"In the tradition of The Boys in the Boat and Seabiscuit, a fascinating portrait of a groundbreaking but forgotten figure--the remarkable 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. In the 1890s, the nation's promise of equality had failed spectacularly. While slavery had ended with the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws still separated blacks from whites,...

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

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

"The essays in Bicycling Inclusion and Equity provide a large sweep of history, from the 1870s to the present day, from New England and across the nation. They are connected by these themes: who could and did ride with whom and with what barriers - all the stuff of cycling's social history. Each chapter captures a different era or type of exclusion and inclusion. The historical movement has been toward inclusion, but it has been a bumpy ride."--...