Major Taylor Birthday and Tribute Ride

4648 East Lake Street,Minneapolis MN 55406

26 November, 2021

Description

Join members of the Minneapolis Biking community, Hosted By Anthony Taylor of Major Taylor Minnesota for a no-Drop Solidarity ride at 35 deg Every year the national network of Black-led bike clubs hosts a series of tribute rides across the country in honor of world-champion cyclist Marshall "Major" Taylor's birthday.  On November 26, We will ride in Minnesota and our partner clubs around the country will join in the commemorative recognition of Taylor’s incredible story and lifetime achievements.  Marshall “Major” Taylor is a Black athlete and cycling legend who was one of the greatest bicyclists of his era, setting numerous world records and winning a World Championship and multiple national championships--all while battling racism throughout his career from the late 1800s to early 1900s. He was an international superstar whose superhuman exploits were as well-known in his era as LeBron James or Michael Jordan are today. As the bicycle industry and cycling community turn their attention to the Black Lives Matter movement and the racial injustices Black people continue to face more than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the story of Marshall “Major” Taylor, “the fastest man in America,” is more relevant now than ever. Born in 1878, Taylor was a powerful sprinter who established numerous world records in races covering distances from a quarter-mile to two-mile in 1898 and 1899. While he raced on roads as well, Taylor excelled on the velodrome tracks that once existed across the country. Hailed in newspapers as the “Black Cyclone,” Taylor entered the history books as the first Black American to become a cycling world champion when he won the sprint event at the 1899 World Track Championships. He then traveled around the nation and world to race against and beat the world’s best riders in the early 1900s. Many books have been written about Taylor, who despite his athletic achievements, remains unknown to many. The authors of “Major Taylor: The Inspiring Story of a Black Cyclist and the Men Who Helped Him Achieve Worldwide Fame,” called him “the fastest man in America and a champion who prevailed over unspeakable cruelty.” In 1928, Taylor published an autobiography whose title, “The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World: The Story of a Colored Boy's Indomitable Courage and Success Against Great Odds.” In the book, Taylor wrote that he had no other Black athletes to offer him advice and "therefore had to blaze my own trail." Taylor had to cope with overt racism and prejudice throughout his life and cycling career. Some track owners banned him from competing at their venues, and Taylor was sometimes jeered and heckled by white spectators. He was banned from joining some white cycling clubs. Worse yet, he often complained of being elbowed and physically hit by competitors in an effort to block or slow him down, and at other times he was physically attacked, had nails thrown in front of his tires, and received death threats. Born in 1878 in Indianapolis, Indiana, Taylor retired in 1910 at age 32. In his autobiography, he cited the mental strain of battling racism in competitive cycling as one reason for his retirement. Despite his racing success and countless achievements, he was forced into poverty in his later years and died of a heart attack in 1932 in Chicago. Slow Roll Minneapolis is modeled after and collaborates with the Slow Roll movement founded in Detroit in 2010. Slow Roll was developed to empower people to rediscover, reconnect and reimagine their communities, together, by bike. Slow Roll helps to build healthy, economically vibrant, connected, and people-centered cities with food and celebration at the center. Slow Roll Minneapolis is a project of the Cultural Wellness Center. Founded in 1996, the Cultural Wellness Center is one of the primary community and cultural knowledge-production organizations in the Twin Cities region. The Cultural Wellness Center is about people, from people, and for people. We partner with organizations, institutions, and people within communities to develop models to solve problems and create lasting solutions. The People’s Theory of Sickness states that isolation, loss of culture, and loss of community, makes one sick. In many cases, this is at the core of the problems faced by people in communities.  The Cultural Wellness Center’s work is to unleash the power of citizens to heal themselves and to build community. Through work with individuals, communities, families, academic institutions, government agencies, philanthropists, and other non-profit organizations, the Cultural Wellness Center builds a body of knowledge and web of relationships that support community engagement, intercultural communication, and personal responsibility. These connections are used to help communities build their own capacity to address, resolve, and prevent the things that stand in the way of their health and wellness. The Slow Roll is an example of a community designed and community implemented the promotion of health through exercise, engagement, and connectedness.