The Major Taylor monument stands outside the south entrance of the Worcester Public Library in Salem Square. (Toby Mendez, courtesy of Major Taylor Association)
The Major Taylor statue outside the Worcester Public Library is the city’s first monument to an individual African American. Installed in 2008, the larger-than-life sculpture by Antonio Tobias “Toby” Mendez depicts Taylor standing with his bicycle in a velodrome packed with spectators.
Speaking at the statue dedication ceremony, three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond said that “sport’s hard enough as it is” without being a target of racial prejudice. The courage to stand up to that, on top of the “normal challenges of bike racing,” LeMond said, was “what separated Taylor from the pack.”
The monument was commissioned by the Major Taylor Association, whose honorary national chairman, three-time Olympic track and field medalist Edwin Moses, said at the dedication that Taylor belongs “on the list” of athletes who broke racial barriers. In addition to baseball player Jackie Robinson, Moses specifically named boxer Jack Johnson, runner Jesse Owens, baseball player Hank Aaron, track and field athlete Tommie Smith, boxer Muhammad Ali, and tennis player Arthur Ashe.
(Scott Erb)
Mendez, the sculptor, said he wanted to portray not just the athlete but “Major Taylor the man, and that’s why he is off of his bicycle,” standing tall with the dignity he carried in all aspects of his life.
The velodrome in the sculpture, based on a photograph of Taylor racing at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Australia, conveys the popularity of cycling at the time and the pageantry and glamour of a big day at the races. The bicycle is true in detail to a Peugeot that was given to Taylor as a gift in France and that is now at the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis, California.
Simeon Commissiong was photographed in 2007 as the model for the Major Taylor statue. (Toby Mendez)
The model for the statue was Indiana University graduate Simeon Commissiong of Indianapolis, at the time a 24-year-old track cyclist whose laurels included sprint titles at the Major Taylor Velodrome, a U.S. collegiate national pursuit championship, and two junior national championships in his native Trinidad & Tobago. At 5 feet, 9 inches tall, he has a build remarkably similar to Taylor’s.
The Major Taylor monument has served as a meeting place for various bike events and has helped shape collective memory of Worcester’s place in American history. In addition to being seen by hundreds of thousands of library patrons each year, the statue has drawn visitors from all over. Notably, five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault of France pronounced the statue “magnifique” on a visit in 2016.
