Knox was born on Oct. 7, 1874, in Cambridgeport, Mass. Her mother was white and her father was a Black tailor, and it was possibly from him that she later became a talented seamstress, often making her own eye-catching garments.
Anyway, I discovered a group called the Harlem Wheelmen and that they had annual races whose starting point was in Marcus Garvey Park, then called by its original name, Mt. Morris Park. Then I learned that Harlem was by no means unique in bicycle racing. In fact, one major event occurred in Boston, and there was even by 1893 an organization called the League of American Wheelmen.
After the death of her father when she was 7, the family moved to the West End of Boston to a section of town where poor Blacks lived cheek-to-jowl with immigrants. Very little is known about her educational development, if any at all. When she came of age, she found work as a seamstress, while her brother, Ernest, labored as a steamfitter.
Not only was she an active participant in the sport, but she was also soon riding off with the top prizes and it was hard not to notice her outfits as she embraced the trophies. A greater pleasure arrived when she was allowed to be a member of the League of American Wheelmen in 1893, a first-ever for an African American. It was widely debated whether Knox was an actual member because of the color bar that restricted African Americans from becoming members.
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