Samantha Taylor

Samantha Taylor, from Berkeley, Illinois, is pursuing a JD in law at Stanford Law School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in public policy and philosophy from the University of Chicago. She is committed to advancing racial equity and criminal justice reform, specifically with respect to mass incarceration. Samantha has worked at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, NYU Law’s Policing Project, and Bet Tzedek, where she helped draft a homeowner protection bill proposed to the California State Senate. As a teenager, she spoke on a panel with Angela Davis, and, as president of UChicago’s Organization of Black Students, she organized events with Kevin Richardson of the Central Park Five and Colin Kaepernick. She founded Chasing Equity, a student action convention, and Blackbox, a platform for Black scholarship and art. A UChicago Odyssey Scholar, Stamps Scholar, and Princeton Prize in Race Relations recipient, she has been featured on NPR, NBC Chicago, and other media outlets.