Before we get to this week's episode, I wanted to let you know that this podcast mini-series

is a companion to my new book, The Queen, the Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth.

The Washington Post calls it a gripping investigation that reads like a detective story.

The Queen is available wherever you buy books.

And now, on to the show.

Previously on The Queen, the Chicago Tribune was the first paper to report on Linda Taylor,

whom the newspaper called The Welfare Queen.

I was excited because it was a big story, the kind of story that most any reporter would want to get. I mean, it was not just

welfare fraud. It was bizarre fraud. Taylor's story was picked up by Ronald Reagan, who used it

to advocate for shrinking the welfare system. She has three new cars, a full-length

mint coat, and her take is estimated at a million dollars.

Reagan exaggerated how much Linda Taylor stole, but that didn't matter very much.

The Welfare Queen stereotype took hold, while Taylor herself was quickly forgotten.

As far as I know, Linda Taylor talked on camera just one time.

It's February 1976, and Taylor is hurrying to her car after a court hearing.

She's wearing a black fur coat and a sun-shaped rhinestone brooch.

A member of the press shout some questions. Did you talk to us? How'd you do it right there? Well, compared to some of you white people,

I think I've done pretty damn good to be black. Well, compared to some of you white people,

I think I'd done pretty damn good to be black. I don't know what was going through

Taylor's head in that moment. It's very striking, though, that she flips a question about her

performance in court into a statement about the color of her skin. She's unapologetic about who she is,

and she frames her story as one of triumph over a racist society. Beyond that, Taylor

...