What role did he play in the civil rights movement?
Gardner C. Taylor played a role I would characterize as a background but highly influential role in the civil rights movement. He not only raised a lot of money in and around New York City, as did other African-American leaders and pastors in northern cities, but he was a moral influence and a role model as what a great pastor and preacher ought to be for a whole host of leaders in the civil rights movement, most of whom were reverends themselves. Gardner Taylor was not willing to leave his congregation and to strike out as an operative, as it were, but he was an immense influence in the movement. He struck a balance between the prophetic voice that speaks to injustice across America and the pastoral voice that understands personal issues, problems within one’s own congregation. Q: How did he influence Martin Luther King Jr.’s preaching? A: His influence is very clear, but difficult to trace. It’s hard to find a smoking gun. You don’t find too many actual phrases in Martin Luther King
