Marshall “Major” Taylor

Marshall "Major" Taylor became the first Black world champion in any sport when he won the cycling sprint world championship in Montreal in 1899. He was just twenty years old. In an era of open, violent racism, he dominated a sport that tried everything to keep him out.

Competitors boxed him in during races, knocked him off his bike, and even choked him unconscious after a race in 1897. Promoters barred him from Southern tracks entirely. He raced anyway — and won anyway.

Born in Indianapolis to a family of modest means, Taylor was drawn to cycling as a teenager. He broke records across America, Europe, and Australia, earning the nickname "The Worcester Whirlwind." He died in poverty in 1932, buried in an unmarked grave. In 1948, a group of former cyclists raised money to reinter him with a proper memorial.