Journalist Meets Author on Boston's Cycling Craze, 1880-1900: A Story of Race, Sport and Society

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The Boston Globe’s Derrick Jackson, an avid cyclist, history buff, photographer, and award-winning Op-Ed columnist, will interview author Lorenz J. Finison about his new book on A Story of Race, Sport and Society.  The author and the journalist will explore the remarkable rise of Boston cycling in the 19th and early 20th century.  Their interview will cover the lives of several notable individuals, including Kittie Knox, a biracial twenty-year-old seamstress who challenged the color line; Mary Sargent Hopkins, a self-proclaimed expert on women’s cycling and publisher of The Wheelwoman; and Abbot Bassett, a longtime secretary of the League of American Wheelman and a vocal cycling advocate for forty years. Finison's book shows how these riders and others interacted on the road and in their cycling clubhouses, often constrained by issues of race, class, religion, and gender. He reveals the challenges facing these riders, whether cycling for recreation or racing, in a time of segregation, increased immigration, and debates about the rights of women.  Co-presented by Bikes Not Bombs, Discover Roxbury, and Roxbury Wheel Works.

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