A young Rheubin Taylor (back row center) was on the first County Commission in 1978
Rheubin McGhee Taylor has opened a new private law office in Chattanooga, where he continues practicing after 53 years in the legal profession.
Mr. Taylor was the first black attorney to practice in the city when he returned in 1973.
His family roots run deep in education and military service. His paternal grandfather was a mathematics professor at Clark College in Atlanta, where Mr. Taylor's parents met while students. His father became a Tuskegee Airman, serving as a reconnaissance pilot during World War II.
"He was what was called the grasshopper. He flew over the enemy on the way of attack," Mr. Taylor said.
When Mr. Taylor was two years old, his father was killed in a plane crash while returning from a colleague's funeral in Ohio. His mother, who worked at the National Security Agency near Washington, D.C., made the decision to send her young son to live with his maternal grandparents in Chattanooga.
Mr. Taylor was raised by Matthew and Louise McGhee in the Lincoln Park area. His grandfather worked as a domestic and chauffeur for the Patten family.
He notes, "My grandfather died when I was 10 years old leaving my grandmother here... so I lived with my grandmother after my grandfather's death until the time I left to go to college."
Mr. Taylor attended East Fifth Street School, which went all the way from elementary through junior high school. A fellow student was "Sam" Jackson, who went on to become the famous actor Samuel L. Jackson. Sam started at East Fifth Street School in the fourth grade and the two of them were classmates through high school graduation.
Mr. Taylor said, "We always had fun together and were in the band. We both played trumpet. I thought Sam was going to wind up a musician. He was a really good trumpet player."
The two graduated from Riverside High School in 1966. They were part of the first class at the newly opened school. Mr. Taylor said, "This was the former City High School. When they built a new high school for the white kids they refurbished to some extent the old school on Third Street."
Following his father's path, Mr. Taylor initially wanted to become an Air Force pilot. He enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro for their Air Force ROTC program. "My aspirations always were to be an Air Force pilot like my dad. I tried to get in the Air Force Academy and I got rejected for that first year. I tried again after my freshman year of college and got rejected again. It's amazing because you know I wanted to be an Air Force pilot. I'm afraid of heights, but I wanted to be like my dad."
Mr. Taylor enrolled at Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C., moving in with his mother. While attending law school, he worked in the White House West Wing as a presidential messenger during the Nixon administration. He worked at the White House until 1973, when he passed the Tennessee bar exam.
Mr. Taylor's decision to return to Chattanooga was influenced by Chattanooga City Judge Bennie Harris, whom he met at a National Bar Association convention in Miami during the summer of 1972. Judge Harris, when he went into office in 1969, was said to be the first black judge in the South since Reconstruction.
Mr. Taylor said, "I introduced myself to him. I told him I was from Chattanooga and he encouraged me to come back to Chattanooga when I graduated from school. Back then there were no black lawyers here."
His mother contacted John P. Franklin, then city commissioner of education, seeking recommendations for law firms. Commissioner Franklin provided several names, including the firm Crutchfield, Moore, Jenkins. Mr. Taylor recalled the day he interviewed: "The weekend before I'd played tennis and I twisted my ankle on the tennis court so that Monday I'm on crutches with the Afro pork chop sideburns and carrying my law degree just to prove that I had a lawyer license in Tennessee. His number one secretary was a high school and junior high school classmate of mine. We talked that day. The next day they offered me a job."
Mr. Taylor faced unique challenges in his new position. "The first obstacle I guess I faced was being the only black lawyer in Chattanooga at the time because Chattanooga's experience with black lawyers within the 15 to 20 years before me coming back had not been commendable. And then, at the same time, I wasn't a lawyer just for black folk but for everybody."
Mr. Taylor worked for many years at the Crutchfield firm, where the politically active culture influenced his own involvement in politics. He was on the first County Commission in 1978 after serving in the state Constitutional Convention. Later, he was county attorney for 32 years.
In addition to his legal career, Mr. Taylor has been in the ministry for 35 years. He has pastored a church in LaFayette, Ga., for 30 years.
Mr. Taylor continues practicing law from his new Chattanooga office at 1502 A&B McCallie Ave. It is a block from Wally's Restaurant on the same side of the road going toward town.
He can be reached at 423 595-6898.
Attorney Taylor said he is very thankful and proud of his “ability to help people” and encourages all interested in pursuing law to "be more concerned about other people than yourself."