What:

The USPS, Triboro District and Jamaica Post Office, join together with students and faculty of Eagle Academy for Young Men III for a special stamp unveiling ceremony in celebration of National African American Heritage Month.

Robert Robinson Taylor (1868-1942), believed to have been both the first African-American graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the nation’s first academically trained black architect was inducted into the Postal Service’s Black Heritage Stamp series this month as the 38th honoree. 

Who:

Jamaica Postmaster John Lunghi
USPS Marketing Manager Roxanne Hosein
Students and Faculty The Eagle Academy for Young Men III

Where:

The Eagle Academy for Young Men III
171-10 Linden Blvd
Jamaica, NY 11434 

When:

Thursday, February 26, 2015,11:00AM EST

Background:

“Robert Robinson Taylor expanded opportunities for African-Americans in fields that had largely been closed to them,” said Jamaica New York Postmaster John Lunghi.   “Booker T. Washington recruited Taylor to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where he designed and oversaw the construction of dozens of new buildings built in an elegant, dignified style that befitted his personality. But it was Tuskegee’s Chapel that Taylor considered to be his finest achievement and masterpiece.”   During three decades of design projects, Taylor was also overseeing the school’s programs in industrial education and the building trades.

Designed by art director Derry Noyes, the stamp features a photograph of Taylor that was taken circa 1890, when he was in his early 20’s and a student at MIT.

The Robert Robinson Taylor stamps are Forever stamps in self-adhesive sheets of 20. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.

Find more information about the story behind stamps @ usps.com/stamps, facebook.com/uspsstamps or uspsstamps.com