The passing of a champion of civil rights

This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.

I had been looking for a way to note the passing of Bill Taylor, a lifelong civil rights activist, colleague of Thurgood Marshall and longtime member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The Inky ran a short obit of him Monday.

This tribute by my friend and Education Writers Association board colleague Kathryn Baron, now of Edutopia, serves the purpose well. Like Kathy, I also consulted him in 2004 when preparing a package at the Inquirer commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown decision.

Later in his life, Bill embraced No Child Left Behind, believing that it promoted civil rights because for the first time it required schools to track student achievement by race. This was a controversial position, and one that split the old-line civil rights community. Bill, however, believed NCLB would lead to more desegregation and higher achievement by Black and Latino students by requiring districts to pay more attention to them. He never lost his idealism.