I5401

Black Heritage

Robert Robinson Taylor - Architect and Educator

Cover Announcement 

The individually hand painted cachet for this new stamp shows a Tuskegee Airmen fly-by of a P-51 Mustang aircraft. This was a plane used by the famous military squadron, and the one in this cover has the signature red tail. Its flight path takes it by the Tuskegee University chapel. This historic building was designed by the first accredited African-American architect - Robert Robinson Taylor.

Taylor enrolled in the Massachuseus Institute of Technology in 1888. During his years there, Booker T. Washington traveled to the college to personally recruit him to develop the industrial program at Tuskegee University. As president of that school, Washington wanted him to be his second in charge as well as to direct the constuction of new buildings on campus.

The first building project Robert completed was the new science hall. That building was constructed completely by students under the supervision of Taylor. Next to be built was the college chapel followed by "the Oaks" which served as the home of the president. He continued to serve as Director of Mechanical and Architectural lndushies until his retirement from the university in the mid-1930s.

On December 13, 1942 (exactly one week before my birth), Robert Robinson Taylor died while attending services in the Tuskegee chapel that he designed. The "fly-by'' cachet is a tribute to this accomplished American. Collins #I5401 - $15.00.