To celebrate Black History Month here at WOBIK we are displaying the new Robert Robinson Taylor USPS postage stamp (first day of issue was Feb. 12, 2015):

Apparently Black History Month was originally known as Negro History Week when it was created in 1926.

It wasn’t until 1976 that the observance was changed from one week to one full month and the word Negro was replaced with the word Black.

February is the shortest month of the year and I’ve sometimes heard tales about Black History Month being celebrated in February for that same reason. Not true, not at all.

As stated above the observance was originally a week long event which was held in the second (2nd) week of February.  This was to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (12th day) and Frederick Douglass (14th day).

The postage stamp above bears a photograph of Robert Robinson Taylor (June 8, 1868 – December 13, 1942) who, according to what I could find on Wikipedia, was:

1.  American architect

2.  According to some accounts the first accredited black American architect.

3.  First black American student enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1888).

4.  Designed many of the buildings on the campus of Tuskegee University (prior to 1932), and he served as second-in-command to the school’s founder and first President, Booker T. Washington.

The United States Postal Services adds the following regarding Robert Robinson Taylor:

Remembered for his calm determination and quiet dignity, Robert Robinson Taylor (1868-1942) is believed to have been both the first black graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the country’s first academically trained black architect–accomplishments that helped open a new profession to African Americans.

His work furthered Booker T. Washington’s dream of fostering not just African-American builders and carpenters, but architects who could plan the buildings.

Purchase the postage stamp online (USPS website) at the following link:

Robert Robinson Taylor stamp

It should also be noted that Black History Month is also celebrated in the following two countries:

a.  United Kingdom of Great Britain (since 1987)

b.  Canada (since 1995 by the Canadian House of Commons and since 2008 by the Canadian Senate)

Speaking of postage stamps we want to bring up that we’ve seen a number of Barack Obama postage stamps from other countries and maybe even a US Commonwealth (or US Territory) stamp. I can’t remember for certain about the US Commonwealth/Territory stamp (I may not be remembering correctly) but we will look around and see if we can locate any images and then post them (if there are any) in the comments section. Feel free to help us look and to share your findings with us.

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