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Candacy Taylor

*Exclusively Represented by AEI Speakers*

Candacy Taylor has been a national keynote speaker for 15 years. She has traveled over 500,000 miles documenting American culture and is an award-winning author and photographer who has been producing transmedia projects for over 20 years. Her multimedia presentations feature what she has learned about race, gender, class, culture, and identity on America’s main streets, urban enclaves, and rural byways.

Taylor is the author of the bestselling book, Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America. She is the curator and content specialist for Negro Motorist Green Book, a 3500 square foot exhibition that is being toured by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) from 2020 to 2024. Taylor’s projects have been funded by numerous organizations including, The Library of Congress, National Geographic, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The National Park Service, and The National Trust. Her work has been featured in over 80 media outlets and she was awarded a fellowship from the Hutchins Center at Harvard University under the direction of Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Categories: Arts & Living, Author and Writer, Black History Month, Campus, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Educator, Educator - AEIs Most Popular Educators, Exclusive, Featured, New to AEISpeakers, Quality Virtual Keynote, Social Justice, Town Halls, Women's Groups

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Videos

Topics

OVERGROUND RAILROAD

OVERGROUND RAILROAD is based the Green Book, a travel guide that was published for Black people during the Jim Crow era. Taylor is the leading Green Book expert today. She has cataloged over 10,000 Green Book listings, traveled to over 5,000 Green Book sites in 48 US States and photographed nearly 200 of them. The Green Book offered life-saving travel accommodations and it was a compelling marketing tool that supported Black-owned businesses and celebrated Black self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship. To bring the Green Book out of the past, Taylor traces Black physical and social mobility over the last century revealing the contemporary events that have shaped America’s troubled history with segregation, Black migration, and the rise of the Black leisure class.

WOMEN & THE GREEN BOOK

During the time when women, regardless of race, couldn’t receive credit or even open a bank account, thousands of Black women ran Green Book sites. There were over 900 hair salons, an Irish female architect, and nearly 1400 tourist homes run by widowed women who had an extra bedroom and cooked a warm meal for travelers. These were possibly the first Airbnb’s. This talk will celebrate and highlight the fiercest and most inspiring women who were in the Green Book, including Alma Green who was Green's wife and listed as the editor and publisher of the 1959 edition, where she managed a nearly all-female staff.

ROUTE 66 - Drive into the Heart of America

From pristine prairies and red rock mountains to the glittering Pacific, this fabled highway has beckoned everyone from Dust Bowl escapees to 1950s vacationers. Route 66 is lined with the history of those seeking a better life, whose stamina, perseverance, and imagination made it an American icon. Turning 100 years old in 2026, Route 66 passed through 8 states – Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Discover the untold stories of the Green Book, which enabled African Americans to travel west safely.

TRAVELING WHILE BLACK

This talk focuses on the impact of the automobile and the freedom the car gave Black people during the Jim Crow era, not just to migrate north, but to access remote vacation and recreational spots. It also addresses the importance of diversity travel, while highlighting the historical and current challenges of traveling while Black. Victor Green had his own travel bureau and his guide featured travel accommodations in Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Caribbean, and in 30 countries in Africa.

BLACK AMERICANS AND THE HISTORY OF INSURANCE AVAILABILITY THROUGH THE LENS OF THE GREEN BOOK

In the late 1930s, most insurance companies refused to insure Black motorists.
The 1949 Green Book featured a seven-page article spotlighting Bronzeville, Chicago with a full-page image of the South Center department store, the Mutual Assurance Company; and the Supreme Liberty Life Insurance building (at the time, Liberty Life was the third-largest Black insurance company in America). Victor Green proudly called these places “monuments to Negro business.”
In the 1966–67 edition, A. G. Gaston, a self-made millionaire and one of the most successful black businessmen of the twentieth century, was featured as a Green Book “History Maker”. Gaston owned an insurance company, along with other businesses including a chain of funeral homes, a savings and loan association, a farm, a business college, and a string of motels.
When MetLife bought United Mutual Life Insurance in 1992, there were no other Black-owned insurance companies left, and the number of Black-owned insurers dropped by nearly 70 percent.

BLACK ENTREPRENEURSHIP

There were over 10,000 businesses listed in the Green Book and most of them were Black-owned. This talk features Black businesses, Black banks and importance of entrepreneurship. It also highlights the vibrant, healthy, Black neighborhoods these businesses thrived in before integration. Since the Green Book ceased publication these neighborhoods have fallen victim to poverty, crime, and government neglect.

