Robert Robinson Taylor (1868–1942 #FBA🇺🇸 Robert Robinson Taylor is arguably heralded as one of the most influential Black American architects of the 20th century. As the first accredited Black architect in the U.S., Taylor’s compiled contributions are significant. His story began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was the first Black student accepted at the all-white, prestigious, academic school of higher learning. At MIT he studied architecture and upon graduating in 1892, received his bachelor’s degree in architecture. He was recruited to Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute by its founder and president Booker T. Washington. In the position of instructor in architecture, he worked to plan the construction of new buildings on the Tuskegee campus. In tandem with these ongoing projects, he worked closely with the institute’s architectural and engineering programs. Throughout his tenure on the Tuskegee campus, Taylor designed and oversaw the construction of 45 buildings, including Booker T. Washington’s family home. Taylor’s career wasn’t confined to Tuskegee alone. Outside of his architectural accomplishments at the university, his interests, skills and talent led him to the design and creation of three colonial-style Carnegie Libraries for other Black colleges in Alabama, North Carolina and Texas.