Rev. Frederick Douglass Taylor, leader of the civil rights movement, dies at the age of 81

By Joseph Green Bishop
News service “Arise Rejoice”

Reverend Frederick Douglass Taylor, whose presence was crucial in the American civil rights movement, died on the evening of June 21 at Tranquility Hospice in Austell, Georgia.

He was 81 years old.

As a lieutenant to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mrs. Ross Parks, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, Ambassador Andrew Young and others, he served in various capacities at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in Atlanta for more than forty years.

Reverend Taylor died of respiratory failure, said his daughter Vonya, who held her father in her arms as he died.

“My father always taught me, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be good people,” Vonya Taylor said. “He believed that the highest calling in life is to serve others and improve the human condition,” she added.

Taylor said her father, the Reverend Taylor, who was born in Prattville, Alabama, began his mornings long before sunrise with prayer and reflection. Then he turned to physical activity, she said.

“At 6 a.m. he would start a two-hour run and walk through the streets of Atlanta,” she said. “He continued doing that until he got sick 18 months ago.”

The late Mayor Maynard Jackson, the first African American elected mayor of Atlanta, once said that Reverend Taylor, whom he knew well, was “an engineer of social change in Atlanta, in Georgia and in the United States.”

Dallas civil rights activist Reverend Peter Johnson, who like Reverend Taylor joined the civil rights movement in his youth, said his friend was “fully committed to remaking the world and providing a better future for those living on the margins of American society.”

Rev. Taylor grew up with his grandmother, whom he affectionately called “Ma-Dear,” and initially thought about pursuing a career in medicine.

After completing his undergraduate studies at Alabama State University, Rev. Taylor earned a master’s degree in theology from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta in 1969.

That same year, he accepted a position with the SCLC, planning to stay only two years. His childhood pastor in Alabama, Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, led the organization when Rev. Taylor joined the professional staff.

“It was never my goal to be a leader,” Rev. Taylor, a magnificent rose in the Civil Rights Garden, once said. “My only goal was to serve, support and encourage others. I was not interested in making a personal fortune. Being part of a substantive social change for all people was very enriching.”

Rev. Taylor, an assistant pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia, spoke at churches and rallies across the country.

He was one of the last living connections to Dr. King, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, Dr. Lowery, Mrs. Rosa Parks, Congressman John Lewis, NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond, Rev. Mamie Williams, Ambassador Andrew Young and Rev. Hosea Williams, all legends of the civil rights movement.

Rev. Taylor’s survivors include his daughter Vonya, five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, his ex-wife Carolyn Yvonne McDaniel, his uncle Isaac Bates, his 96-year-old aunt Lillian Bates, his family from Trinity Baptist Church and his family from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

This article was originally published by Arise Rejoice News Service.