The World's Fastest Man: The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America's First Black Sports Hero

by Michael Kranish,
The Florida Courier, July 19, 2019

In the 1890s, millions of Americans became “bicycle crazy.” While horses plodded through city streets, towing a buggy at a gait of around four miles an hour, cyclists could go where they pleased at three times that speed or more, free from the stench of manure. And suddenly, bicycle races became America’s most popular spectator sport.