The Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH) gave Dr. Ellen Weiss their 2012 Award of Excellence for her biography of the first academically-trained African American architect, Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee: An African American Architect Designs for Booker T. Washington, during their 2012 Annual Meeting in Athens, Georgia. Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee is not just the first biography and a detailed portrait of this important man; it’s also a gorgeous volume that includes over 100 photographs of Taylor’s buildings on the Tuskegee campus and elsewhere, finely annotated by Dr. Weiss.
Along with the SESAH award, Dr. Weiss received this citation:
Ellen Weiss, Professor Emerita at the Tulane University School of Architecture, has a produced a significant monograph of an American architect. This insightful work documents Robert Taylor’s great challenges as a student at MIT in the late nineteenth-centry and, more importantly, his role as the first professionally trained African American architect. Taylor achieved greatness as a pioneer in his field, especially in the Jim Crow era, as an instrumental instructor and mentor at the Tuskegee Institute, and as a talented designer and campus planner helping Booker T. Washington achieve his educational vision of racial pride and progress. It is a history both unique and inspiring.
The SESAH “was founded in 1982 at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta to promote scholarship on architecture and related subjects and to serve as a forum for ideas among architectural historians, architects, preservationists, and others involved in professions related to the built environment,” according to their website. They publish Arris – The Journal of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians.
Congratulations to Ellen Weiss on this significant honor.
Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee is available direct from NewSouth Books, Amazon, or your favorite bookstore.