Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee: An African American Architect Designs for Booker T. Washington

by Ellen Weiss, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Foreword by)

Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee interweaves the life of the first academically trained African American architect with his lifes workthe campus of Booker T. Washingtons Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. In this richly illustrated architectural history, the author shows how a black youth born in North Carolina shortly after the Civil War earned a professional architecture degree at MIT and how he then used his design and administrative skills to further Booker T. Washingtons agenda of community solidarity andin ... Read More

Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee interweaves the life of the first academically trained African American architect with his lifes workthe campus of Booker T. Washingtons Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. In this richly illustrated architectural history, the author shows how a black youth born in North Carolina shortly after the Civil War earned a professional architecture degree at MIT and how he then used his design and administrative skills to further Booker T. Washingtons agenda of community solidarity andin defiance of the then-expanding Jim Crow policiesthe public expression of racial pride and progress. The book also considers such issues as architectural education for African Americans at the turn of the 20th century, the white donors who funded Tuskegees buildings, other Tuskegee architects, and Taylors buildings elsewhere. Individual narratives of Taylors Tuskegee buildings conclude the volume. Read Less