The nearly forgotten true story of how African American cyclist Marshall W. "Major" Taylor rose from rural poverty to world stardom—becoming the world’s fastest velodrome sprinter at the height of the Jim Crow era.

SYNOPSIS:

MAJOR is a prismatic, horror-tinged biopic of Marshall W. “Major” Taylor, the first Black world champion in cycling and one of the most persecuted athletes in American history.

The film unfolds across three crucible races, each a gateway into Taylor’s psyche and his lifelong struggle against systemic racism. In the 1896 Six-Day Race at Madison Square Garden, a teenage Taylor faces down exhaustion, a jeering crowd, and the spectacle of white riders dosed with cocaine and strychnine. His body strains, his mind fractures, and he begins to hallucinate terrifying visions of Klansmen, chains, and fire. Through these visions, we flash back to his first victory over Walter Marmon in Indianapolis, a triumph that seeded his belief that winning could secure equality.

In 1899 Montreal, Taylor claims the World Championship, becoming the fastest man alive. Yet flashbacks to his brutal beating in Taunton remind him that victory only provokes more violence. Here, his mentor Louis “Birdie” Munger urges him to stay perfect and composed, while his wife Daisy warns that no matter how high he climbs, the white world will never accept him. It is in this section that Marmon resurfaces, mocking Taylor’s efforts as a “waste of chain grease,” a cruel reminder that his legacy may be discarded like the machine he rides.

Taylor reaches his physical and professional peak in 1901 Paris, defeating Edmond Jacquelin before ecstatic European crowds. But triumph abroad only deepens the sting of rejection at home. Flashbacks to the bleaching incident—when promoters demanded he lighten his skin to compete—make clear the grotesque cost of white validation. Birdie begins to falter, recognizing his protégé is being sacrificed to prove a rigged system, while Daisy grows more defiant, pushing Taylor toward endurance as survival rather than spectacle.

The prism finally fractures in Melbourne, 1904–05, when Taylor collapses mid-race. Wracked by hallucinations of chains and burning wheels, he can no longer endure. In a moment of devastating clarity, Daisy rushes to the track and pulls him away from the crowd, choosing life over exploitation. The story flashes forward to 1911, when Marmon’s motor car wins the inaugural Indianapolis 500, sealing the bicycle’s obsolescence and erasing Taylor’s name from white memory.

But Daisy ensures his story survives. Though Major Taylor dies forgotten by the public, his endurance—his refusal to be erased—becomes his greatest victory. Through Daisy’s hands and his own fierce determination, his legacy is passed to future generations, a reminder that survival in the face of hatred is itself an act of triumph.

MAJOR