From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Bicycle Clubs (Wheelmen), Louisville, KY
In 1894, the Union Cycle Club in Louisville, KY, had 25 members and was said to be the largest African American cycling club in the South. These were the sentiments of William W. Watts, who was speaking to the League of American Wheelmen at the 1894 convention held in Louisville, KY. Watts, a Louisville lawyer, read a letter that supposedly was written by the Union Cycle Club president, Frederick J. Scott, in support of Watts' stand to deny African Americans membership to the League of American Wheelmen [source: Ethnicity, Sport, Identity, edited by J. A. Mangan and A. Ritchie, p. 20]. See also the NKAA entry for Richard Ball. In 1899, the Booker T. Washington Cycle Club at Allen Chapel A. M. E. Church made their first annual appearance on January 25 [source: "Personal Mention," Recorder, 01/07/1899, p. 4]. The club held its meetings at 409 N. West Street in Louisville [source: "Personal Mention," Freeman, 06/17/1899, p. 8]. The first national colored bicycle tournament was held at Brotherhood Park in St. Louis, MO, June 1890 [source: "Ten thousand people witnessed...," in the article "A bob-tailed cur," Cleveland Gazette, 07/26/1890, p. 1].- Union Cycle Club (1894?)
- Booker T. Washington Cycle Club, Allen Chapel A. M. E. (1899)