Andre Taylor
Public Historian and PhD candidate in American Studies
Andre Taylor, a public historian who focuses on interpreting African American foodways and oral histories, is a PhD candidate in the American Studies program at the College of William & Mary. His research project, “Sit-ins and Takeouts: Greensboro, the Civil Rights Movement, and Food,” focuses on the memories of those who participated in the sit-ins and other protests centered around food, who worked behind white lunch counters, those who worked in Black eateries and lodges, women who spearheaded protests in the city, and those who cooked in the churches to provide food for Civil Rights Movement activists in Greensboro from 1960 to 1969. He is the former historian of African American History and Culture with the Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia) Foundation where he focused on 18th century Black foodways. He is also the former oral historian at William & Mary where he curated the interactive exhibit, “Strollin’: A History of Black Greek Letter Organizations at William & Mary.” In 2022, Andre published an article, “Sweet Memory: Extracting Oral Histories from Unwritten African American Recipes,” in the University of London’s “Historians for History” blog. He is a native of Philadelphia, Pa. and holds a Bachelor of Arts in History (NC A&T State University) and a Master of Arts in Public History (NC State University).