TO THE CHAPTER INVISIBLE
Rev. Nelson D. Taylor, Sr., Esq. 1947-2023 Civil Rights Attorney, Pastor
R everend and Attorney Nelson Dan Taylor, Sr. (Pi 1965) entered the Chapter Invisible on Octo-ber 21, 2023, at Baton Rouge General Hospital in Baton Rouge, LA. The oldest of eight, Taylor was born on October 3, 1947, in New Orleans, LA, to the union of the late Reverend Dan Taylor and the late Bessie Lee (née Singleton) Taylor. He graduated from Scotlandville High School in 1964 with honors as Class Salutatorian. Taylor went to More- house College where completed freshman year at the top of his class. While in school, Taylor was awarded the Charles Merrill Schol- arship, which provided an all-expense paid oppor- tunity to study abroad at the University of Vienna for a full academic year. However, Nelson declined the scholarship and went to Chicago to work in a reading program dedicated to helping underprivileged children. He returned to Morehouse in 1968-69 and
was elected President of the Student Government Association. He graduated in 1969 with a B.A. in Economics. Upon graduating, Nelson worked in Marketing with a major oil company in New York before enrolling in the Boston (MA) Univer- sity School of Law, where he graduated with a J.D. degree in 1974. Later in 1974, Taylor was admitted to the Louisiana Bar. Nelson entered the ministry prior to entering law school. He was ordained as an appren- tice Deacon in 1976 and as an Itin-erant elder in the African Methodist Epis- copal Church in 1978. For over 42 years, he pastored several churches in both Louisiana and Mississippi until his health caused him to retire from the active ministry. Nelson also represented the A.M.E. church in legal matters when requested and was successful in setting the legal standard by which the A.M.E. church would maintain ownership of its
properties.
Nelson’s career as an attorney was primarily devoted to civil rights issues. Immediately after graduating from law school, Nelson received an Earl Warren Fellowship with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) in New York, the nation’s premier civil rights law firm. Under the terms of the Fellowship, he spent a year on the staff of LDF in New York and committed to a four-year field internship. Upon returning to Loui- siana, he joined with James A. Gray, II, to form the firm of Gray and Taylor. LDF assigned him as lead counsel in the school desegregation case Moore v. Tangipahoa
equal and quality education for all of the children in the parish. In 1979, Nelson formed the J.K. Haynes Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit public interest civil rights firm. Be-tween 1979-1981, he served as Director of Litigation for Capital Area Legal Services, headquar-tered in Baton Rouge. He also served for over 25 years as the Chair- man of the Board of J.K. Haynes Charter School. He also initiated litiga- tion, resulting in the first blacks being elected to the Tangipahoa Parish School Board, the Hammond City Council, the St. Mary Parish School Board, and the Harrison County Board of Supervisors in Mississippi. In the field of voting rights, Nelson joined with attor- neys Murphy Bell, Robert Williams, and Robert Eames with Gail Horne Ray as law clerk in designing the strategy that led to the first appellate decision to establish that an at-large scheme for electing judges
Parish School Board in the U.S. District Court
for the Eastern District of Louisiana. In that case, he promptly obtained rein- statement and remedies for black teachers discharged after the court’s desegre- gation order. Forty-nine years later, he was still lead counsel, fighting to provide
WINTER 2024-2025 ♦ THE JOURNAL 71
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker