Virginia Jo Ann Taylor Hughes
January 18, 1946 ~ November 17, 2015
~ Advocate ~ Visionary ~ Trailblazer ~ Mother to many, stranger to none ~
Virginia Jo Ann Taylor was born in Los Angeles on January 18, 1946 to Robert Donald Taylor, Sr. and Dollora Virginia Hill Taylor. She was the 4th of 6 children born to this union. Later, she was blessed with another sister, Sheila Evelyn Taylor. Her sister Katheryn Mae, brothers Robert Donald Jr, and Alvin Leon, parents and son, Walter Robert Jones preceded her in death.
She began her education at Los Angeles Academy which later became Los Angeles Union SDA School. She briefly attended Evans School for Colored Children in Glasgow, Missouri. This is the same school that her mother and grandmother attended. Her high school days included summer school at Manual Arts High School and she graduated in 1963 from Lynwood Academy.
She continued her education at Pacific Union College in Angwin, California. Bitter memories of high school and college racism helped to fuel the fire in her belly that inspired much of her later activism.
She was denied by her parents the opportunity to go to the South and attend Oakwood College because her parents thought she would be killed.
Did you know that before there was a March on Washington in August of 1963, there was a March on Lynwood Academy in the Spring of ’63 led by Jo Ann Taylor and supported by all but 2 of the colored students?
One summer, she took her younger brother William to a Sunday morning worship service where they were privileged to hear a sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They pulled their nickels together to buy a copy of Dr. King’s book which he was kind enough to autograph for them. Another minister later borrowed that book and he must have been a very, very slow reader because they never saw that book again.
Jo Ann attended the Wadsworth SDA church {which later moved and became the University Seventh Day Adventist Church} each Sabbath with her parents and siblings. She participated in Vacation Bible School and Pathfinders and was baptized by Elder J. W. Allison Jr. During the summers she proved to be an excellent salesperson as she went from door-to-door selling denominational periodicals to help create scholarship money to continue her elementary education. She sang in the youth choir with Bennett Cox and served as a junior usher leader, mentored by Helen Breckenridge.
One of her early employments outside the home was with Dugan’s Printing Service. Later, she worked as a telephone operator with Pacific Telephone and Telegraph. She was a letter carrier in Westchester with the United States Post Office. Virginia was one of the first Blacks to hold that position. In spite of the callous racism, she persevered.
She was manager and accountant for Green Gables, an arts and crafts distributorship. It was while at Green Gables that she would bring 1000s of invoices and receipts home to have her children put them in chronological order. It was here that she got the desire to make crafts such as macramé plant holders, key chains and lanyards. She taught her younger children and the neighborhood kids how to do this as well. Several kids could be found sitting on the porch or in the living room crocheting or making plant holders that the kids would sell for a profit.
She worked at the family business on 54th and Western (Robert Taylor Furniture and Western Star Moving and Storage). She was also employed by the City of Los Angeles in 1987 and worked under City councilperson Ruth Galanter who won the 6th district council seat formally held by Pat Russell. Virginia Taylor Hughes ran for this office and gave Gallanter a very challenging campaign fight. After winning, Galanter knew she NEEDED Virginia by her side. Virginia was later employed by LA Unified School District and worked in assorted positions at Washington Preparatory High School under Principal Marguerite Poindexter Lamotte.
In between the many employment assignments, she still found time to help others who were less fortunate, and those victimized around her. Tired of her family’s business being repeatedly broken into, slow police response times and a lack of law enforcement visibility, she founded Merchants 4 Community Improvement (M4CI), in 1983, a community based coalition of over 50-100 local business owners. With crime on the rise she felt the need to raise the morale in her community.
M4CI worked to combat crime, create employment and promote self-awareness and pride in the local community with the involvement and assistance of local business owners, clergy and law enforcement. Further, the organization worked to fight for equality in police deployment throughout the city and restore the practice of foot patrol in her neighborhood.
For several years, Ms. Hughes singlehandedly hosted a monthly barbeque at her home to feed law enforcement personnel as their shifts ended. It was her endeavor to bridge the gap between the residents of Los Angeles and the police force. During the course of this meal, which she financed using her own funds, she fed thousands of police officers.
In 1983 she also started, organized, and directed the city’s very 1st Black history parade. It proceeded on Western Avenue from Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd to Slauson Ave. on the last Sunday of February. This celebration of Black History continued for rain or shine for 25 years.
