What:

A special postmark unveiling ceremony will commemorate the works and legacy of architect and educator Robert Robinson Taylor (1868-1942), a trailblazer, believed to have been both the first African-American graduate of MIT and the nation’s first academically trained black architect.

Taylor was inducted into the Postal Service’s Black Heritage Stamp series becoming the 38th person honored on the limited-edition Black Heritage Stamp released earlier this year.

Linn’s Stamp News gives a brief summary of stamped and postmarked envelopes treasured by collectors.

Who:

Katherine Lydon, Postmaster, Cambridge
Hashim Sarkis, Dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning
E. Denise Simmons, Cambridge City Councilor

When:

Wednesday, May 13, 2015 – Ceremony begins at  2 p.m.  

Where:

First Floor Lobby — MIT Stratton Student Center (Building W20, Room 100)
84 Massachusetts Avenue http://whereis.mit.edu/?go=W20

MEDIA RSVP: Reporters interested in attending should RSVP to Abby Abazorius at abbya@mit.edu or by calling 617-253-2709.

Background:

Taylor joins other honorees in the Postal Service's Black Heritage stamp series, which began in 1978 and salutes outstanding African-American activists, theorists, writers, educators and leaders. Other notable Americans in the series include Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackie Robinson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Bessie Coleman, Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., Madam C.J. Walker, Patricia Roberts Harris, Roy Wilkins, Langston Hughes, Thurgood Marshall, and Shirley Chisholm in 2014.

More Robert Robinson Taylor stamp information can be found on the press release for  the stamp’s first official unveiling.