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Candacy Taylor: Author, Artist, Photographer, Cultural Documentarian

Candacy Taylor: Author, Artist, Photographer, Cultural Documentarian

 

 




 

Introduction to Candacy Taylor.  1:45 min.  Interview:  Raymond Elman.  Editing & Production:  Karla Bendles.  Recorded via Zoom:  11/1/2020,

 

CANDACY TAYLOR is an award-winning author, photographer and cultural documentarian working on a multidisciplinary project based on researching and visiting “Green Book” establishments and locations. Taylor is the author of Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America (Abrams Books). She is also the curator and content specialist for an exhibition that will be toured by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) starting in June 2020. The exhibition will travel throughout the United States for three years.

Taylor was a fellow at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University under the direction of Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and her projects have been commissioned and funded by numerous organizations including, The Library of Congress, National Geographic, The American Council of Learned Societies, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The National Park Service, and The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Taylor’s work has been featured in over 50 media outlets including The Atlantic, CBS Sunday Morning, The Guardian UK, The Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, The New Yorker, Newsweek, PBS News hour and the Wall St. Journal.

Taylor lives in Harlem, New York

The videos below were recorded via Zoom, are organized by topic, and run between 30 seconds and 6 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

 

 

VALUES FIRST-RATE EDUCATION:   3:25 min. 




Where did you grow up and what was your first awareness of art of any discipline? 
 

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED:  1:50 min. 




 

When you said that the film industry was toxic, do you mean sociologically toxic or physically toxic? 

 

CREATIVE FLEXIBILITY:  3:25 min. 




 

Can you explain how the concept of combining grass-roots sociological research with your photography and writing evolved for you? 

 

UNDERSTANDS THE AUDIENCE’S PERSPECTIVE: 5:39 min. 




 

In creating your book, “Overground Railroad,” you visited and photographed approximately 5,000 “Green Book” sites. Given that the neighborhoods may have changed drastically, how did you contrast archival photographs with your contemporary photographs? 

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:  3:25 min. 




What are your thoughts regarding whether or not Miami’s Hampton House was the most important crossroads in African-American history?

 

CRITICAL THINKING: 3:48 min. 




 

Were you aware of the movie “The Green Book” before it came out, and how did that movie impact your research and your book? 

 

UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART:   1:11 min. 




 

Do you have any plans for making a film based on “Overground Railroad”? 

 

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND:  2:13 min. 




Are you happy with the timing of the release of your book (2020) — a time when there seems to be a willingness to pull off the blinders and really look at African-American history?