Frazine Taylor

Born Franzine Kennett Jones on March 21, 1945 in Wetumpka, Alabama, she was the second child and only daughter of Professor John L. and Martha Odessa Jones.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-15 |title=Montgomery Advertiser Obituaries in Montgomery, AL {{!}} Montgomery Advertiser |url=https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/obituaries/ptus0912654#:~:text=Frazine%20Kennett%20Taylor%20of%20Wetumpka,Jones%20(both%20deceased). |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=montgomeryadvertiser.com |language=en}}

She was a graduate of Southern Normal High School, Brewton, Alabama, earned a BS in Business Commerce from the historically black Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennesse and received her Master in Library Science in Library Services from Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia in 1984.{{Cite web |last=Boutwell |first=Josh |date=2023-10-31 |title=Genealogist and author Frazine Taylor to speak in Brundidge |url=https://www.troymessenger.com/2023/10/31/genealogist-and-author-frazine-taylor-to-speak-in-brundidge/ |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=The Troy Messenger |language=en}}

She met her husband, Donald Taylor, during her time at the Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington DC and they married on April 24, 1976 in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. He predeceased her on April 4, 1994.

Taylor worked for over thirty years at the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH), rising to Co-Head of Reference before her retirement in 2019. After her retirement, she worked part-time at the Levi Watkins Learning Center at Alabama State University Community. She was considered the foremost expert on Alabama records at ADAH and renowned for her ability to trace enslaved people for their descendants; helping over 10,000 individuals over the course of her career.{{Cite web |last1=Brown |first1=James |last2=Hastey |first2=Alicia |date=2024-09-12 |title=Late genealogist remembered for work uncovering Black Americans' family histories - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/late-genealogist-remembered-for-work-uncovering-black-family-histories/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}

In 1967 she started volunteering for the Peace Corps, including living in the Fiji Islands and travelling extensively in the South Pacific, before returning to work at the Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington, DC from 1970-1976 where she was in charge of sending peace corps volunteers to overseas posts. Taylor took a career break from 1976 until she returned to study for her Master's in Library Science, graduating in 1984.

After graduation she accepted a her first role as an Assistant Cataloguer at the Tuskegee University Library and during her first year she was chosen for a prestigious internship at the National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, MD. Upon finishing this role in 1985 she began her role at the ADAH, where she would rise to Co-Head of Reference over the course of her 43 year career. From 2004 to 2018 Taylor coordinated the African American Course for the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) at Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama.

She was a member of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society and served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. She was the President of the Elmore County Association of Black Heritage, Chair of the Black Heritage Council of the Alabama Historical Commission,[https://tkg.stparchive.com/Archive/TKG/TKG05282015p03.php "Muhammad appointed to serve on Black Heritage Council."] The Tuskegee News 2015-05-23. Retrieved 2025-02-15. a member of the Black Belt African American Genealogical Historical Society and of the Society of Alabama Archivists, and served on the Board of Directors of the Alabama Historical Association and was its first Africa American President (AHA).{{Cite web |agency=Associated Press |title=Alabama historical group elects first black president |url=https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2019/05/12/alabama-historical-group-elects-first-black-president/1183480001/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |website=Montgomery Advertiser |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2019-07-01 |title=AL People: Frazine Taylor - Alabama Living Magazine |url=https://alabamaliving.coop/articles/al-people-frazine-taylor/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |title=Archive detective: Frazine Taylor fills in Black family trees |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2023/1031/Archive-detective-Frazine-Taylor-fills-in-Black-family-trees |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=Christian Science Monitor |issn=0882-7729}}{{Cite web |date=2020-09-21 |title=Alabama Archives faces its legacy as Confederate 'attic' |url=https://www.cbs42.com/alabama-news/alabama-archives-faces-its-legacy-as-confederate-attic/ |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=CBS 42 |language=en-US}}

She served on the boards of the Patrons for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture at Alabama State University, the Alabama Cemetery Preservation Alliance, the Alabama Governor’s Mansion Authority and the past President of the Friends of the Alabama Archives.{{Cite web |title=Frazine K. Taylor |url=https://ugapress.org/author/frazine-k-taylor/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |website=Georgia Press |language=en-US}}

In 2008 she researched the roots of Tom Joyner’s family roots and ties to Alabama for the PBS series, African American Lives 2, working alongside Henry Louis Gates, Jr. discovering how his Joyner's great uncles Thomas and Meeks Griffin had been framed for murder. Following the broadcast of the show, a successful legal case was mounted to the South Carolina Parole and Pardons Board for posthumous pardons for the uncles.{{Cite web |title=African American Lives 2 Helps Tom Joyner Exhonerate Uncle {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/aalives/profiles/joyner2.html |access-date=2025-02-01 |website=www.thirteen.org}}{{Cite web |last=Webteam |first=Web |date=2009-10-16 |title=A Pardon 94 Years Too Late |url=https://www.amnestyusa.org/blog/a-pardon-84-years-too-late/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |website=Amnesty International USA |language=en-US}}

In 2016, along with Donna Cox Baker, she co-founded The Beyond Kin Project, to serve as a platform to encourage, facilitate and enable the documentation of enslaved populations in the United States, particularly through encouraging the descendants of slaveholders to share the records they hold, recognising how the lives the enslaved and slaveholders were intertwined and that the fullest accounting of an enslaved persons life required awareness of the circumstances of the slaveholders.{{Cite web |last=Galloway |first=Karl |date=2020-10-06 |title=Beyond Kin: A New Genealogical Approach |url=https://galloway1-karl.medium.com/beyond-kin-a-new-genealogical-approach-53f287eb2eb8 |access-date=2025-02-01 |website=Medium |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=BKP Team |url=https://beyondkin.org/bkp-founders/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |website=The Beyond Kin Project |language=en-US}}

• Employee of the Year from the Alabama State Employee Association
• In 2019, she was awarded the Hamilton Award from the AHA given “for significant contributions to Alabama history, which encourage joint endeavours and mutual understanding between non-professional and professional historians.”
• The Frazine K. Taylor African American Research IGHR Scholarship was established in 2019 by the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research of the Georgia Genealogical Society, Inc in her honour upon her retirement as the coordinator of the “Researching African American Ancestors” course at the Institute. The award is open to both professional librarians and archivists who help their patrons with African American research and to anyone committed to expanding their knowledge of African American research. It is administered by Deborah A. Abbott, PhD.{{Cite web |last=Ingle |first=Cyndi |title=Frazine K. Taylor African American Research IGHR Scholarship |url=https://ighr.gagensociety.org/scholarships/frazine-k-taylor/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |website=IGHR - Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research |language=en-US}}
• In 2020 she was awarded the prestigious Dorothy Porter Wesley Award by the Information Professionals of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) for her contributions to the field.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-11 |title=Genealogist and Author Frazine K. Taylor has Passed {{!}} ASALH - The Founders of Black History Month |url=https://asalh.org/genealogist-and-author-frazine-k-taylor-has-passed/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |language=en-US}}

• Taylor, Frazine. Researching African American Genealogy in Alabama: A Resource Guide. {{ISBN|978-1-603-06094-3}}

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Category:1945 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:American women librarians

Category:American women historians

Category:American genealogists

Category:American librarians

Category:American historians