On Education and Practice
Whitney M. Young's 1968 AIA National Convention Speech
- Remembering Whitney M. Young Jr.'s Landmark Speech (ARCHITECT Magazine; May 08, 2018)
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the American Institute of Architects, the organization's journal, ARCHITECT Magazine, revisited the remarks of Whitney M. Young Jr. who spoke at the 1968 AIA Annual Convention in Portland, Oregon. His remarks are remembered for "chastising architects for failing to support civil rights." In addition to publishing the full remarks, the magazine also asked several Black architects to respond to his address. - AIA Exhibition - 50 Years After Whitney Young Jr. (Washington D.C. and online; 2019)
An exhibition on Whitney M. Young and the impact of his 1968 speech was organized by the AIA and comprised of an in-person experience in Washington D.C. and this website.
0.2% by Hannah McCann (Architect Magazine; March 12, 2007)
"The number of black women architects has quadrupled in 15 years. But four times a fraction of a percent doesn't amount to much."
20 on 20/20 Vision: Perspectives on Diversity and Design Linda Kiisk (editor; AIA Diversity Committee and Boston Society of Architects; 2003)
"... a collection of essays and articles by practitioners and scholars on the experiences of diverse designers and on the value of incorporating varying viewpoints into design processes." (Boston Society of Architects/AIA) The full PDF can be viewed and downloaded here.
"Opinion: Blackout — Amplifying the Voices of Blackness Within Architecture" (Architectural Record; June 4, 2020)
"Architect and educator Sekou Cooke considers the role of the profession in confronting historically entrenched racism and violence in the U.S."
Architecture Is Political (podcast)
"My name is Melissa Daniel and I started this podcast to rediscover why I went into architecture. I am investigating where I lived and talk to the people who can assist me in this journey. In depth, this investigation will examine Tyler House and the Northwest One area in Washington, DC. as well interviews with various architectural professionals, planners and experts."
EXHIBITION: A Repository of Black Knowledge at Yale Architecture Gallery (New Haven, Connecticut; January 9, 2025 – February 15, 2025)
"With the creation of the Yale Black Architecture Alumni Group (YBAA) this fall, the connection between Black students and alums has been strengthened and brought to the forefront at YSoA. As we interacted with our alumni, it became evident that they had a rich and interconnected network that pre-existed the group’s founding. In these meetings with alumni, they energetically shared their experiences, expertise, and passions. This open environment for knowledge transfer has existed exclusively in virtual spaces until now. Through the exhibition, we aim to highlight and honor this reciprocal relationship. With these observations, the exhibition strives to create a Repository of Black Knowledge. In practice, the exhibition gives physical space for open dialogue between people in the architecture field. The repository is a physical manifestation of Black architects’ culminated knowledge and experiences across YSoA’s history. In tracing the timeline (color line) of Blackness at YSoA, a tapestry of divergent focuses, mediums, and periods will coalesce in a central vessel that collects auditory snippets from Black alumni. This central vessel is a costume table where snippets from alumni interviews can be listened to and interacted with. In tracing this history of Blackness at YSoA, the exhibition attempts to look to the past and project into potential Black futures."
Black graduates discuss equity, social justice, and the architecture profession organized by Nina Rappaport (Yale School of Architecture; 2020)
"This summer Nina Rappaport, publications director, convened an online roundtable discussion over two days with nine Yale School of Architecture Black alumni of different generations based in different cities. In the framework of the pandemic, protests, and quest for equity, they shared their experiences and knowledge as they explored and debated anti-racist architectural education and the various forms of practice with which they have engaged. The discourse was rich with personal stories from Yale, suggestions for academic reforms, and visions for the future. Yale professor of African-American Studies Tavia Nyong’o moderated the discussion, which was condensed and edited for Constructs."
Expanding Bodies: Pedagogical Models for Pluralistic Spatialities by
Quilian Riano (Architectural Design; November 1, 2022)
"Depictions of ideal bodies, whether by Leonardo da Vinci or Le Corbusier, and their importation into the strictures of architecture and space-making generally, ignore a multitude of other bodies. Quilian Riano, Interim Dean of Pratt Institute's School of Architecture in Brooklyn, New York, looks at these other bodies and describes an inclusive, pluralistic future for architecture and the way it is taught."
