The best kind of politician is the kind who enters the field for love of humankind rather than love for attention.
So it was with Dorothy Mae DeLavallade Taylor. A legend in the world of Louisiana politics and a Saint in New Orleans, Taylor was the first Black woman elected to the Louisiana State Legislature, in 1971; the first woman to receive the Legislator of the Year award, in 1972; the first Black woman to head a state department (Urban and Community Affairs), in 1984; and one of the first two women and the first Black woman to serve on the New Orleans City Council, in 1986.
Though most often remembered as the person who presented the legislation that led to the desegregation of Mardi Gras, Mrs. Taylor was far far more than that. She was a kingmaker, with an entire generation of New Orleanian leaders working either for her or with her as they rose to positions of critical influence. She had a hand in every social justice win in the city of New Orleans from the 1940's until her passing in 2000. Desegregation, prison reform, equitable access to health care, education - you name it, Mrs. Taylor made an impact. She lived into the truth that seeing an unjust present is an invitation to help create a just future.
Mrs. Taylor's life would be admirable on the strength of her public accolades alone. But the world is blessed most deeply because she was also an exemplary human to each member of her actual family. Her children and grandchildren received the same fierce love and care that she poured out for the rest of the world. Her legacy of excellence continues in their everyday ordinary lives.
We are deeply grateful to honor her legacy with permission from her daughters. With their blessing, we have chosen a cookie designed to mimic the side profile of a sliced peanut butter sandwich, one of her favorite treats. The outer layers are our signature sugar shortbread and the middle is a peanut butter shortbread, made with real peanut butter and Cincinnati Distilling's Peanut Butter Whiskey. A peanut butter sandwich feels beautifully right, given that her entrance into the public sphere and her most far reaching work was for equal rights for schoolchildren in New Orleans.
"We need these historical role models to remind us that we are somebody. That we were somebody before slavery. That we were somebody during slavery. That we were somebody after slavery."Â Â
- Dorothy Mae Taylor
Note: At the request of Mrs. Taylor's daughters and in honor of her life of service, $2 from the sale of each set of Dorothy Mae Taylor cookies will be donated to Dress for Success Columbus.
sold by the half dozen
pairing suggestions: Milk or the milk alternative of your choice, berry preserves, sliced apple, coffee, black tea, sharp cheese, marshmallow fluff, ice cream
Ingredients: Flour (Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour, Organic Unbleached Barley Flour), Sugar, Butter (Cream, Natural Flavors), Peanut Butter (Roasted Peanuts, Sugar, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Cottonseed, Soybean and Rapeseed) Salt), Eggs, Vanilla Extract, Cincinnati Distilling Peanut Butter Whiskey, Water, Cornstarch, Sea Salt. Contains Wheat, Peanuts, Eggs, and Milk