Person

Arthur Holcombe Taylor

Attended Yale Law School 1915-1916 and 1917-1918

Arthur Holcombe Taylor - University of Buffalo *Iris* yearbook, 1920, courtesy of University of Buffalo University Archives.

Biography

Arthur Holcombe Taylor was born February 13, 1892, to Arthur Pride Taylor (who also went by the name Armistead Pride Taylor) and Lydia Schweiler in Toronto, Canada. His father was a Black Virginian who worked as a barber, and his mother was the daughter of Swiss merchants. They were married in Virginia but left for Canada.1

Taylor received his preparatory education at Downingtown Industrial School in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1911. He attended Lincoln University where he captained the college’s basketball team and was a part of the debate team.2 He graduated in 1915 and matriculated to Yale Law School the same year but only attended for the 1915-1916 and 1918-1919 academic years.3 He transferred to the University of Buffalo, graduating with a juris doctor degree in 1920 with the intention of opening an office in Buffalo.4 At some point, Taylor moved to New York City where, in 1925, he married Isabella F. Cain.5 In 1926, he passed the New York State bar examination and began a private practice in Harlem, New York.6 He served as a legal representative for his cousin who was obtaining a home in Mount Vernon, New York, over the objections of members of the white community.7

Taylor was a member of Beaver-Ramapo Democratic Club, which was headed by Herbert L. Bruce, a Black politician embedded in the Tammany Hall political machine. In 1931, he ran for an assemblyman seat in New York State’s Assembly, campaigning in the 21st Assembly District in New York but lost in the subsequent Democratic primary.8 In 1932, he became he the executive secretary of the National Negro Democratic League.9 Taylor ran against Bruce in the 1939 Democratic primary but presumably dropped before the election.10 He was also affiliated with the Federal Bar Association, the National Bar Association, and the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.11

Despite running against Herbert L. Bruce in 1940, Bruce helped secure Taylor a position as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, becoming the first Black appointee to hold the position since the beginning of the New Deal.12 As an assistant U.S. attorney, he prosecuted a suspected Italian saboteur in 1942 and, in 1945, prosecuted a doctor for under-the-counter selling of morphine.13 He resigned in 1946, however. The Daily Worker noted that Taylor “was forced to resign” on account of his race.[14] Following his resignation, he opened a private practice in Harlem.[^15] In 1948, he became a partner at Pinkney & Taylor. In that same year, The New York Age reported that Taylor was in a car accident but was expected to recover.[^16] He retired from law in 1962 and died on March 22, 1972.[^17]

  1. "Canada, Ontario, Births and Baptisms, 1779-1899", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F25S-JRL : 13 January 2024), Arthur Pride Taylor in entry for Arthur Halcomb Taylor, 1892. ↩

  2. Catalogue of Lincoln University. 1915-1916 (Philadelphia, PA: Press of Ferris & Leach, 1916), 67, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112111998222&seq=535. ↩

  3. Catalogue of Yale University, 1915-1916 (New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1915), 936, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2983063&seq=946. ↩

  4. Iris 1920 (Buffalo, NY: Student Body of Buffalo University, 1920), 76, https://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/items/show/15248. ↩

  5. "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24H9-QX9 : Sat Mar 09 09:35:18 UTC 2024), Entry for Arthur H. Taylor and Isabella F. Cain, 12 November 1925. ↩

  6. “559 Law Students Pass State Tests,” The New York Times, May 15, 1926, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1926/05/15/98378558.html?pageNumber=16. ↩

  7. “Harlem Realtor Buys Fine Mt. Vernon Home,” The New York Age, May 7, 1927, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/40649093/?pqsid=7CojkQakDSDF_Ptt0P0RtQ%3A21489%3A439255770. ↩

  8. “Warring Political Groups Perfecting Plans for Harlem Primary Struggle,” The New York Amsterdam News, September 2, 1931, https://www.proquest.com/docview/226173966/fulltextPDF/9A09F249334E464APQ/23?accountid=15172&sourcetype=Historical%20Newspapers. ↩

  9. “Atty. Julian Rainey Believed On Way Out As Democratic Chief,” The New York Age, September 14, 1940, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/40895862/?match=1&terms=Arthur%20H.%20Taylor&pqsid=NW1UIG5vqSUftg66O5QsPA%3A2141193%3A1241786901. ↩

  10. “Arthur H. Taylor To Fight Herbert Bruce For 21st Leadership,” The New York Age, May 13, 1939, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/40923839/?match=1&terms=Arthur%20H.%20Taylor&pqsid=NW1UIG5vqSUftg66O5QsPA%3A2141193%3A1241786901; “BRUCE TO BE OPPOSED FOR TAMMANY POST: Only Negro on the Executive Committee Faces Fight,” The New York Times, May 12, 1939, https://www.proquest.com/docview/102984411/fulltextPDF/9A09F249334E464APQ/38?accountid=15172&sourcetype=Historical%20Newspapers. ↩

  11. “Arthur H. Taylor,” New York Amsterdam News, February 22, 1947, https://www.proquest.com/docview/225922895/fulltextPDF/9A09F249334E464APQ/49?accountid=15172&sourcetype=Historical%20Newspapers. ↩

  12. “Herbert Bruce Gets Appointment From Democrats For Two,” The New York Age, November 23, 1940, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/40898358/?terms=taylor&match=3. ↩

  13. “JOB FOR AN ITALIAN IN SHIPYARD SIFTED,” The New York Times, May 6, 1942, https://www.proquest.com/docview/106453427/pageviewPDF/9A09F249334E464APQ/40?accountid=15172&sourcetype=Historical%20Newspapers; “DOCTOR GOES TO PRISON: Gets 2 Years for Selling Morphine to Narcotic Addicts,” The New York Times, March 22, 1945. ↩

Full Name

Arthur Holcombe Taylor

Family Name

Taylor

Yale Affiliation

Attended Yale Law School 1915-1916 and 1917-1918

Birth Date

1894

Birth Place

New York City, New York, United States

Educated At

Lincoln University
University at Buffalo
Yale Law School

Places Lived

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Death Date

1972

Gender

male

Decade(s) at Yale

1910s
Media
Arthur Holcombe Taylor - University of Buffalo *Iris* yearbook, 1920, courtesy of University of Buffalo University Archives.Arthur Holcombe Taylor - University of Buffalo *Iris* yearbook, 1920, courtesy of University of Buffalo University Archives.