This column first appeared in the March 12, 2021 issue.
On February 19th, the Arts Council of Indianapolis hosted a Zoom online meeting for viewers to see the artists’ concepts for a proposed mural honoring Marshall “Major” Taylor. The event was posted on a social media site, and immediately interested me: my first mother-in-law’s good friend was Major Taylor’s daughter. When I lived with my first family in Clarksville, my bride told me that her mother’s friend might be coming from Pittsburgh to Indianapolis. This was in 1982, and the occasion was the dedication of the Major Taylor Velodrome.
Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor was born in 1878 in Indianapolis. He graduated from performing tricks on a bicycle to racing professionally, and by 1899, was crowned national and international champion, “… the second Black world champion athlete.” He earned medals and prize money all over the world, including in Australia, where his daughter Sydney was born. The Indianapolis Arts Council issued an open call for artists for a mural to be painted on the Barnes and Thornburgh office building, and got applications from 54 artists, three of whom presented their concepts in the Zoom meeting.
Rafael Blanco, the Assistant Professor of Art at Elmhurst University, was classically trained as a studio painter, and has turned his attention toward public art. Shawn Michael Warren, a native of Chicago, received his BFA from the American Academy of Art in Chicago. He currently resides in Los Angeles, Ca. “His intent is to create works of art that depict the underrepresented.” Michael “Alkemi” Jordan is an Indianapolis artist whose works include a mural on Massachusetts Avenue of Indianapolis poet Mari Evans. Once the three artists’ proposals were presented, a discussion of their ideas was begun. The discussion participants were Rahsaan Bahati, Peter Joffre Nye and Karen Brown Donovan.
Rahsaan Bahati is a 10-time cycling national champion, a Black man who has endured despite racial disparities for cyclists of color. Peter Joffre Nye is a prize-winning writer and author who has published a second edition of his book, “Hearts of Lions: The History of American Bicycle Racing.” The third participant in the discussion, Karen Brown Donovan, shocked me when I heard her say that she is the granddaughter of Major Taylor’s daughter.
At the end of the discussion, I sent an e-mail to Julia Muney Moore, Director of Public Art for the Arts Council, saying that my first mother-in-law was a good friend to Karen Brown Donovan’s grandmother. I also sent an e-mail to my first bride about having seen Donovan in the discussion, and she responded, “Oh, my! I would love to tell her stories about her grandmother and my mom!” Ms. Moore forwarded my first bride’s e-mail to Donovan, and Cathy and Karen are committed to a continuing discussion about Major Taylor, his daughter and her granddaughter.
Taylor’s daughter, Sydney Taylor Brown, lived in the same neighborhood as my first bride’s family, and I spent a lot of time in Schenley Heights (we in the Hill District called the neighborhood “Sugartop.”) Brown, who died in 2005 at Heritage Shadyside Nursing Home, lived for a long time on Milwaukee Street. Brown’s granddaughter has expressed an interest in connecting with someone who knew her grandmother, and I hope to be able to share in the memories that my first bride will share with her about Sydney, and Cathy’s mother, “Pickles.”
I am grateful to the Indianapolis Arts Council for connecting me, and by extension, my first bride, to a part of our lives that includes a personal connection to important African American history that involved a “Major” bicycle racer, his daughter and her granddaughter.
cjon3acd@att.net