James Taylor serves on the Powhatan County School Board and also represents Powhatan on the Maggie Walker Governor’s School Board.

On June 24, 2025, Dr. Taylor was joined by Susan Smith, Jeanne Wade and Vicki Hurt in supporting a 400+ page contract to destroy the original primary school and home economics building at Powhatan’s historic Pocahontas School.

The only residents of Powhatan County to speak and voice support for this proposal in public were Dr. Taylor, and his fellow board members Smith and Wade.  Dr. Taylor and Mrs. Smith were the only two speakers to support the demolition plan at any of the numerous community meetings and public hearings since June 24.

The community worked hard to resist the Powhatan County Public School Board’s blatantly racist plan to erase the important legacy of early African American history in Powhatan as well as important steps forward in public education since schools integrated and the formerly segregated Pocahontas closed in 1969.

To the early pioneer families who worked with tenacity and courage in turbulent times in our society to forge ahead with opportunities for education of the youth of Powhatan County, Dr. Taylor’s leadership role on the Maggie Walker Governor’s School Board is in direct contradiction to the lasting and meaningful impact of Maggie Walker.

It is an insult and a slap in the face to those early families who worked tirelessly to promote public education in Powhatan County that Dr. Taylor would even suggest the destruction of the important historical resource and landmark the Pocahontas represents to the community.

Dr. Taylor’s permit for his blatantly racist agenda was denied 5-0 twice by the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors on behalf of the community.

Now, the community of Powhatan needs your help and support to have Dr. Taylor removed from the board of the Maggie Walker Governor’s School.  We need to send a message to James Taylor as he appeals his denied permit and continues to persist in his racist agenda to tear down Pocahontas — we need to send a message to the Maggie Walker Governor’s School that such a man is unfit for any association with its institution.  It is bad enough that he was elected to the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors.  We are used to fighting his nasty agenda in Powhatan — let’s stop him before it’s too late at Maggie Walker Governor’s School.  No telling with what kind of racist destructive path he may advance there — we are are trying to stop here in Powhatan and need all the help we can get.  Two of his church members are members of the Board of Supervisors — that makes it hard for our local leaders to be as effective and courageous as they need to be because of their conflicts of interest.  They denied his permit to destroy Pocahontas — but unapologetically, he is costing taxpayers of Powhatan with expensive predatory lawyers from Sands Anderson to appeal the denied permit.  He is on a racist agenda that we need to stop!