George Edwin Taylor

Who was George Edwin Taylor?

George Edwin Taylor was a Black American who was the candidate of the National Negro Liberty Party for the office of president of the United States in 1904. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas to Amanda Hines and Nathan Taylor. When the State of Arkansas passed the Free Negro Expulsion Act in 1859, Hines took infant George to Alton, Illinois. Hines died of Tuberculosis in 1861 or 1862. In 1865, at age 8, orphaned George arrived in La Crosse, Wisconsin where he attended school and obtained early experiences as a journalist and labor/political activist. In 1891 Taylor left Wisconsin for Oskaloosa, Iowa where he published a weekly newspaper, the Negro Solicitor. In the 1890s, Taylor transitioned from Independent Republican to Democrat. In 1892, he was founder and president of the National Colored Men’s Protection League and in 1900 was president of the National Negro Democratic League, the Negro Bureau within the National Democratic Party. In 1904, Taylor joined the National Negro Liberty Party as its candidate for the office of president of the United States. He reconnected with the Democratic Party after the failure of his 1904 election campaign.