Robert Robinson Taylor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | June 8, 1868 |
| Died | December 13, 1942 (aged 74) Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S. |
| Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 5 |
| Parent(s) | Henry Taylor Emily Still |
| Relatives | Robert Rochon Taylor (son) Barbara T. Bowman (granddaughter) Valerie Jarrett (great-granddaughter) |
Robert Robinson Taylor (June 8, 1868 – December 13, 1942) was an American architect and educator. Taylor was the first African-American student enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the first accredited African-American architect when he graduated in 1892.[1] He was an early and influential member of the Tuskegee Institute faculty.
A native of Wilmington, North Carolina, Taylor remained in architectural practice in the American South for more than forty years. He was part of what was possibly the nation's first black architecture firm, Taylor and Persley, a partnership founded in July 1920 with Louis H. Persley.[2][3] He designed many of the early buildings of the Tuskegee Institute, and at several other Historically black colleges and universities. As second-in-command to Booker T. Washington, the Tuskegee Institute's founder, Taylor was instrumental in both campus planning and inventing the school's industrial curriculum.
- ^ Weiss, Ellen. Robert Robinson Taylor, Encyclopedia of Alabama
- ^ Weiss, Ellen (2012). Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee: An African American Architect Designs for Booker T. Washington. NewSouth Books. pp. 112, 140–142. ISBN 9781588382481.
- ^ "History of Firsts" (PDF). Lincoln University.