Remembering Dr. Quintard Taylor, a Historian Who Made Black History Accessible

There will be many tributes proffered for Dr. Quintard Taylor. Every single one of them well-earned.

When I moved back to Seattle in 1998, after nearly 20 years away, it was obvious the town had changed. Black communities felt more disconnected than I remembered. I knew the politics of the 1990s had been internally contentious, but it felt like what had been a narrow crack of division had turned into a gaping canyon.

Confused by it all, I looked for some way to understand and came across The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle's Central District from 1870 Through the Civil Rights Era, by Quintard Taylor, Ph.D. It became the Rosetta Stone that helped me unravel the complexities underlying the multiple Black communities in Seattle, their relationships to one another, and their placement within the broader historical understanding of the region. It permanently changed how I view the multiple, enduring, Black communities in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest: the legacy families and their subtle caste systems; the identity development and impact of the churches and mosques; the internal politics; the relationships to Indigenous, Asian, and Latino/Hispanic communities.

Not only was the book a master class in history, it was also a master class in storytelling. As a writer, I find few things more frustrating than books written by academics for other academics using inaccessible language and condescending tone. The Forging of a Black Community was written for ordinary folks. It is the most exquisite example of "show, don't tell." The stories in the book inevitably show the interlaced strength and endurance of our local Black communities while exposing the fissures. It's an intellectually rigorous work of love.

A few years later, I met Dr. Taylor (I have never been able to call him by his first name, even though we're close in age) when I was considering a community project and needed a historical perspective. I've worked with many college professors, even have one as a family member. They can be snobs, taking themselves way too seriously. Dr. Taylor was gracious and kind. Humble. He helped me find the resources to properly assess what I was doing and gave me information that completely changed the direction of my project. I learned about his own nascent work to gather Black history under a single umbrella that would be free and accessible everywhere: BlackPast.org. Here I realized he was my favorite kind of dreamer: a doer.

BlackPast.org has become an acclaimed source of information for students, everyday readers, and academics. It is our Wikipedia.

Somewhere around 2015 or 2016, I met Jamila Taylor at a gathering of Seattle's People of Color Salon. I was impressed by her in so many ways. It all made sense when I learned this dedicated public servant was Quintard Taylor's daughter. Humility, intellectual rigor, a passion for truth, and an understanding of community context flow through her family line.

In 2022, it came full circle when I reached out to Dr. Taylor about a BlackPast article I found lacking. He tasked me with rewriting it, then published my account of Dinknesh, the oldest known human being whose bones were found in Ethiopia. He asked me to continue writing for BlackPast, but my schedule hasn't allowed it, something I regret and will work toward rectifying in the coming year.

We are living through the end of the Second Reconstruction. If past is prologue, we know there will be attempts to gentrify and erase Black history. Dr. Taylor has given us tools to preserve that history and make sure it's available for generations to come. 

My deepest condolences to Dr. Taylor's family and colleagues, with gratitude for his enduring legacy. And yes, this would be a good time to make a memorial donation to BlackPast.org.

Seattle has lost two great Qs within the last year: Quincy Jones and now Quintard Taylor. Each has changed our reality forever. May their memories inspire and live on perpetually in new generations.

Lola E. Peters (she/her) is semi-retired from a 40-year-plus career as an organizational development and training professional. She is the operations administrator for the Emerald.