I Want To Be An Architect by ISBN: 9780550309280Publication Date: 1969An illustrated children's book; "two boys discover they want to be architects when Mr. Jones shows them how to plan a play house." Available on the Internet Archive.
"The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) is a nonprofit organization made up of the architectural licensing boards of 55 U.S. states and territories."
NCARB publishes an annual report on their membership including number of licensed architects by state, demographics of those licensed, statistics on the licensure exam process, and more.
SYMPOSIUM: Shifting the Landscape: Black Architects and Planners, 1968 to Now hosted by National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian (September 27-29, 2018)
"The 2018 symposium brought together architects, planners, and scholars of the built environment. Participants reflected on key events in the late 1960's that shaped architecture and planning in the decades that followed. Live-streamed presentations enhanced public access to black architects of today and highlighted projects of architects and planners currently working to create more equitable spaces. Shifting the Landscape also provided opportunities for high school and university students to engage with practicing architects and to learn about their different modes of practice."
DISSERTATION: Two Case Studies of African American Architects' Careers in Los Angeles, 1890-1945: Paul R. Williams, FAIA, and James H. Garrott, AIA by Wesley Howard Henderson (1992)
"The dissertation is a survey and social study of how African-Americans made their way in the profession of architecture in a particular place and time. An examination of the careers of architects is the focus rather than formal aspects of architecture (buildings)... The approach is to sketch their careers and identify notable themes, struggles and strategies by examining their work, their writings, published articles about them and their work, and intervieweing people who knew them."
When Diversity Lost the Beat: Reviving the Hidden Rhythms of Black Urbanism in U.S. Planning Literature from 1990–2020 by Dr. Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta (Journal of the American Planning Association; 2023)
"Since the 1960s, African Americans have advocated to be systematically represented and addressed in planning education and practice. Despite burgeoning diversity work, it is unclear how specifically planning scholars have listened. Using a bibliometric and content analysis of the 21 oldest and most-cited planning journals, I analyzed the presence of race, diversity, and African Americans in 19,645 peer-reviewed research articles published between 1990 and 2020. Of these articles, only 4.8% focused explicitly on racial diversity in the abstracts, titles, keywords, or within their main text. Within these 944 U.S. diversity articles, nearly one-fourth (24.47%, n = 231) focused on African Americans. Overall, just 1.17% of the total U.S.-focused planning research in these journals focused on African Americans in this 3-decade period. Of these Black urbanism research articles, an evolving set of 34 themes and 105 story beats built on each other in six story arcs: a) Black housing, segregation, and gentrification; b) Black entrepreneurship and employment; c) Black ecology and environmentalism; d) Black arts, culture, and politics; and e) Black intersectionality. In addition to offering the first quantitative study on Black urbanism since 1990, two main analytical insights are that Black urbanism is a small literature, and specific contours exist to grow Black urbanism beyond its small canon in planning. Limitations to these findings include the small literature size, the lack of engagement with Black urbanism in a broader context than planning, technological barriers for mining older articles from archived databases, and understanding Black urbanism beyond a provincial focus on the United States."
"Very few architects are Black. This woman is pushing to change that." (NPR; 12 March 2023)
An interview with Pascale Sablan, founder of Beyond the Built Environment, that also outlines various aspects of the current state of the profession.
On Education
Radical Pedagogies by ISBN: 9780262543385Publication Date: 2022-05-31This book covers a range of international examples of radical pedagogical approaches and histories in architectural education. Of particular interest are "Lessons from Resurrection City," an essay by Mabel O. Wilson about the temporary housing on the National Mall in Washington D.C. for over 3,000 civil rights campaigners in the spring of 1968, and "A Plan For Change," an essay Brian D. Goldstein about efforts by Planning For Change and the Architects' Renewal Committee in Harlem between 1964-1974.
Revolt and Reform in Architecture's Academy by ISBN: 9781138595149Publication Date: 2018-06-28"Revolt and Reform in Architecture’s Academy uniquely addresses the complicated relationship between architectural education and urban renewal in the 1960s, which paved the way for what is today known as public interest design. Through an examination of curricular reforms at Columbia University’s and Yale University’s schools of architecture in the 1960s, this book translates the "urban crisis" through the experiences of two influential groups of architecture students, as well as their contributions to design’s lexicon.
