Leading with Legacy: Taylor Griffith's Path from Pan-African Studies to Law School

July 17, 2024

By Stephanie Godward, Communications and Marketing Director, College of Arts & Sciences

Taylor Griffith’s experience in a Pan-African Studies theatre course created a deep connection to her personal heritage in a way that she had never experienced before as a student, ultimately shaping her own path forward to pursuing a career in law.

“We delved into a lot of Black literature, talking about enslaved Americans, and Black women in different eras, and it was the first time I had taken a course, read, and felt connected to the people that I was reading about,” she said.

Griffith, 21, of Louisville, graduated in May 2024 with a BA degree in Pan-African Studies, a minor in Atmospheric Physics, and with a Peace, Justice and Conflict Transformation Certificate. In addition, she was an Honors Scholar for two years, and a Woodford R. Porter Scholar for four years. During her undergraduate studies, she also served as president of the Black and Brown Honors Society for two years, as a Muhammed Ali Scholar for two years, and as a Diversity Student Ambassador for Admissions for four years.

This fall, she will attend the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at UofL to pursue a career in which she can support marginalized people and have an impact in the Louisville community and beyond. She has also been accepted into UofL’s MBA program, and will pursue a JD/MBA dual degree.

“My work is important to me because even if I don’t live to see the world that my work will potentially create, I just want generations after me to live in a better United States than I have lived in,” she said. “I think back to my ancestors, and if they did not fight as much as they did, I would not be sitting where I am today. I want to keep paying that forward to future generations.”

Starting college during the pandemic was challenging, but the professors and mentors she met along the way inspired her to recognize the leader they saw in her. Both her personal experiences and what she learned in her PAS courses propelled Taylor forward on a trajectory towards law school. One day, she wants to represent marginalized people who need legal support, possibly through collaborating in the nonprofit sector.

"During my history course with Dr. Tyler Fleming,I got to learn about a piece of African history that is just not really taught in K-12, where usually we start with enslavement,” she said. “But with his course, we explored the cultures of different African peoples prior to enslavement. It gave me a lot of pride to learn about the different cultures and how vast it was. These are stories we never hear about, and it gave me a lot more pride to be Black. It helped connect me to my heritage.”

By examining the untold stories of her own ancestors’ histories and heritage, Taylor was empowered to connect her experiences as a young black woman to an education that offered opportunities to grow into a campus leader.

While she knew early on that she wanted to pursue law school, her choice was solidified both by her PAS courses and by major events that she witnessed as a young girl.

“I was very young during the Trayvon Martin case, and I have vivid memories of my family watching the news, and there were news anchors discussing the story. I just saw this young Black teen, and I saw myself in him. It was hard for me to understand at a young age why they were debating whether or not he should have been killed. I was so young and thinking – is this really a debate? He was young. He was unarmed. I saw the pain in my parents’ faces,” she said.

Then, as the Black Lives Matter movement unfolded during the pandemic, after the lives of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd were cut short, it only motivated her more to commit to one day becoming an attorney.

“There was just a lot of pain and suffering that I saw on a daily basis, so I thought I could become an attorney to make an impact,” she said.

As a student and prior to the Black Lives Matter movement, Taylor had the opportunity to shadow Lonita Baker, the Louisville attorney who later went on to represent Breonna Taylor’s family in their landmark settlement with Louisville. Baker is now a professor of practice with Brandeis School of Law, as she joined the faculty in Fall 2023.

“I got to experience the behind-the-scenes of an attorney’s life and instantly fell in love with the field of law.” she said.

Griffith was also inspired to get involved in policy work after serving an internship with State Senator Reginald Thomas, another opportunity afforded by the Pan-African Studies Department. On Senator Thomas’s team, she saw the true power that voters have while advocating for causes they believe in and using their voices for change.

"Being an attorney, you work within the system that is already created. In policy work, you get to rework the system. Our justice system works the way it has always worked. When it was created, marginalized communities were not in mind. We were not even thought of as full human beings at the time. It needs to be reformed to better serve Black and Brown communities,” she said.

Dr. Michael Brandon McCormack, Chair and Professor of the Pan-African Studies Department, in addition to professor in the Comparative Humanities Department, states that Taylor has been an absolute joy to work with over the years.

“Taylor is a truly exceptional student, whose intellectual capacity is only surpassed by her impressive work ethic, fierce commitments to justice, and her unusually kind and generous spirit. However, my emphasis of her personal qualities should not be thought of as mere affect, unrelated to her academic prowess. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, Taylor is the rare student whose way of being in the world is deeply integrated with her way of knowing and doing,” McCormack states. “She deeply embodies the Black Studies mantra of ‘academic excellence and social responsibility.’ There is no doubt that Taylor Griffith is among the best and brightest at the University of Louisville, and her decision to major in Pan-African Studies speaks to the vibrancy and viability of our degree program for high achieving students interested in making a significant impact in the world.”

Looking ahead, Griffith already has plans and ideas to help other students like her gain the experience needed to make the decision to pursue law school. One day, she hopes to offer undergraduate students at UofL the chance to intern wherever she lands as an attorney, because undergraduate law internships are few and far between.

Taylor wants others to see themselves as potential attorneys as well – the way that her professors and mentors have helped her to see herself as a leader – and is determined to break down those barriers for others.

“I am going to be the first person in my family to go to law school, and I want to help eliminate obstacles that discourage many from pursuing a legal career,” she said.