Crystal Endsley Taylor

Crystal Leigh Endsley, Ph D. is an internationally renowned spoken word artist and Associate Professor of Africana Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, where she was honored with the 2016 and 2021 Distinguished Teaching Award. Crystal Leigh is a poet, performer, and professor, and works to serve her community as an artist and academic. Since 2015-2020 she has co-directed the Girls Speak Out! at the United Nations each October under the auspices of the Working Group on Girls. From New Orleans to Hawassa Ethiopia, from Soweto to the Bronx, and beyond, Crystal Leigh’s project for more than a decade has been to connect global youth to each other through spoken word poetry and performance.