Iconic Tampa woman, Gloria Jean Royster, will lead tour about another local legend this weekend

Madame Fortune Taylor’s story is only known through oral history.

By Ray Roa on Wed, Mar 13, 2024 at 2:22 pm

Photo via Write1O/Twitter

Gloria Jean Royster, who leads a Fortune Taylor history tour in Tampa, Florida on March 16, 2024.

Women have always been on the forefront of historical preservation, and for women’s history month, one of Tampa’s baddest ladies is leading an excursion paying tribute to one of the city’s most important figures.

Journalist, writer and community hero Gloria Jean Royster will lead a 90-minute stroll through downtown Tampa this weekend, and talk about Madame Fortune Taylor, a woman whose story is only known through oral history (there’s not a known photo of Taylor, an ex-slave, baker, community leader, and businesswoman who owned 30 acres along the Hillsborough River in what is now downtown).

The tour's starting point will be emailed with your eTicket.

Tickets to Tampa’s Madame Fortune Taylor Walking Tour happening Saturday, March 16 at 10 a.m. are still available for $20.

Good Fortune: Why the Laurel Street Bridge is about to have a name change: The bridge's new namesake was quite the trailblazer.

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About The Author

Ray Roa

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief in August 2019. Past work can be seen at Suburban Apologist, Tampa Bay Times, Consequence of Sound and The...

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