Stamp Honors MIT's First Black Graduate

The 38th stamp in the United States Postal Service "Black Heritage" series honors architect and educator Robert Robinson Taylor of the Class of 1892.

Courtesy of U.S. Postal Service

Nancy DuVergne Smith | MIT Alumni Association
February 12, 2015
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The U.S. Postal Service honored one of MIT’s own today, issuing a stamp to honor architect and educator Robert Robinson Taylor. A member of the Class of 1892, Taylor was MIT’s first African-American graduate, and is believed to be the country’s first academically trained black architect.

Among other accomplishments, Taylor supervised the design and construction of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama — now Tuskegee University — while also overseeing the school’s programs in industrial education and the building trades.

MIT President L. Rafael Reif discussed Taylor’s contributions in remarks at today's dedication ceremony at the National Postal Museum in Washington.

“As we honor the legacy of Robert Taylor, today’s ceremony reminds us that he was a builder … not only of structures, but of communities … and an architect who designed not only a campus of national importance … but a more promising future for generations to come,” Reif said. “Robert Robinson Taylor truly represents the best of MIT.”

More about Robert Robinson Taylor and this Commemoration.

Robert Robinson Taylor

From 'Tech' to Tuskegee:

The Life of Robert Robinson Taylor
1868-1942

by Dr. Clarence G. Williams

Few blacks were part of the MIT community in its early years, even though founder William Barton Rogers had shown a keen interest in issues relating to race. In 1863, Rogers had praised blacks--particularly the bravery exhibited by black troops during the Civil War--and noted "the capacity of these people for knowledge and training."(1) The earliest evidence of blacks at MIT dates from the 1870s, more than a decade later, in photographs of service staff in the old drill hall and gymnasium on Boylston and Clarendon Streets in downtown Boston. "Jones' Lunch," a small cafeteria located at one end of the gym, was run by a black caterer named Jones, with the assistance of a small staff of black cooks, washers, and waiters. Evidently there were no black faculty and no black students at MIT at the time. The first black student to attend MIT appears to have been Robert Robinson Taylor, who enrolled in 1888.(2)Almost seventy more years elapsed before the first black faculty member--Joseph R. Applegate, a linguist--was hired in 1955.(3)

More about Robert Robinson Taylor at MIT Libraries.