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News
February 2011
TEACHER SOUGHT TO WRITE HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM UNIT
$2,500 stipend offered
WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Major Taylor Association is seeking a teacher to write a high school curriculum unit over the summer to add to its free downloadable Major Taylor curriculum guide. The unit is to include a week's worth of lesson plans for a high school-level history course. A $2,500 stipend is offered.
Details are in a Request for Proposals on the Major Taylor Association website. Proposals are due May 20, and a teacher will be selected in June.
The Major Taylor curriculum guide was last expanded in 2005 with materials for Grades 5-8. For more information about the guide and to view the materials, click here.
For more information about the events of May 21, visit the Events page at www.majortaylorassociation.org.
May 2008
LAWMAKERS CONGRATULATE MAJOR TAYLOR ASSOCIATION
Massachusetts Legislature, New York officials present resolutions
WORCESTER, Mass. -- State Sen. Harriette L. Chandler, D-Worcester, presented a legislative resolution congratulating the Major Taylor Association on its accomplishments on the eve of the Major Taylor monument unveiling.
The May 19, 2008, resolution, adopted by both the Massachusetts Senate and the House of Representatives, cites the association's efforts to honor the 1899 world cycling champion and to educate people about his life and legacy. Click here for the full text of the resolution.
The Nassau County, New York, Legislature sent similar citations to be presented by a constituent who attended the May 21 statue dedication. The resolutions were signed by District 2 legislator Roger H. Corbin and the Nassau County executive, Thomas R. Suozzi.
For more information about the events of May 21, visit the Events page at www.majortaylorassociation.org.
February 2008
CHAMPIONS TO DEDICATE MAJOR TAYLOR STATUE
Greg LeMond, Edwin Moses will be featured speakers
at May 21 unveiling
WORCESTER, Mass. -- Three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond and three-time Olympic medalist Edwin Moses will be featured speakers at the public unveiling of the Major Taylor memorial from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 21, at the Worcester Public Library.
LeMond, who won a world championship in cycling 90 years after Major Taylor did, and Moses, who dominated the 400-meter hurdles in track and field for a decade, were each named "Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year" at the height of their athletic careers in the 1980s.
The statue of the "Worcester Whirlwind" created by sculptor Antonio Tobias Mendez is Worcester's first monument to an African-American. The dedication ceremony will be followed by a reception with refreshments in the library's Banx Room.
Preceding the noontime ceremony, the Seven Hills Wheelmen and the Charles River Wheelmen's Wednesday Wheelers will lead a 30-mile bicycle ride starting and ending at the library.
At 7 p.m. at the library, the Clark University History Department and Higgins School of Humanities will present a panel discussion on "Race, Sports, and Major Taylor's Legacy." Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson will be moderator for these scholars, historians and authors exploring diversity in sports and society, then and now:
Andrew Ritchie, author of the biography "Major Taylor: The Extraordinary Career of a Champion Bicycle Racer" (1988)
Janette T. Greenwood, associate professor of history at Clark University, author of a case study of Worcester County's black community in the late 1800s and of "Bittersweet Legacy," on the emergence and interaction of the black and white middle class
David V. Herlihy, author of "Bicycle: The History" (2004), with research on Major Taylor's popularity abroad
C. Keith Harrison, associate professor of sports business management at the University of Central Florida, and associate director of the Institute for Diversity & Ethics in Sport
For more information about the events of May 21, visit the Events page at www.majortaylorassociation.org.
June 2006
MAJOR TAYLOR STATUE FUNDING APPROVED
$205,000 from state completes fund drive
WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Major Taylor Association, Inc., is pleased to announce that the Massachusetts Legislature has approved $205,000 for the Major Taylor statue to be built outside the Worcester Public Library. Gov. Mitt Romney signed the legislation into law June 24.
Combined with more than $70,000 raised from the private sector, the state appropriation essentially completes the fund drive for the project and will allow the selected sculptor, Antonio Tobias Mendez, to begin work on the monument honoring 1899 world cycling champion Marshall W. “Major” Taylor, also known as the “Worcester Whirlwind.”