The book argues that urban renewal and campus expansion half a century ago recast architectural education at two schools whose host cities, New York and New Haven, were critical sites for political, social, and urban upheaval in America. The urban challenges of that time are the same challenges rapidly growing cities face today—access, equity, housing, and services."
Space Unveiled by ISBN: 9781138229280Publication Date: 2016-10-10"Space Unveiled is a significant contribution to the study of architecture education, and the extent to which it has been sensitive to an inclusive cultural perspective. The research shows that this has not been the case in American education because part of the culture remains hidden."
When Ivory Towers Were Black by ISBN: 9780823276110Publication Date: 2017-03-01"When Ivory Towers Were Black lies at the potent intersection of race, urban development, and higher education. It tells the story of how an unparalleled cohort of ethnic minority students earned degrees from a world-class university. The story takes place in New York City at Columbia University’s School of Architecture and spans a decade of institutional evolution that mirrored the emergence and denouement of the Black Power Movement. Chronicling a surprisingly little-known era in U.S. educational, architectural, and urban history, the book traces an evolutionary arc that begins with an unsettling effort to end Columbia’s exercise of authoritarian power on campus and in the community, and ends with an equally unsettling return to the status quo."
- The MONTERO Syllabus: Infinite Worlds of Queer Afrofuturism by Dr. Matthew Jordon-Miller Kenyatta (September 19, 2021)"I assembled this bibliographic analysis to bear witness to the groundbreaking sonic journey of MONTERO as a sacred Black geography, a speculative space for liberation, an innovative transmedia incursion into the cultural zeitgeist of “genre” that would traditionally marginalize queer Afrofuturist voices. It connects the expansive spatial imaginary of the already-prolific emerging artist Montero Lamar Hill, known as “Lil Nas X” (LNX), to geographies of architectural and design thought – fashion, folklore, myth, fantasy, fiction, filmic production, archaeology, land policy.
The #MonteroSyllabus aims to help students and fans of his growing body of work grapple adeptly with the pluriverse of meanings he unlocks in visual culture by asking: Where might his musical adventures take us? What spatial concepts and transhistorical sources would be helpful in unpacking each song’s visual register of futures?"
One Brick at a Time: Robert R. Taylor’s Architectural Vision for Tuskegee Institute by the National Park Service
"This lesson plan, “One Brick at a Time: Robert R. Taylor’s architectural vision for Tuskegee Institute” focuses on the architectural impact of Robert R Taylor on the Tuskegee Institute, which now a National Historic Site. This lesson plan was created by the Tuskegee Institute NHS Greening Youth Intern Fatimah S. Purvis. Revision assistance was provided in 2022 by Sarah (Nestor) Lane, an educator currently located in Washington state. This lesson is one in a series [National Park Service’s Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP)] that brings the important stories of historic places into classrooms across the country."
Race, Space and Architecture: Towards an Open-Access Curriculum (June 2019)
This open-access curriculum developed by Huda Tayob & Suzanne Hall while at the London School of Economics, includes resources to support "engage[ment]" with three key questions:
- What are the spatial contours of capitalism that produce racial hierarchy and injustice?
- What are the inventive repertoires of refusal, resistance and re-making that are neither reduced to nor exhausted by racial capitalism, and how are they spatialised?
- How is 'race' configured differently across space, and how can a more expansive understanding of entangled world space broaden our imagination for teaching and learning?"
ONLINE COURSE: Reimagining Blackness and Architecture
What does it mean to create and occupy space? In this new online course, you’ll hear directly from artists, architects, and scholars who explore the ways Blackness has shaped architecture and the built environment.
Undesign the Redline by designing the WE
"Undesign the Redline is a framework for unearthing our most deep, systemic and entangled crises. This interactive exhibit, workshop series and curriculum explores the history of structural racism and inequality, how these designs compounded each other from 1938 Redlining maps until today, and how WE can come together to undesign these systems with intentionality.
The exhibit travels nationally to cities, towns and communities to learn together, activate and mobilize us into a strong “WE” capable of transformation. We think the exhibit should go everywhere."
List of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that offer an accredited degree program in architecture (design or engineering) (https://hbcuconnect.com):
- Florida A&M (Tallahassee, Florida)
- Hampton University (Hampton, Virginia)
- Hinds Community College (Raymond, Mississippi)
- Howard University (Washington D.C.)
