On February 12, the U.S. States Postal Service will issue its latest stamp in its Black Heritage Series, which over the years has honored 38 African Americans. The latest stamp will pay tribute to Robert Robinson Taylor (1868-1942).
Taylor was the son or a former slave. In 1892, he received a degree in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was MIT’s first Black graduate. Soon after earning his degree, Taylor joined the faculty at what was then the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. There he developed the school’s architecture program and designed more than 20 buildings on the Tuskegee campus. Several of these building are still in use at the university.
Robert Robinson Taylor’s great-granddaughter is Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Obama. The School of Architecture and Construction Science at Tuskegee University is named in Taylor’s honor.
