Street Talk: Boston’s Bicyclists Movement Of The 1890s

Boston’s Bicyclists Movement of the 1890s

By Lorenz J. Finison
Tuesday, Nov 30, 7-9 pm
@ LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney Street, Cambridge, MA

Open to the public. Suggested $5-$10 donation.

Boston was a hub of black bicyclists in the 1890s, including: The Riverside Cycling Club, an all-black club with membership largely from Boston and Cambridge; Kittie Knox, a seamstress winning prizes for her cycling costumes and challenging the League of American Wheelmen’s “color bar”; Robert Teamoh, the Boston Globe newspaper writer/photographer; and state legislator who obtained a legislative resolution denouncing the “color bar“ in 1895. Learn about the impact of the “color bar” fight on the Good Roads campaign, the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia’s bicycle corps, and the Cambridge races of Major Taylor, an international champion and member of the first integrated professional sports team in the U.S.

Followed by a discussion on what we can learn from history, and join us in January for the 3rd Annual Boston Bikes Report by the City of Boston Bikes Director at the Boston Public Library to hear about what’s happening today.

Lorenz Finison currently teaches program and policy evaluation in the Doctor of Public Health program at Boston University. He is Principal of SigmaWorks, a consulting firm specializing in planning and evaluation. A founding board member of Cycling Through History: The Massachusetts African American Heritage Bike Route, Larry has a strong interest in the social history of cycling, cycling organizations and in social protest movements.

For more information, e-mail [email protected] or call 617-621-1746

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