State Sen. Harriette L. Chandler, D-Worcester, Rep. John J. Binienda, D-Worcester, Rep. James B. Leary, D-Worcester, and Rep. Byron Rushing, D-Boston, were instrumental in securing the legislation containing the Major Taylor statue funding.
Rep. Binienda said, “This memorial to a great African-American athlete is long overdue. Had Major Taylor been cycling in 2006, he would have been as well recognized and much-admired as Lance Armstrong.”
“I am thrilled we were able to secure this funding. This is a huge step forward in building Worcester's first monument honoring an African-American, a true American hero, Major Taylor,” Sen. Chandler said.
“This is a great victory for telling a complete history of the city of Worcester and of the Commonwealth. The Major Taylor statue will pay tribute to an Afro American athlete who overcame many obstacles to become a world champion in bicycling. This memorial will help educate many more people about this extraordinary man's contribution,” said Rep. Rushing, who directed the Museum of Afro American History before he entered the Legislature.
“Massachusetts can take great pride in Major Taylor’s story, and we’re grateful to the community leaders who recognized that a monument here is fitting,” said Lynne Tolman, a board member of the nonprofit Major Taylor Association. “This state played an exemplary role in allowing Major Taylor’s talent to flourish when others drew ‘the color line.’ ”
Major Taylor, an Indiana native who lived in Worcester, Mass., most of his life, overcame prejudice on and off his bike to become the first internationally acclaimed African-American sports superstar. He met closed doors and open hostility with remarkable dignity, earning admiration not only for his athletic achievements but also for his strength of character. He was the second black world champion athlete in any sport (the first was bantamweight boxer George Dixon in 1891). Taylor held seven world records in 1898, won the world 1-mile bicycling championship in 1899, and was American sprint champion in 1900.
For more information about Major Taylor and the statue, visit www.majortaylorassociation.org.
November 2005
MAJOR TAYLOR CURRICULUM GUIDE EXPANDED
Teachers can download free materials
The Major Taylor Association and Massachusetts state Sen. Harriette L. Chandler, D-Worcester, are pleased to announce that the Major Taylor Association's free curriculum guide has been expanded. The lessons about trailblazing black athlete Marshall W. “Major” Taylor, 1899 world cycling champion, now include materials for all grade levels.
Originally developed in 2002 for Grades 3-4, the Major Taylor curriculum guide has been expanded to Grades 5-8 and retains a component for older students as well. The materials are designed to be used at any time -- such as Black History Month (February) or National Sportsmanship Day (first Tuesday in March) -- in conjunction with an optional readathon to benefit the Major Taylor Association's fundraising for a planned statue of Major Taylor at the Worcester Public Library.
“I am thrilled that more and more students will be able to learn about a true American hero from Worcester. I know it will be of great help in moving forward with the building of Worcester's first monument honoring an African-American,” Sen. Chandler said.
The curriculum guide was written by two retired teachers: Virginia Walsh, who taught at West Tatnuck Elementary School in Worcester, and Janet Dufault, past president of the Educational Association of Worcester.
“Major Taylor's life is a powerful story that really grips kids, opens their eyes to a significant period in history, and teaches valuable lessons about character,” Ms. Walsh said. “It's not just about sports.”
Ms. Dufault said it’s a pleasure to offer teachers a supplement to textbook materials, especially one that combines a compelling subject with a community project.
Ms. Walsh added that the Major Taylor unit fits the curriculum frameworks of the Massachusetts Department of Education and was approved for districtwide use by the administration of the Worcester Public Schools. Major Taylor readathons in her school and others have raised thousands of dollars for the Major Taylor statue.
The weeklong Major Taylor unit for children in Grades 3 and 4 is based on a successful character-education and community-service project that Ms. Walsh led in her school. The unit includes five take-home worksheets that provide information about “the Worcester Whirlwind,” as Major Taylor was known, and related exercises and activities employing language, math and other skills.
