Robert Robinson Taylor (1868-1942) was the grandson of a white slave owner and the son of a formerly enslaved carpenter. His mother came from a family of free blacks.
Taylor became the first African-American student at MIT graduating in 1892. He is considered to be the first accredited trained black architect.
Taylor supervised and designed what is now called Tuskegee University. He also served as an educator at the institution. After his first wife with whom he had 4 children died, Taylor remarried and had another child.
In 2015, the US Postal Service unveiled a postage stamp in his honor. His great-granddaughter Valerie Jarrett is a senior advisor to President Obama.-Heidi Durrow
Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience. Please look for archived profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May! Thanks for reading. And check out some of the previous year’s profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.
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