Julius Henry "Jute" Taylor (15 February 1914 – 27 August 2011[1]) was a professor emeritus at Morgan State University, where he was also the first chairperson of the department of physics, which he helped to establish at the university. He was the second African-American person to receive a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the first African-American person to receive a PhD in physics at the university.[2] Taylor's research focused on x-ray diffusion, and electrical and optical properties of semi-conductors.[3][4]
Early life and education
Julius Henry Taylor was born on 15 February 1914 in Cape May, New Jersey, one of six children of Julia Price Taylor and Coleman H. Taylor. His father worked as a brick and concrete mason and his mother worked as a maid at the Cape May Court House and at a drugstore in Cape May. He grew up in the Cape May Court House section of Middle Township, New Jersey and graduated from Middle Township High School in 1932.[5] In high school, he ran track, was a champion pole vaulter, played on the basketball team, and played trumpet.[4]
At the encouragement of his future wife, Patricia Spaulding, he enrolled in and attended Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lincoln, which is a historically Black university, in 1938 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry.[6] During college, he paid tuition by working odd jobs and playing the trumpet at night.[7]
Following his undergraduate studies, Taylor went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, he earned his master's and PhD degrees in physics, and studied with Dr. Gaylord Harnwell.[8] He graduated with a PhD in solid state physics in 1947. He was among the first African-American people to receive a physics PhD, and the second African-American person to receive a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Taylor was a Rosenwald Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
Julius Taylor, left, and Herman Branson of Howard University, right, with two unidentified colleagues in the lab. Photo taken at Morgan State University in the 1960s.
He served on the board of the Maryland Academy of Sciences and chaired its Scientific Council, and was appointed as Commissioner of the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission by then-governor Marvin Mandel in 1975. He also served on the Governor's Science Advisory Council and as president of the Traveler's Aid Society of central Maryland. He was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, a historically Black fraternity, and a lifelong member of the NAACP.[12][13]
Taylor retired in 1987, and lectured at American University in Washington, D.C., in the years before his retirement. In 1987 he also became professor emeritus at Morgan State University and continued teaching there part-time until 1999. There is a Julius H. Taylor Endowed Scholarship Fund named for Taylor at Morgan State University.[14]
Throughout his career and after retirement, Taylor mentored students in the Baltimore Public School system.[4]
Athletic accomplishments
While at Lincoln University, Taylor competed on the track team, and was the first African-American person to compete in pole vaulting at the Penn Relays.[15]
Taylor was an avid golfer throughout his life, playing into his nineties. He started and was the first coach of the Morgan State College golf team, which won the CIAA Championship while he was coach.[16] He was inducted into the African-American Golf Hall of Fame in 2005.[17]
Personal life
Julius Taylor married Patricia Spauling in 1937. They had met while in high school, and had married on Patricia's condition that he attend college and earn a degree. Patricia Spauling worked as an executive assistant to multiple presidents at Morgan State University, and died in 1997. The couple had two children, a son and a daughter.[4]
Award and honors
Lincoln University and Grambling State University (2004) granted him honorary degrees in science for his contributions to education[13]
^"Middle Township H. S. Graduates 33 Thursday", Courier-Post, June 7, 1932. Accessed August 23, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The other graduates are: Cape May Court House - Nancy Costande, John F. Foster. Virginia Louise lverson, James Arthur Roorbach, Lillian Irene Saul, Helen Anna Stites, Julius Henry Taylor, George Carl Thompson and Mary Alice Wright."