From BlackPast.org:

Dr. Quintard Taylor was the quintessential scholar and a towering figure in the field of Black history. He was author of over half a dozen books, recipient of numerous awards, a Fulbright Scholar, and mentored a number of successful historians. He was also the grandson of the formerly enslaved and the son of sharecropping parents who cherished education. Dr. Taylor often said his own history was wrapped up in Black history. He would go on to found BlackPast.org, the world’s largest online encyclopedia on Black history. It started as a simple website where he and his students posted their Black history research. Eighteen years later, it has evolved into the preeminent online site for African American and global Black history. Through his relentless dedication to preserving and analyzing the past, Dr. Taylor’s work has become a cornerstone of Black historical scholarship.

Early Life and Southern Roots

Dr. Taylor’s love for learning began early in life. He was born on December 11, 1948 in Brownsville, Tennessee to Quintard and Grace Taylor. He attended George Washington Carver High School, an all-Black school that was originally founded in the 1860s as Freedman’s School for Blacks funded by African Americans. His principal, Mr. Bond, was trained by W.E.B. DuBois at Atlanta University and influenced students like young Taylor to devote themselves to Black history. Dr. Taylor matriculated to an HBCU after high school. In 1969, he received his B.A. in American history from St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina. He went on immediately to receive an M.A. and Ph.D. in American History from the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis in 1971 and 1977.

Academic Accomplishments

His first academic appointment was as assistant professor of Black Studies at Washington State University from 1971 to 1975. This is where he was drawn to the study of African American history in the American West. From 1977 to 1990, Dr. Taylor was professor of history at California Polytechnic State University. During that time, he was a Fulbright-Hays Professor of History overseas at the University of Lagos in Nigeria from 1987 to 1988. From 1990 to 1999, he was professor of history at the University of Oregon, including serving as department chair and acting director of the Ethnic Studies Program. He served as a visiting professor at Pepperdine University early in his career. In 1999, he was appointed the Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History at the University of Washington, the oldest and most prestigious endowed professorship at the university. Upon his retirement from the position in 2018, the University of Washington’s history department renamed its seminar room the Dr. Quintard Taylor Seminar Room.

While teaching, Dr. Taylor founded BlackPast.org, an online encyclopedia that has served over 64 million site users since its founding. His creation of BlackPast.org was a pioneering effort in the digital age to democratize knowledge. In an era when much of African American history had been neglected or marginalized in mainstream narratives, Dr. Taylor ensured that Black voices and experiences were not only preserved but made widely available to the global public. Through entries written by nearly 1,000 volunteer content contributors, BlackPast.org is a powerful testament to Dr. Taylor’s understanding that history is not just a subject of academic study but a crucial tool for empowerment, education, social progress, and healing. The site has become a vital resource for students, educators, researchers, journalists, and the general public, providing a vast repository of knowledge that illuminates the struggles, triumphs, and contributions of Black people throughout history.

Published Scholarship

Dr. Taylor’s scholarly work has always been rooted in the belief that history is not a set of static events, but a dynamic narrative that must be constantly revisited, reinterpreted, and made accessible to all. His academic contributions have been groundbreaking in both scope and impact. He authored The Making of the Modern World: A Reader in 20th Century Global History in 1990, The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle’s Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era in 1994, and In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 1528-1990 in 1998, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in History. In the twentieth-first century, he authored Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California: 1769-1997 with Lawrence de Graff and Kevin Mulroy in 2001, African American Women Confront the West: 1600-2000 with Shirley Ann Wilson in 2003, From Timbuktu to Katrina: Readings in African American History in 2008, and America-I-Am Black Facts: The Story of a People Through Timelines, 1601-2000 in 2009. His final published book, Dr. Sam, Soldier, Educator, Advocate, Friend: The Autobiography of Samuel Eugene Kelly, was co-authored with Sam Kelly in 2010.

He was editor for over a dozen books, author of over 75 published scholarly articles and book chapters, over 20 book reviews, over 50 conference presentations, and over 300 public lectures. He chaired numerous university committees and community advisory boards. He served as a board member of the Washington State Historical Society, HistoryLink, and the Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas. He was a historical consultant to numerous projects, including for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

At the time of his death, Dr. Taylor was writing a book that is coauthored with Dr. Herbert Ruffin II, Associate Professor of History and Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University, entitled Urban Archipelago: African Americans in the Twentieth Century Urban West. The forthcoming book is in the final stages of completion and will be published posthumously. Although he passed before the final edits of his book were completed, Dr. Taylor had the insight to arrange with Dr. Albert Broussard, professor of History at Texas A&M University and member of the BlackPast.org board, to work with Dr. Ruffin to complete the work on his behalf.

Mentoring the Next Generation

Dr. Taylor was an academic role model. One of his most lasting legacies was his commitment to mentorship and the development of future scholars. He was known for his passion in the classroom and his dedication to fostering intellectual curiosity among his students. Whether he was mentoring graduate students or inspiring undergraduate history majors, he was more than just a teacher, he was a guiding force in their academic and personal lives. He was proud of his students, especially the doctoral students he supervised. Two of them were enduringly close to him; his first doctoral student at the University of Washington was Dr. Turkiya Lowe, who is now the Chief Historian of the U.S. National Parks Service, and his last doctoral student before retiring was Dr. Quin’Nita Cobbins-Modica, who served as Executive Director of BlackPast.org and is its current board Vice President.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Taylor was deeply respected as a reputable scholar. He was awarded the Carter G. Woodson Award from both the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and the National Education Association, the Washington State Jefferson Award for Public Service, and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Pacific Northwest Historians Guild. He was a member of the Organization of American Historians, American Historical Association, Western History Association, Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and Urban History Association. In 2017, he was a featured honoree in HistoryMakers. He lectured all over the world – from Europe to Africa to Asia and beyond. Dr. Taylor was deeply committed to the public dissemination of history. He worked tirelessly to make the histories of African Americans accessible not only to scholars but to the general public as well, and he reminded us that Black history is everywhere. He often said “As long as BlackPast exists, Black history will not be erased.”

An Enduring Legacy

Dr. Taylor was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Inc. He was most fond of his family. He is survived by his wife Phylisha Agbor-Taylor; his three children from his marriage to Carolyn Fain Taylor, Quintard III, William, and Washington State House Representative Jamila; and his sister Diane T. Brown and her grandson Winston Cartwright. He passed away in Pearland, Texas on September, 21, 2025, leaving a global community to cherish and carry on his legacy. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to BlackPast.org. 

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