- Lawson State Community College (Birmingham, Alabama)
- Morgan State University (Baltimore, Maryland)
- North Carolina A&T State University (Greensboro, North Carolina)
- Prairie View A&M University (Prairie View, Texas)
- Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, Alabama)
- University of the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.)
On Practice
African-American Architects in Current Practice by ISBN: 1878271385Publication Date: 1992-09-01This book includes a number of essays on the topic of African-American Architects and the state of the profession. It also includes an abbreviated index of African-Americans architects and architectural practices across the US with words from the practitioners themselves in many cases: J. Max Bond, Jr, Wendell J. Campbell and Susan M. Campbell, John S. Chase, Robert Traynham Coles, Paul G. Devrouax and Marshall E. Purnell, Louis E. Fry, Sr., Louis E. Fry, Jr., and Louis E. Fry III, Harvey B. Gantt, Robert Kennard, Roderick Lincoln Knox, Robert P. Madison, Roger W. Margerum, Charles F. McAfee and Cheryl L. McAfee, Harry L. Overstreet, Harry G. Robinson III, Harry Simmons, Jr, Howard F. Sims and Harold R. Varner, Norma Merrick Sklarek, William J. Stanley and Ivenue Love-Stanley, Donald L. Stull and M. David Lee, Sharon E. Sutton, Lou Switzer, Roberta Washington, James M. Whitley, William N. Whitley, and R. Joyce Whitley, Vernon A. Williams and Leslie A. Williams.
The Crisis of the African-American Architect by ISBN: 9780595243266Publication Date: 2002-11-19"In this long overdue book, aimed at Black America and her allies, Melvin Mitchell poses the question "why haven't black architects developed a Black Architecture that complements modernist black culture that is rooted in world-class blues, jazz, hip-hop music, and other black aesthetic forms?" His provocative thesis, inspired by Harold Cruse's landmark book, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, exposes the roots of an eighty-year-old estrangement between black architects and Black America.Along the way he provides interesting details about the politics of downtown development in the Marion Barry era of Washington, DC. Mitchell calls for a bold and inclusive "New (Black) Urbanism." He sees the radical reform and "re-missioning" of the handful of accredited HBCU based architecture schools as a critical tool in refashioning a rapprochement between black architects and Black America."
Diversity among Architects by ISBN: 9781138900462Publication Date: 2016-03-11"This volume presents a series of essays questioning the homogeneity of architecture practitioners, who remain overwhelmingly male and Caucasian, to help you create a field more representative of the population you serve. The book is the collected work of author Craig L. Wilkins, an African American scholar and practitioner, and discusses music, education, urban geography, social justice, community design centres, race-space identity, shared landscape, and many more topics."
Structural Inequality by ISBN: 9780742545830Publication Date: 2006-05-11"Architecture is a challenging profession. The education is rigorous and the licensing process lengthy; the industry is volatile and compensation lags behind other professions. All architects make a huge investment to be able to practice, but additional obstacles are placed in the way of women and people of color. Structural Inequality relates this disparity through the stories of twenty black architects from around the United States and examines the sociological context of architectural practice. Through these experiences, research, and observation, Victoria Kaplan explores the role systemic racism plays in an occupation commonly referred to as the 'white gentlemen's profession.' Given the shifting demographics of the United States, Kaplan demonstrates that it is incumbent on the profession to act now to create a multicultural field of practitioners who mirror the changing client base. Structural Inequality provides the context to inform and facilitate the necessary conversation on increasing diversity in architecture."
"Racism is built into U.S. cities. Here’s how architects can fight back" (Fast Company; June 3, 2020)
Article written by Kimberly Dowdell, architect, former President of the National Organization of Minority Architects, and current President-elect of the American Institute of Architects: "Police brutality and the coronavirus pandemic are two health crises that disproportionately impact black Americans. Architects, who take an oath to protect the “health, safety, and welfare” of the public, must be part of the solution."
Reforming the Building Industry: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (BuildingGreen.com; December 20, 2019)
"People from marginalized communities are shockingly underrepresented in the U.S. building industry. It’s past time to change that." This report (which was corrected and updated on 24 January 2020) includes tools, case studies, and CEUs. *Update* Unfortunately, it is now behind a paywall.
The Pursuit and Promise of Equity in Architecture by Anjulie Rao (Architect Magazine; October 20, 2021)
As part of "The Equity Issue", this article both recounts opportunities and lessons learned across the profession with respect to racial equity in architectural practice.