1878-1932

"One hundred years ago, one of the most popular spectator sports was bicycle racing, and the man to beat was Marshall 'Major' Taylor who set records in his teens and won his first world championship by age twenty. The first African American world champion in cycling and the second Black athlete to win a world championship in any sport, Major Taylor faced down challenge after challenge, not least the grueling Six-Day Race, a test of speed, strength, and endurance. With energy, heart, and pounding verse, Charles R. Smith Jr. evokes the excitement of the crowd at Madison Square Garden as Major powered through exhaustion, hallucinations, and racist abuse from fellow riders, who tried to crash his bike throughout the competition. Leo Espinosa's dynamic illustrations capture the action, and as day six draws to a close, and Major's odds narrow, there is little doubt that his triumphant rise and legacy as an international cycling champion are assured--whatever the outcome of one race--in this high-octane tribute to a trailblazing athlete"--Provided by the publisher.

Major" loved to ride his bike. He raced and did tricks, winning award after award. He became one of the best bicycle racers in the United States in just a few years. What happened to this amazing athlete?.

". . . [Provides a] portrait of a groundbreaking but forgotten figure . . . Major Taylor, the black man who broke racial barriers by becoming the world's fastest and most famous bicyclist at the height of the Jim Crow era"--Provided by publisher.

Examines the life of Major Taylor, an African-American cyclist in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who aspired to be named the fastest man alive, focusing on his rivalry with Floyd McFarland, an unscrupulous white rider who pushed Taylor to his limits in a final showdown in Australia in 1904.

Focuses on the first cycling victory in the career of champion bicyclist Marshall Taylor.

Focuses on the first cycling victory in the career of champion bicyclist Marshall Taylor.

A biography of cycling champion Major Taylor who, at the turn of the twentieth century, became the first African-American athlete to break through the racial divide, winning three consecutive world championship titles for the United States.

A biography of Major Taylor, African American bicycle racer, and one of his sport's first American stars.

Introduces the life of the African American bicycle racer who won the 1899 World Championship title.