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While most history books point to Shirley Chisholm as the first Black person to run for the office of the President of the United States, the honor actually belongs to the son of a former slave. In 1904, well before Chisholm’s campaign, George Edwin Taylor was the first Black presidential candidate. Taylor was born August 4, 1857 in Little Rock, Ark. to an enslaved father and a free mother. (That is also, you may have noted, the birthday of our current president.)

As a boy, Taylor traveled to Wisconsin after a statewide law in Arkansas allowed for slaves to leave for the North and other free states. In the journey, Taylor’s mother died and he was taken in by a foster family in La Crosse, Wisc. At the age of 20, he attended Wayland University in Beaver Dam but didn’t complete his studies due to money and health.

He returned to LA Crosse and found footing as a newspaper reporter and editor. As the labor movement grew in the state, Taylor became involved in politics at that juncture. Although Taylor had the respect of his peers, race became a large factor in why much of his promise as a political figure went ignored.

Little Known Black History Fact: George Edwin Taylor  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com

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