The materials for Grades 5-8 take a closer look at Major Taylor’s superstar status and the times he lived in. In addition to reading, writing and math skills, suggested tasks require active investigation, critical thinking and creativity. The materials for older students focus on the Jim Crow racial prejudices that marked Major Taylor's athletic career, how the champion reacted to the closed doors and open hostility he faced on and off the bike, and how his experiences might guide athletes and others today.
The 21-page curriculum kit, which includes a resource list for further reading, can be downloaded as a PDF at no charge from www.majortaylorassociation.org. Teachers also may request a free classroom poster of Major Taylor from info@majortaylorassociation.org.
“Part of the mission of the Major Taylor Association is to teach young people about this forgotten hero. We're thrilled that professional educators in Worcester, where Major Taylor lived most of his life, have taken the initiative to bring his legacy to the next generation,” said Lynne Tolman, a board member of the Major Taylor Association.
“Major Taylor broke through the ‘color line’ a decade before boxer Jack Johnson and half a century before ballplayer Jackie Robinson. We can learn a lot by looking at the forces in society and the personal qualities that played into that,” Ms. Tolman said. “These curriculum materials provide an excellent introduction for youngsters, teachers, parents and communities.”
For more information about Major Taylor, click here.
 March 2000
Contact: Lynne Tolman
(508) 831-0301
info@majortaylorassociation.org
TOBY MENDEZ TO CREATE MAJOR TAYLOR STATUE
Sculptor selected to memorialize forgotten black hero
Toby Mendez
Photo courtesy of
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
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Antonio Tobias "Toby" Mendez of Knoxville,
Md., has been selected by the Major Taylor Association to create a monument to 1899 world bicycling champion
Marshall W. "Major" Taylor in Worcester, Mass.
Mendez' design for the statue, to be
erected at the Worcester Public Library in Salem Square, features a two-sided sculpture wall, 10 feet
high and 13 feet, 8 inches wide, serving as a wind break for the library entrance and anchoring an
outdoor plaza suited for reflection and contemplation. One side of the wall will be inscribed with
text explaining Major Taylor's life story, under a 5-foot-by-10-foot bronze bas relief sculpture
of track bike racers in action. The other side will feature a larger-than-life, three-dimensional
figure of Major Taylor, with his bicycle in high relief, in front of a velodrome portrayed in bas
relief. The contrast between the three-dimensional human figure and the relief elements is intended
to prompt the viewer "to focus on the athlete as a man," the artist says, as well as to protect the
intricate bicycle element from damage. The circle in stone on the ground will be inscribed with
words from Taylor's autobiography.
Mendez holds a bachelor of fine arts
degree from the Art Institute of Chicago. His works include bronze panels at the U.S. Navy Memorial
in Washington, D.C.; "A Tribute to the Oyster Tonger" at Annmarie Gardens in Calvert County, Md.;
the state of Maryland's Thurgood Marshall Memorial (1996) in Annapolis; monuments to Nolan Ryan and
Tom Vandergriff (1997) at the Texas Rangers Baseball Club in Arlington, Texas; and "The Warwick
Quahogger, A Day's Catch" (1998) at the Warwick Public Library in Rhode Island.
Mendez was among some 60 artists to
apply for the Major Taylor statue commission. An Artist Selection Committee narrowed the field to five
finalists and ultimately recommended the Mendez design. Pictures of the design are online.
A $250,000 fund-raising campaign for the
statue has begun, with approximately $50,000 in pledges and donations raised to date. The statue is to
be erected at the south entrance of the library, which is undergoing renovations and expansion and is
slated to reopen in 2001.
Major Taylor, an Indiana native who
lived in Worcester, Mass., most of his life, overcame prejudice on and off his bike to become the
first internationally acclaimed African-American sports superstar. He was second black world
champion athlete in any sport (the first was bantamweight boxer George Dixon in 1891). Taylor
held seven world records in 1898, won the world 1-mile bicycling championship in 1899, and was
American sprint champion in 1900.
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