Edward Theodore Taylor Oral History Interview
name: label: Collection Creator
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
setName: label: See more items in
content: The NMAAHC Collection Donor Oral History Project
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Video recordings (born-digital video, color, sound, 01:32:58:06)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2016-07-18
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Video recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Edward Taylor was interviewed as part of the NMAAHC Donor Oral History Collection. Mr. Taylor donated a photograph of himself that was taken in Korea during the Korean War to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. He was 19 years old at the time the photograph was taken. Edward Taylor vividly recounts his childhood in the segregated world of Maryland's eastern shore, including a particularly tragic incident involving racial violence. He continues on to tell the story of his experience as a combat infantryman during the Korean War, after the US military had been recently integrated. This story includes the tale of how he earned two Purple Hearts. Later, after he returns to the United States, he recounts a racial incident that lead him to discard his Purple Hearts in the Chesapeake Bay. The last part of the interview is devoted to his role as a pioneering educator in the desegregation of the public schools in Wicomico County, Maryland.