Her concern for her fellow man also manifested itself in areas such as working with Helpers for the Homeless and Hungry with G. Landry and volunteering with People Who Care Youth Center’s Christmas gift wrapping booth. In 1993, she created the Slauson Western Youth Enrichment Program (SWYEP) where she tried in a variety of ways to bridge the cultural gap between Hispanic, Black, and Asian young people. This organization was based in the Slauson Supermall and for many years they worked in concert together on various community events such as Operation Nice Day, feeding the homeless, tutoring, and cultural field trips. For several years, SWYEP partnered with the Slauson Super Mall to provide and distribute turkeys during the Thanksgiving holiday. In addition, the SWYEP organization offered gift wrapping services during the holiday season which she inherited from People Who Care Youth Center.
The Youth Program also provided job orientation and placement for hundreds of young people in the community, and initiated continuing education on drug abuse. Youth participants could be found attending field trips, learning about one another’s cultures including their languages (manner of speech), feeding homeless persons, graffiti and trash removal, and cleaning debris around the city. It was Ms. Taylor Hughes goal to teach Asian, Black and Latino preteens to understand one another’s cultures, believing that in so doing, it would be easier to live together in harmony. She was lovingly referred to by the Korean name of Kim Bon Soon.
Virginia was active with the Fifty-Ninth Street Block Club, a local neighborhood watch organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for area residents. She was also a member of the steering committee of Black Jewish Dialogue, served as a vice-chairperson of the Buy Liberty Campaign, dedicated to promoting and encouraging a mutually supportive relationship between black businesses and black consumers.
Ms. Taylor Hughes also took a strong and visible role in Citizens Against Discrimination In Automobile Insurance (CADAI), a coalition of individual and community organizations formed to combat the practice of insurance redlining and other forms of discrimination in the automobile insurance industry. Citing the lack of fair and equitable treatment by insurers, CADAI successfully obtained a court injunction prohibiting penalties and punitive measures against drivers who could not obtain adequate insurance coverage.
Throughout her adult life, Ms. Taylor Hughes received numerous awards and her aspirations, vision and accomplishments were the subject of several newspaper articles.
Ms. Hughes received the Rosa Parks Award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Martin Luther King Legacy Association on Monday, January 19, 1987. She was then acknowledged by the Human Relations Commission in the City of Los Angeles for founding M4CI on March 25, 1988. She received the distinguished “Woman of the Year” Award on March 15, 1999 from the State of California, 48th District. She was also named Honorary Fire Chief for the day on May 12, 2001 for the city of Los Angeles and received the Ambassador of Goodwill Award from The African Focus Inc. on April 26, 2008. In addition, she received numerous letters of recognition and acknowledgements from organizations and businesses throughout Los Angeles.
On Wednesday, May 19, 1999, California State Assemblyman Roderick D. Wright named Ms. Virginia Taylor Hughes as “Woman of The Year.” During the televised event, Speaker of the Assembly, Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) presented her with a resolution.
“We honor Virginia Taylor Hughes as Woman of the Year for her dedicated service and contribution to our community. I am particularly proud to have this opportunity to honor Virginia Taylor Hughes. In my District, there are a number of accomplished women who enrich our lives through community service, but Ms. Hughes has always stood out among them. She is an unfailing inspiration and mentor to many who wish to emulate her, and an icon to the citizens of the 48th District. I am delighted to have had the opportunity to name her as “Woman of the Year.” ~Roderick D. Wright
Blood relation is not what family is solely made of. Virginia and her best friend Barbara made a promise to each other that if anything was to happen to the other then they would raise the other’s children as their own. On July 21, 1973 Virginia’s best friend Barbara passed away at the age of 38. Virginia, 28 at the time did not hesitate to become legal guardian of Barbara’s 4 children. Virginia could be seen marching her six children into Ward AME Church or to Margarita’s restaurant religiously. All the children received a private school education. Virginia was very adamant about instilling in all of her children the importance of family, education, honesty and a strong work ethic. Her children who later became referred to as “JoAnn’s Clan” made sure there was never a dull or uneventful moment. Her home was filled with laughter and lots of love.
Virginia Jo Ann Taylor Hughes is survived by two brothers William James Taylor (Ernestine) and Calvin Maurice Taylor, and one sister Sheila Evelyn Taylor. Seven children, Denise Stephenson, Elvita “Bonnie” Holmes, Kim Sherow (Dennis), Tyrone Banks, Katheryn Eileen Jones, William Diamond Jones (Angela), and Damon Fox (Nicole). Five nephews, four nieces, 30 grandchildren 10 great grandchildren, THE MIGHTY COUSINS and a host of great nieces, and nephews, adopted family members and friends of all ages.
