Pioneering African-American architect Robert Robinson Taylor was hailed by PMG Megan Brennan and his great-granddaughter, White House advisor Valerie Jarrett, during the Feb. 12 dedication of the stamp honoring him.
Taylor (1868-1942), the son of a slave, is believed to be the first African-American graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the nation’s first academically trained black architect.
He later designed the Tuskegee Institute campus in Alabama and oversaw its industrial education programs.
“Robert Robinson Taylor expanded opportunities for African-Americans in fields that had largely been closed to them,” said Brennan, who received a master’s degree from MIT.
Jarrett cited Taylor as a personal inspiration.
“My family is proud to stand on his shoulders and we know that it is our responsibility to embrace his values, to ensure that his legacy will be ‘forever stamped’ in the conscious of future generations,” Jarrett said.
The Taylor stamp, the 38th in the Black Heritage series, was dedicated at the National Postal Museum in Washington, DC.
The stamp can be purchased online and at Post Offices nationwide.
