Rev. Gardner Taylor Biography Favorites Color Red Food Gumbo Quote “Don’t you know.” Time of Year Fall Vacation Spot Jamaica

Born on June 18, 1918, as the only child of an educated mother and a Baptist preacher father in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Gardner Calvin Taylor began on the path that would eventually lead to becoming the influential senior pastor of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, New York. His peers named him the greatest African American preacher and one of America's greatest preachers in Ebony in 1993. President Bill Clinton agreed in 2000 when he bestowed upon Taylor the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Despite his background, Taylor was agnostic until his involvement in a 1937 car accident in which a white man died. Consequently, he enrolled in the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology in 1937, where he met and married Laura Bell Scott. They have one daughter, Martha. While still in school, he preached at Bethany Baptist Church in Oberlin, Ohio, from 1938 to 1941.

Taylor actively advocated civil rights as pastor for four churches. He sought the presidency of the National Baptist Church Convention in 1961, and after losing, he and his followers formed the Progressive National Baptist Convention. Taylor taught at prominent divinity schools, including Harvard and Yale. Now senior pastor emeritus of Concord, he has traveled extensively around the world and uses all his experiences in his preaching.

Taylor was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on March 5, 2002.


Bibliography

English, Merle. “Clinton Lauds Pastor for ‘Moral Compass.’” Long Island (NY) Newsday, 11 August 2000.

Thomas, Gerald L. “African American Preaching: The Contribution of Gardner C. Taylor.” Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1993.

Thurman, Howard, ed. Why I Believe There Is a God. Chicago: Johnson Publishing Co., 1965.