he was a specialist in the history of blacks and segregation, especially during the reconstruction era. "the crisis" cited him as a "painstaking scholar and authority on negro history". a teacher at tuskegee university in tuskegee, alabama and at the west virginia collegiate institute in west virginia, following a grant from the laura spelman rockefeller memorial fund, taylor began heavily researching the role of african americans in the south during reconstruction. he authored "the negro in south carolina during the reconstruction", "the negro in the reconstruction of virginia" and "the negro in tennessee, 1865-1880" in 1941.