Crystal Leigh Endsley Taylor

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Crystal Leigh Endsley Taylor, Ph D. is an internationally renowned spoken word artist. She is an award-winning poet, performer, and professor, and works to serve her community as an artist, advocate, and academic. She was honored with the 2016 and 2021 Distinguished Teaching Award at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York where she is Professor in the department of Africana Studies and Faculty Deputy Director of the Honors Program. Since 2015, she has co-directed the Girls Speak Out! performance at the United Nations. Whether she is rehearsing theater with high school students in the Bronx, writing curriculum with girls in New Orleans, or performing her poetry on stage at the United Nations, Dr. Endsley uses spoken word to shine a light in the darkness.