Taylor Branch (born January 14, 1947) is an American author and historian who wrote a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

winning trilogy chronicling the life of

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

and much of the history of the American

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. The final volume of the 2,912-page trilogy, collectively called ''

America in the King Years ''America in the King Years'' is a three-volume history of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement by Taylor Branch, which he wrote between 1982 and 2006. The three individual volumes have won a variety of awards, including the 19 ...

'', was released in January 2006, and an abridgment, ''The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement'', was published in 2013.

Biography

Early life and education

Branch graduated from

The Westminster Schools The Westminster Schools is a Kindergarten –12 private school in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, founded in 1951. History Westminster originated in 1951 as a reorganization of Atlanta's North Avenue Presbyterian School (NAPS), a girls' schoo ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

in 1964. From there, he went to the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

on a Morehead Scholarship. He graduated in 1968 and went on to earn an M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

in 1970.

Career

President Bill Clinton with Taylor Branch

Branch served as an assistant editor at ''

The Washington Monthly ''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alterna ...

'' from 1970 to 1973; he was Washington editor of '' Harper's'' from 1973 to 1976; and he was Washington columnist for ''

Esquire Magazine ''Esquire'' is an American men's magazine. Currently published in the United States by Hearst Communications, it also has more than 20 international editions. Founded in 1933, it flourished during the Great Depression and World War II under t ...

'' from 1976 to 1977. He also has written for a variety of other publications, including ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'', ''Sport'', ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'', and ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

''. In 1972, Branch worked for the

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

campaign of Democratic presidential nominee

George McGovern George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American historian and South Dakota politician who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator, and the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 pr ...

. Branch shared an apartment in Austin with

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

, and the two developed a friendship that continues today. He also worked with Hillary Rodham, Bill's then-girlfriend and Yale Law School classmate, and later Clinton's wife. Branch's book on former president

, ''The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History With The President'', was written from many tape-recorded interviews and conversations between the two, most of which occurred in the White House during Clinton's two terms in office and which were not disclosed publicly until 2009 at the time of the book's publication. Branch was a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

from 1998 to 2000. Taylor Branch received a five-year

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...

Fellowship (also known as a "genius grant") in 1991 and the

National Humanities Medal The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the huma ...

in 1999. In 2008, he received the

Dayton Literary Peace Prize The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is an annual United States literary award "recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace" that was first awarded in 2006. Awards are given for adult fiction and non-fiction books published at some point ...

's Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to him by special guest Edwin C. Moses. In 2013, he co-produced '' Schooled: The Price of College Sports'' based on his 2011 book ''The Cartel''. in 2015, he received the BIO Award from

Biographers International Organization Biographers International Organization (BIO) is an international, non-profit, 501 (c)(3) organization founded to promote the art and craft of biography, and to further the professional interests of its practitioners. The organization was founded in ...

, for his contributions to the art and craft of biography.

Israeli citizenship controversy

A group of

Black Hebrew Israelites Black Hebrew Israelites (also called Hebrew Israelites, Black Hebrews, Black Israelites, and African Hebrew Israelites) are groups of African Americans who believe that they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some sub-groups believ ...

described as a cult in ''

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 ...

'' were systematically denied Israeli citizenship over several decades. In 1981, a group of American civil rights activists led by

Bayard Rustin Bayard Rustin (; March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) was an African American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. Rustin worked with A. Philip Randolph on the March on Washington Movement, ...

investigated and concluded that racism was likely not the cause of the Black Hebrews' treatment. In 1992, Branch opined that the Black Hebrew Israelites' denial of citizenship under the Israeli law of return was because of alleged anti-Black sentiment among Israeli Jews. In 1998, Branch was criticized by Seth Forman, who said Branch's claims seemed to be baseless, particularly in light of Israel's airlift of thousands of black Ethiopian Jews in the early 1990s.Forman, Seth, ''Blacks in the Jewish Mind: A Crisis of Liberalism'', NYU Press, 1998, p. 14-15

Family

Branch lives in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

, with his wife, Christina Macy, and their two children, Macy (born 1980) and Franklin (born 1983).

Books

* ''Blowing the Whistle: Dissent in the Public Interest'' (with

Charles Peters Charles Peters (born December 22, 1926) is an American journalist, editor, and author. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the ''Washington Monthly'' magazine and the author of ''We Do Our Part: Toward A Fairer and More Equal America'' ( R ...

) ( Praeger: 1972) * ''Second Wind'' (with

Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. A five-time NBA Most Va ...

) (

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

: 1979) * ''The Empire Blues'' (

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a tradi ...

) (

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publi ...

: 1981) * ''Labyrinth'' (with Eugene M. Propper): (

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

: 1982, Penguin Books: 1983, ) * ''Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63'' (Simon & Schuster: 1988) :

Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...

, 1989 : National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction, 1988 :

English-Speaking Union The English-Speaking Union (ESU) is an international educational membership organistation. Founded by the journalist Sir Evelyn Wrench in 1918, it aims to bring together and empower people of different languages and cultures, by building skill ...

Book Award, 1989 :

Martin Luther King Memorial Prize The Martin Luther King Memorial Prize was instituted by novelist John Brunner and his wife and was awarded annually to a literary work published in the US or Britain that was deemed to improve interracial understanding,Derek Humphry''Good Life, Go ...

, 1989 :(Finalist):

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

Nonfiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

, 1989 * ''Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65'' (Simon & Schuster: 1998) :

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

, Silver Gavel Award, 1999 : Imus Book Award, 1999 :

The Hillman Prize The Hillman Prize is a journalism award given out annually by The Sidney Hillman Foundation, named for noted American labor leader Sidney Hillman Sidney Hillman (March 23, 1887 – July 10, 1946) was an American labor leader. He was the head of ...

, 1998 * ''At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968'' (Simon & Schuster: 2006) :

Heartland Prize The Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize is a literary prize created in 1988 by the newspaper ''The Chicago Tribune''. It is awarded yearly in two categories: Fiction and Nonfiction. These prizes are awarded to books that "reinforce and perpetuate the ...

for nonfiction, ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', 2006. * '': Wrestling History with the President'' (Simon & Schuster: 2009) * ''The Cartel: Inside the Rise and Imminent Fall of the NCAA'' (Byliner, 2011) * ''The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement'' (Simon & Schuster 2013)

References

External links

*
Inventory of the Taylor Branch Papers, 1865-2005
at the Southern Historical Collection,

. *
''Booknotes'' interview with Branch on ''Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65'', April 12, 1998.

''In Depth'' interview with Branch, February 5, 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Branch, Taylor 1947 births 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Living people Pulitzer Prize for History winners MacArthur Fellows Writers from Atlanta University of Baltimore faculty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni National Humanities Medal recipients Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni The Westminster Schools alumni American male non-fiction writers Historians from Georgia (U.S. state) Historians of the civil rights movement