Major Taylor in Australia

Major Taylor, the black American cyclist and 1899 World Sprint Champion, was the highest paid and most famous athlete in what was then the world’s most popular and lucrative sport. Spectators packed stadiums in North America, Europe and Australasia to watch him race. In the United States, however, his white rivals’ racial bigotry, hatred, threats, and dangerous and dirty riding tactics became intolerable. It was in Australia, in 1904, facing his American arch enemy, that hostilities came to a head.