Dorothy Mae Taylor papers

Born on August 10, 1928, Dorothy Mae Delavallade Taylor was the youngest of thirteen children born to Charles Henry and Mary Delavallade in New Orleans. She was educated in the Orleans Parish school system and furthered her education at Southern University in Baton Rouge. She married Johnny Taylor, Jr. in 1948 and started her career in public service as an activist in the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), demanding equal supplies and funding for the Black schools from the Orleans Parish School Board. Following the desegregation of the public school system, she was instrumental in the desegregation of the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD) and active during the fight for voter registration. Her first political post was as Deputy Clerk in Civil District Court, and by 1971 her work and support in the community helped her become the first African American woman to be elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives. She served as a state congresswoman until 1980. Dorothy Mae Taylor worked on issues of health care, child care, discrimination, and the inhumane conditions in Louisiana's prisons. In 1984, Dorothy Mae Taylor charted new territory as the first African American woman to head the Louisiana state department of Urban and Community Affairs. Subsequently in 1986, she was the first African American woman to be elected to the New Orleans City Council, and held the position until 1994. In 1992, she presented an ordinance to the City Council demanding that the traditional and segregated Krewes of Carnival allow anyone who applied to become members of their respective societies in order to integrate the clubs. Mrs. Taylor passed away on August 18, 2000.