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ORAL HISTORY

Rev. Barry taylor

Bully's Restaurant

Reverend Barry Taylor is one of eighteen children. His parents worked on a plantation in Belzoni, Mississippi, before moving to Jackson in 1956 when he was five years old. He grew up in the neighborhood where Bully’s Restaurant stands today, and where the now-closed Bully family convenience store served the community years before. Rev. Taylor is a sheriff’s deputy with the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department, a chaplain for the Jackson Police Department, and a pastor at his own church. He is also a loyal customer at Bully’s Restaurant. He eats there at least three times a month, he states, and he knows all the employees by name. Rev. Taylor values Bully’s not only because of its good food, but also because he sees the restaurant as a gathering spot, a place where diverse communities can meet and talk while enjoying some of the best soul food in Jackson.