Kadir Nelson

In the northwest corner of 3 World Trade Center’s lobby sits a bronze cast by artist Kadir Nelson, who is not only a sculptor but a prolific illustrator—he’s done more than a dozen New Yorker magazine covers, album art for the likes of Michael Jackson and Drake, and even a series of commemorative postage stamps. The Major depicts Marshall “Major” Taylor, who in the late 1890s blew past racial barriers— and his competitors—to become the fastest professional cyclist in the world and the first inter-national African-American sports superstar. “He did a six-day race at Madison Square Garden,” Nelson said at The Major’s unveiling in May 2019. “There’s a basis why [this sculpture] would not only be in New York, but at the World Trade Center, on a “major stage, to pay tribute to his legacy.”