Robert Robinson Taylor
| Robert Robinson Taylor | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 8, 1868 Wilmington, North Carolina |
| Died | December 13, 1942 (aged 74) Tuskegee, Alabama |
| Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Spouse(s) | Beatrice Rochon Taylor Nellie Chestnut Taylor |
| Children | 5 |
| Parent(s) | Henry Taylor Emily Still |
| Relatives | Valerie Jarrett (great-granddaughter) |
Robert Robinson Taylor (June 8, 1868 – December 13, 1942) was an American architect; the first accredited African-American architect. He was also the first African-American student enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1888. Additionally, he designed many of the buildings on the campus of Tuskegee University prior to 1932, and he served as second-in-command to its founder and first President, Booker T. Washington.
Robert Robinson Taylor was born on June 8, 1868 in Wilmington, North Carolina. His father, Henry Taylor, worked as a carpenter and businessman, born into slavery but freed in 1847 by his father and owner Angus Taylor. His mother, Emily Still, was the daughter of freedmen even prior to the Civil War. He had four brothers and sisters.
Robert Robinson Taylor attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1888, where he studied architecture. In June 1890 and again in September 1891, he was recommended for the Loring Scholarship, which he held for two consecutive academic years: 1890-1891 and 1891-1892. During his course of study at MIT, he talked in person on more than one occasion with Booker T. Washington. What Washington had in mind was for Taylor to develop the industrial program at Tuskegee and to plan and direct the construction of new buildings for the campus. At the MIT faculty meeting on May 26, 1892, Taylor was one of twelve students in Course IV recommended for the degree in architecture. The class of 1892 was the largest on record since MIT's founding. After graduation Taylor did not head directly to Tuskegee. He finally accepted the Tuskegee offer in the fall or winter of 1892.
Taylor's first building project on the Tuskegee University campus was the Science Hall (Thrasher Hall) completed in 1893. The new Science Hall was constructed entirely by students, using bricks made also by students under Taylor's supervision. The project epitomized Washington's philosophy of instilling in Tuskegee students, the descendants of former enslaved Africans, the value and dignity of physical labor and it provided an example to the world of the capabilities of African Americans in the building trades, and it underscored the larger potential of the manual training curricula being developed at Tuskegee. A number of other buildings followed, including the original Tuskegee Chapel, erected between 1895 and 1898. After the Chapel came The Oaks, built in 1899, home of the Tuskegee University president.
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