Valerie Jarrett (left), CEO of the Obama Foundation, worked with MIT President L. Rafael Reif to arrange the public display of the diploma of Robert Robinson Taylor, MIT's first Black graduate and Jarrett's great-grandfather. Credits : Photo: Jake Belcher
Valerie Jarrett ( left ), CEO of the Obama Foundation, worked with MIT President L. Rafael Reif to arrange the public display of the diploma of Robert Robinson Taylor, MIT's first Black graduate and Jarrett's great-grandfather. Credits : Photo: Jake Belcher - The restored diploma of Robert Robinson Taylor, MIT's first Black graduate - presented by his great-granddaughter Valerie Jarrett - highlights connections between the Institute and Tuskegee University. History and the future joined forces on Friday at a campus event honoring Robert Robinson Taylor, MIT's first Black graduate and the first accredited Black architect in the United States. The gathering also highlighted new collaborations between MIT and Tuskegee University. The event featured remarks from former White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, who is Taylor's great-granddaughter - and whose cousins discovered Taylor's 1892 diploma in their attic last year. Now restored by MIT preservation experts and on loan to the Institute, the diploma is on display at the new MIT Museum, which opened to the public on Oct. 2 in Kendall Square. "I want to say, on behalf of my entire family, how deeply moved we are by this event, and the way MIT has embraced the vision and spirit of my great-grandfather," said Jarrett, who served as a senior advisor to former U.S. President Barack Obama and is now CEO of the Obama Foundation in Chicago.
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