John Baxter Taylor Jr. (November 3, 1882,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

– December 2, 1908,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

) was an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete, notable as the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

to win an

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

Biography

Track (men's), 1907 ICAA point winners UPenn

Dr. Taylor was born in Washington D.C. to former slaves. The family settled in

, where he attended public schools and graduated from Central High School in 1902. He spent a year at Brown Preparatory School, also in Philadelphia, where he was the fastest high school quarter-miler in the country. As a freshman at the

Wharton School of Finance The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, he was the

IC4A IC4A Championships (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year. Association was established in 1875, the competition (started in 1876) served as the top level col ...

(Inter-Collegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) champion in the quarter mile. He bested his personal time in 1907, and again was the ICAAAA quarter mile champion. He transferred to and graduated from

University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, commonly referred to as Penn Vet was founded in 1884. It has two campuses; the main campus is located in Philadelphia, and a second campus is located in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. A ...

in 1908, and was a member of

Sigma Pi Phi Sigma Pi Phi (), also known as The Boulé, founded in 1904, is the oldest fraternity for African Americans among those named with Greek letters. The fraternity does not have collegiate chapters and is designed for professionals at mid-career or o ...

, the first black fraternity

He was recruited by the

Irish American Athletic Club The Irish American Athletic Club was an amateur athletic organization, based in Queens, New York, at the beginning of the 20th century. Early years Established on January 30, 1898, originally as the "Greater New York Irish Athletic Association", ...

in New York, and was its most prominent African American member.

1908 Olympics

Taylor was a member of the gold medal-winning men's medley relay team at the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were ori ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He ran the third leg, performing the 400 meters. He followed William Hamilton and Nate Cartmell (fellow athletes from the University of Pennsylvania) and was followed by

Mel Sheppard Melvin Whinfield "Peerless Mel" Sheppard (September 5, 1883 – January 4, 1942) was an American athlete, member of the Irish American Athletic Club, and winner of four gold medals and one silver medal at the 1908 Summer Olympic ...

(a fellow athlete from Brown Preparatory School). In both the first round and the final, Taylor received a lead from Cartmell and passed one on to Sheppard. The team won both races, with times of 3:27.2 and 3:29.4. Taylor was the first African American to win an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

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. His split for the final was 49.8 seconds. He advanced to the finals in the men's 400 metres race at the

, winning his preliminary heat with a time of 50.8 seconds and his semifinal with 49.8 seconds. In the first running of the race, Taylor came in last place out of the four runners. However, teammate

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

was disqualified after being accused of obstructing

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

runner

Wyndham Halswelle Wyndham Halswelle (30 May 1882 – 31 March 1915) was a British athlete. He won the controversial 400m race at the 1908 Summer Olympics, becoming the only athlete to win an Olympic title by a walkover. Halswelle was also an infantry ...

and the race was ordered to be repeated without Carpenter. In protest at Carpenter's disqualification, Taylor and fellow American William Robbins refused to compete in the second final.

ran the second final alone, with a time of 50 seconds, and was awarded the gold medal in the only

walkover John_Carpenter_was_disqualified,_prompting_his_teammates_John_Taylor_(athlete).html" ;"title="John_Carpenter_(athlete).html" "title="Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres">men's 400 metres running in a walkover. Americ ...

in Olympic history. Less than five months after returning from the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in London, Taylor died of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

on 2 December 1908 at the age of 26. He is interred at Eden Cemetery in

Collingdale, Pennsylvania Collingdale is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The population was 8,908, at the 2020 census. Local governance Donna Matteo-Spadea is the current mayor of Collingdale. Frank Kelly served twelve consecutive four-year terms as Mayor of ...

. In his obituary, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called him "the world's greatest negro runner." In a letter to Taylor's parents,

Harry Porter Harry Franklin Porter (August 31, 1882 in Bridgeport, Connecticut – June 27, 1965) was a high jumper from the United States of America. He was a member of the Irish American Athletic Club, and won gold in the High Jump in the 1908 Sum ...

, fellow

member and acting President of the 1908

U.S. Olympic Team United States of America (USA) has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern era Olympic Games, except for the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. American athletes have w ...

wrote: "It is far more as the man (than the athlete) that John Taylor made his mark. Quite unostentatious, genial, (and) kindly, the fleet-footed, far-famed athlete was beloved wherever known...As a beacon of his race, his example of achievement in athletics, scholarship and manhood will never wane, if indeed it is not destined to form with that of

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

." File:Track (men's), 1907 ICAA point winners UPenn.jpg, 1907 University of Pennsylvania track team, with their ICAAAA trophy. File:Cartmell, Taylor, Sheppard, Hamilton 1908.jpg, At the 1908 Olympic games. File:John Baxter Taylor Death Certificate.png, John Baxter Taylor's death certificate.

Notes

* * * * * *

References

External links

Biography at the University of Pennsylvania
*
Profiles from the Ivy League's Black History

* ttp://www.wingedfist.org/ Winged Fist Organization
John Baxter Taylor Jr. - 1st African-American Olympic Gold Medalist
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, John Baxter 1882 births 1908 deaths Track and field athletes from Washington, D.C. Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni American male sprinters African-American male track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1908 Summer Olympics Burials at Eden Cemetery (Collingdale, Pennsylvania) Deaths from typhoid fever Infectious disease deaths in Pennsylvania American veterinarians Male veterinarians Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field 20th-century African-American people