesco Francavilla (@f_francavilla) February 10, 2022

The exhibit will give any opportunities for visitors to create and discover. Visitors will be able to tinker with bikes and bike parts and test their skills and times on stationary bikes. They’ll also learn about bicycle design and find out about the city’s “invisible riders” who commute by bicycle because they have no car. Plus, they’ll get to see Taylor’s bicycle, on loan from the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis, California, along with many artifacts from the museum’s collection donated in 1988 by his daughter Rita Sydney Taylor Brown, including trophies, scrapbooks, letters and postcards.

In 1898, Taylor won 29 races, finished second nine times and third 11 times, and by that time had racked up seven world records. In 1899 and 1900, he won the world sprint championships. He was only the second Black man to win a championship in any sport. (Boxer George “Little Chocolate” Dixon was first.) From 1901-1903, he had 113 first-place finishes and was second 48 times.

To learn more, you can visit https://www.indianamuseum.org/experiences/major-taylor-fastest-cyclist-in-the-world/