HISTORIC AND ARCHITECTURAL PRESERVATION

Candacy Taylor has been documenting and cataloging Green Book sites since 2013 and has found that approximately 80% of the buildings are gone. This talk highlights Green Book sites that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and features the challenges of getting Black-owned properties on the National Register. Interviews from people who ran Green Book businesses and stories about their preservation efforts are also included.

BY THE HORNS: FEMALE BULLFIGHTERS

BY THE HORNS: FEMALE BULLFIGHTERS examines the struggle and the triumph of a fascinating subculture of female bullfighters in America. This talk explores the history of women and bull performance throughout the world, and features the bloodless bullfight in America. Ultimately, it examines the cultural and symbolic implications of women not only gaining access, but anchoring an undeniable presence in this male-dominated industry.

COUNTER CULTURE: THE AMERICAN COFFEE SHOP WAITRESS

COUNTER CULTURE: THE AMERICAN COFFEE SHOP WAITRESS features a resilient group of hardworking women who have raced to our tables and have brought meaning and culture to the American roadside dining experience. Taylor interviewed and photographed diner waitresses in forty-three US cities who have worked in the same diner for up to 60 years. Most people think that waitressing is a physically exhausting job, but this talk shows vibrant, aging women who say they love their work, and believe that waitressing keeps them in shape, sharpens their minds and fulfills their desire to make meaningful, human connections.

TAYLOR MADE CULTURE

Candacy Taylor is the founder of Taylor Made Culture, a company that produces books, touring exhibitions and interactive maps that enrich, challenge, and inspire new ways to think about culture and identity. She has been documenting American culture for over 25 years conducting extensive field research and producing content that raises cultural awareness about race, gender, labor, and class.

In this talk, Taylor examines some of the trials and tribulations of producing these projects and shares what she has learned and wish she had known when she started working as a cultural documentarian. Taylor also discusses the critical role marketing and branding play in reaching a wider audience and will present key methodologies and practices she uses to gather, protect, archive, and distribute content over multiple disciplines.

AMERICAN ROOTS

AMERICAN ROOTS untangles the story of Americans and their hair. Hair salons are one of the most racially segregated businesses in America. This is largely due to the differences in our hair texture and the skills that are required to handle those different textures. Taylor traveled over 26,000 miles throughout the US conducting interviews in salons that serve African American, Appalachian, Cajun, Dominican, Gullah, Jamaican, Japanese, Jewish (Orthodox), Pakistani, and LGBT communities. This talk also pulls back the curtain on salon culture and features an institution that is rooted in rituals as diverse as America. Hair may appear to be a vain subject but looking deeper, it is a rich, complex topic for discovery about American culture and about ourselves. New dialogues are emerging and this project captures that conversation. American Roots was awarded a grant from the American Folklife Center and is now archived at the Library of Congress.

Books

Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America

Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America

A New York Times Notable Book of 2020
The first book to explore the historical role and residual impact of the Green Book, a travel guide for black motorists .

You can purchase this book here

Moon Route 66 Road Trip

Moon Route 66 Road Trip

Drive into the Heart of America

From pristine prairies and red rock mountains to the glittering Pacific, this fabled highway has beckoned everyone from Dust Bowl escapees to 1950s vacationers. Route 66 is lined with the history of those seeking a better life, whose stamina, perseverance, and imagination made it an American icon. Their stories are threaded throughout this book, amid the colorful characters and cultural curiosities that embody the Mother Road today.

You can purchase this book here

Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress

Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress

"Career waitresses do more than just serve food. They are part psychiatrist, part grandmother, part friend, and they serve every walk of American life: from the retired and the widowed, to the wounded and the lonely, and from the working class to the wealthy. The classic diner waitress is an icon of American culture.... This book takes a moment to honor and recognize waitresses' contribution to our communities. Doing this project has helped me to redefine my perspective on life, work, and happiness. It has made me reevaluate the myth of the American dream that says you need to have an 'important' job to be happy."―from Counter Culture

You can purchase this book here

Testimonials

Tonight’s program was incredible! The emails, texts, and messages of praise and gratitude have been rolling in since the program started. We appreciate you and your work and cannot thank you enough for tonight’s conversation!

Candacy is a true professional and her knowledge, descriptions and narratives were very detailed and thorough.

Thank you for today’s presentation! It was really incredible.

…you are a jewel for educating us about a history that’s very meaningful and impactful, yesterday and today. You are truly a labor of love in motion.

Ms. Taylor is highly professional, easy to work with and is a fantastic speaker. She was well prepared and accommodating. Employees are still telling us how much they enjoyed her presentation. Thank you for working with us to arrange such a dynamic speaker!

Candacy was WONDERFUL!!! My heartfelt appreciation of her preparedness, knowledge, and grace.

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