RACE, SPORT, AND SOCIETY: THE 19TH CENTURY BICYCLING CRAZE
Tuesday, March 3 (rescheduled from February 3)
7:00 PM
Durant-Kenrick House and Grounds, 286 Waverley Avenue.

From 1877 to 1896, the popularity of bicycles increased exponentially, and Newton was in on it from the start with popular destinations such as Norumbega, Chestnut Hill, Echo Bridge, and the Woodland Park Hotel.

Join Lorenz J. Finison in exploring the rise of Boston-area cycling through the lives of several participants, including Kittie Knox, a biracial twenty-year-old seamstress; Joseph Gardner Holmes, a Nonantum resident and a member of the all-black Bicycle Corps of the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia; and Abbot Bassett, a Newtonville resident and vocal cycling advocate for forty years.

In this free lecture, Finison will discuss the challenges facing these riders in a time of segregation, increased immigration, and debates about the rights of women.