Retraces the life and legacy of an American civil rights pioneer who set more than 20 world records in speed cycling during the heart of Jim Crow America.
Major Taylor: Champion of the Race airs Monday, February 24, 2025 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI app.
In a word, I was a pioneer, and therefore had to blaze my own trail.” – Marshall “Major” Taylor. He earned nicknames that often equated to the most powerful forces in heaven and earth: The Cyclone. The Whirlwind. The Comet. He earned the respect of civil rights pioneer Booker T. Washington and shook the hand of President Theodore Roosevelt, who sought out the great champion to congratulate him. Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor was the world’s first Black sports superstar. Reporters simply called him “The Fastest Man in the World.”
By the time he was in his early 20s, Major Taylor had claimed victory in the world cycling championship, the American cycling crown, and had set dozens of world speed cycling records all while having to endure withering racial pressures.
Photo: Hazel Scott/ Credit: Everett