Home > Stories > Madai Taylor

Biography

Born in Lake Village, Arkansas, Madai Taylor grew up in segregation and discrimination but not hopelessness. After earning a degree in social work and art, he was placed in Fort Dodge by God to use his talents and skills. He works as a community activist fighting against the drug trade and for a brighter, more secure future for the city’s youth through early intervention and education.  He is a minister at Agape Church and among the founders of the 9/24 Network Early Intervention Program. 

Transcript

Madai Taylor: My name is Madai Taylor and I want to say thank you for having me here with you today.

Student Interviewer: Thank you. Where were you born?

Madai Taylor: I was born in Lake Village, Arkansas, a small town north of Little Rock, Arkansas in the Delta.

Student Interviewer: Did you go to college?

Madai Taylor: Yes I did. I went to a college that, I graduated from a college that’s in Chicago, Illinois called the Ecumenical Institute of Chicago, Illinois. I went to Iowa Central for a while and I also went to Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa and I graduated with a degree in art and a degree in social work.

Student Interviewer: Why did you choose to live in Ft. Dodge?

Madai Taylor: Why? I don’t think I choose to live in Ft, Dodge, I think God choose me to live in Ft. Dodge, because again, out of all the places to live, I would have probably not choose Ft. Dodge, but I believe that God put me here to do a work, to help other people, and this way He could best use me with my skills and my abilities and not someplace else, so that’s why I’m here.

Student Interviewer: Where do you work?

Madai Taylor: I work at Agape Church, here in Ft. Dodge, Iowa. I work as an artist. I have a show as a matter of fact that’s being shown right now, today at the Blanden Memorial Art Museum. I work in my community. I work in my neighborhood a lot as an activist trying to do things, to make my neighborhood safer and make life better for a lot of people.

Student Interviewer: Are you now or have you been in the past involved in your community?

Madai Taylor: I am involved in my community very much. I consider myself an activist. The biggest thing that concerns me is, drug and drug trafficking in our neighborhood and in our city. So I have done things to provide young people with education about what drugs can do to them. We have a program that we do. It’s called the 9-24 Network Early Intervention Program. It provides education to children about how to stay away from drugs and how to identify friends. I have marched on our streets and our neighborhoods, I should say, against drugs. I like to see people do well. I like to be a part of people’s lives that help them grow, be better people.

Student Interviewer: What was it like growing up black or as African American?

Madai Taylor: What was it like growing up black? I guess at the time I didn’t think about it as growing up as black. But what I discovered as I grew up that I was black and that I was different because I was black. I was treated different. Where I come from blacks or African Americans were second class citizens. They were considered by the white people as inferior people and a lot of times they were discriminated against as well as sometimes they were killed because they were black.

Student Interviewer: Did you have to deal with segregation?

Madai Taylor: Yes I did. In the South segregation was very, very big; of course you know that. In the South segregation was a big thing. I can still, I remember that there were signs that were on the restaurants and the water fountains that said, “For blacks only; for whites only” and things like that. Black children and white children did not go to school together. Black children did not have the best books, the best schools. The black children got the books that were four or five years outdated that were passed down to them from the white schools. And stuff like that. So yes, segregation has been a part of my life, has affected my life.

Student Interviewer: What did Martin Luther King, Jr. mean to you?

Madai Taylor: Dr. King, what did he mean to me? He meant a lot to me. He was a man of courage; he was a man of purpose. He was a man of character, of moral character. He was somebody that was very influential. I just respected him as a person and admired him greatly for what he stood for, as it relates to people period, black and white people.
Student Interviewer: How did or how has the Civil Rights Movement changed you?

Madai Taylor: The Civil Rights Movement, how did it change me? I think that the Civil Rights Movement I have benefited from. I have benefited immensely from the Civil Rights Movement, in that some of the opportunities that have been afforded me I could not have done it, if it were for the Civil Rights Movement. So in that regards, the Civil Rights Movement has opened doors for me and given me opportunities. The other thing is that, Dr. Martin Luther King is the first person that I can recall in memory that really meant a lot to me and somebody that inspired me.

Student Interviewer: What did Barack Obama being elected, mean to you?

Madai Taylor: Well let me say, when he got elected to the office of President; I didn’t expect anything to drastically change for African Americans, so I wanted to say that first. But what it demonstrated to me is how far we have come, as a people, as a country, because there was a time that no one would ever think that a black person could be a President. We now see that forty-five, forty-six years later we have somebody in office that’s an African American and I think it all has to do with the Civil Rights Movement.

Student Interviewer: What advice would you give to youngsters today?

Madia Taylor: To young people?

Student Interviewer: Yes.

Madia Taylor: One, to know that God is real. Two, to get a good education. Three, to dream big and four, don’t let people define you. Don’t let your family define you and don’t let your neighborhood define you. You define yourself and you pursue your dreams as a young person. That’s what I would say.

Student Interviewer: Thank you for letting us interview you today.

Madia Taylor: Thank you for having me and thank you for just letting me just sit here with you and talk with you about anything that you had on your mind, so thank you.

Student Interviewer: Thank you.