Customer Reviews

Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World: The Story of a Colored Boy's Indomitable Courage and Success Against Great Odds (Black Heritage Library Collection)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If this book is unavailable through sources for Amazon.com... As far as I know from information I received from Ayer Books in New Hampshire, they continually reprint Major Taylor's autobiography, The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World, in batches of 50 in hardcover edition, and the price is about $50 each. I was initially informed about Major Taylor when I was forming a nonprofit bicycle club for kids in East Palo Alto by George Mount, a friend who was serving on the San Jose Velodrome Board of Directors and who had raced in the 1976 Olympics and Pan Am Games. After a ride to the coast from Menlo Park one day, he took me home to show me the introduction of Hearts of Lions, and asked me if I knew cycling history. I was satisfied to have been able to not only have organized something for kids to 'give back' to a community where I was teaching, but also to be able to educate the entire surrounding community about a previously obscure history. One of our strongest supporters was Wheelsmith Bicycle Shop in Palo Alto, which is a bicycle museum and run by bike officianados... very much like the support by Schwinn Bicycle Company which, together with the turn of the century bicycle riders association, provided a stone for Marshall Taylor's pauper's grave in Chicago, according to the Ritchie biography. Five years ago, in 1994, I had the pleasure of being able to interview Marshall Taylor's daughter by phone. She was then 94 years old. She was very helpful with information, and told me she had bequeathed her father's memorabilia to the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis, because it was better archived that way than in some family attic. She also recounted her relationship with her father and her fateful decision to major in physical education and rehabilitation against his will. When I asked if her family had been close with the DuBois family as they were both celebrities in the Black community at that time, she responded that, yes, DuBois' daughter was her college chum. "She went to Radcliffe, and I went to Sargent. I visited their house in upstate New York many times...." Since Mrs. Brown had spent 25 years of her life as a social worker, her greatest concerns were for the increasing alienation and needs of youth in her Pittsburgh neighborhood. When I told her I was 'White,' she responded, "Well, you must have a Black heart, then. Honey, we have every color represented in our family. We have the whole rainbow..." She had four children, all professionals, and one a retired 3-star general...

Major Taylor, the fastest bicycle rider in the world in 1902, preceeded Arthur Ashe by 70 years. His autobiography is a world classic, and deserves reprinting. Allow mine to be the first order. WHN

I am currently reading Andrew Ritchie's "Major Taylor", in which he quotes extensively from Major Taylor's autobiography. It is obvoius even from these limited quotes what an excellent writer Major Taylor was. I truely hope I can find a copy.