race and cycling

[walkitout]

Well, H. brought this up as a possibly interesting avenue of investigation and boy, howdy, was she right. The League of American Wheelman, which eventually became the League of American Bicyclists, passed a whites only amendment to their constitution in 1894, according to _The Cyclist's Manifesto_, an amendment which stood until...1999.

Comments

Humorous footnote to this

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

I just tried to Google stuff about the League of American Bicyclists and race. Um, there's this verb I totally forgot about? as in, like, to race on bicycles? *forehead slap* I think I turn my Google-fu certificate upside down for the rest of the day, or something.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

Apparently they had stopped enforcing the amendment some time before -- it seems to have been a sort of "blue law" situation. At the time the amendment was officially repealed, the president of the League was African American. http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/LAW.htm states:

League president Earl Jones, an African-American who lives in Louisville, is asking the league's board of directors, in remembrance of Major Taylor, to formally repeal the color line established in 1894.

The league has no records indicating the ban on black members was ever officially revoked, according to Jones' proposed resolution, which will be put to a vote Saturday. The heart of the resolution reads: "The board of directors hereby disavows the action of the 1894 League of American Wheelmen convention, repeals the 1894 resolution and reaffirms our commitment to diversity of membership."

Jones always wondered why he saw so few African-Americans in bike clubs and bike races, especially after Taylor had reached such prominence in the 1890s. When he learned of Louisville's role in the league's history, he took it to heart.

"It was clear that this was the time and place to make amends for that historic wrong," Jones said. "And what better way to do it than to pay tribute to one of its victims, a man who exemplified the continuing struggle of all cyclists to be the best they can be at their sport.

"Finally, I hope that the League, by taking this step, can lead cycling into more diverse and representative participation."

Hurst includes some of that

[walkitout]

That Earl Jones repealed it and made Major Taylor a member, for example, and he also says that the LAW/B had been defunct for some decades and then revived in the 1960s IIRC.