Black Americans have always faced enormous social and economic barriers, and the architects who've helped build the country were no different. Nevertheless, there are several Black architects who have managed, designed, and constructed some of today's most admired structures.
Norma Merrick Sklarek (1926-2012)
As a Black female, Sklarek became a well-respected project director and educator within the white male-dominated field of architecture.
Fun Fact: Sklarek has been called "The Rosa Parks of Architecture"
Quote: "In architecture, I had absolutely no role model. I'm happy today to be a role model for others that follow."
Paul Revere Williams (1894-1980)
The first African American member of the esteemed American Institute of Architecture (AIA) in 1923. Paul had the unusual ability to draw sketches upside down. He developed this talent because, as a Black man, many clients were uncomfortable sitting next to him, so he drew their renderings from across his desk. Paul often donated his time and expertise to projects he believed advanced the welfare of young people, African Americans in Southern California, and greater society. Paul was posthumously awarded the AIA Gold Medal — their highest honor.
Julian Abele (1881-1950)
Julian became the first Black student admitted to the Department of Architecture at the Ivy League school the University of Pennsylvania.
In addition to the chapel, Abele designed Duke's library, football stadium, gym, medical school, religious school, hospital, and faculty houses, but had never set foot in it due to the Jim Crow laws of the segregated South.
Sean Canty
Sean Canty is an American designer and architecture critic and an assistant professor of architecture a the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He is the founder of Studio Sean Canty, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Selected as a finalist for the 2016 MoMA PS1 Young Architects competition, he exhibited his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Ishka Designs
Ishka Designs is a Brooklyn-based interior design firm specializing in vacation properties, restaurants, and residences across the globe. Founded by Anisha Clarke and Niya Bascom, the design firm creates sophisticated minimalist interiors including hotels in Jamaica and F&B projects across the US. Clarke brings with her a strong nature-inspired aesthetic with efficiency playing a major role in her design process, heavily influenced by a waste-not upbringing by her Guyanese mother. Bascom, on the other hand, has a background in the film industry as well as photography experience, having spent 15 years shooting celebrities, products, and interiors, which has honed his eye for design and cemented his keen sense for style.
