T He L osT H isTory
racer
continued from page 1
returned to prominence.”
What sets Major Taylor apart from
the other racers and athletes of his day
– and after – is not only his tremen-
dous physical strength and endurance,
but his strength of character, says
Tolman.
“It’s a tough sport, it’s a team sport,”
she said, in need of mentors, coaches,
teammates and opponents who
respected your right to be on the track
or road. “Major Taylor was utterly
alone. They ganged up on him. They’d
literally push him into the fences and
not even give him a chance.”
Despite the hostility he met on many
tracks, Taylor met these challenges
with “remarkable dignity,” says
Tolman.
Major Taylor’s great granddaughter
Karen Donovan says he was a prolific
letter writer and diarist, which solidi-
fies his reputation as a gentleman.
Donovan told The Skanner News that
she spent a lot of time with her grand-
mother and Major Taylor’s only child,
Sydney, who spoke often of her cham-
pion father.
“I understood Major Taylor held
deep, moral values,” she said. “He set
the bar so high it’s a little intimidat-
ing.”
She says he was raised in a two-fam-
ily environment. On the weekdays, he
spent his time with the Southards, and
on the weekends, with his paternal
family.
“He probably had a serious conflict,”
she said. “It certainly had to have an
influence. He just wanted to be treated
like his White playmates.”
Taylor’s fairly pristine life has led
many in the entertainment business to
embellish or outright invent things
about his him, Donovan said. She’s
received a number of film scripts that
included scandalous sex and drinking.
“They take so much creative license
it’s insulting,” she said. Others, how-
ever, have tried to stick closely to the
man’s actual story. There hasn’t yet
been a finished film version of his life,
He wasted much
of his winnings on
failed investment
and business
opportunities
but a website has been set up advertis-
ing the film “Major,” set to be directed
by Kenneth Berris. It is currently in
pre-production.
But Donovan says Major Taylor was
far from perfect. He wasted much of
his winnings on failed investment and
business opportunities. In the later
years of his life, he became estranged
from his wife and daughter, dying
largely penniless save for a massive
collection of memorabilia. Much of
that collection was donated to the
see TayLOR on page 8
February 23, 2011 Black History edition The Portland Skanner Page 5