CEO at Bryant Mitchell Architects African American Architects: Embracing Culture and Building Urban Communities 2020
Based on a still-climbing number of reactions, this post touched a nerve. The full article estimated that in Nov. 1958 there were at least 100 Black licensed architects out of a national total of 20,000 (.5%). More than half of those Black architects were HBCU school grads, mainly Howard (the only accredited HBCU program then), with a few from Hampton and Tuskegee). From 1940 to 1990s HBCU-based programs were key cogs in the supply chain producing Black licensed architects, many of whom went on to found entrepreneurial practices. Had those ratios and numbers held through to now, Black licensure and numbers of Black-owned practices would look very different. Properly resourced and repurposed, the HBCU-based accredited programs can get back to those earlier ratios over the next decade.
Melvin, 👍
Architect, Urban Planner, Graduate Attorney
10moThe latest statistic from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) indicates that Black architects now represent 1.8% of all licensed architects in the United States and other territories falling under NCARB jurisdiction. While there undoubtedly has been much progress made since that Ebony article was published in 1958, Black architects still fall far behind other professions in America as a percentage of overall representation: Black doctors (5.7%), Black registered nurses (6.3%), Black lawyers (5.4%), and Black public school teachers (6%). This is despite Black folks representing 13.4% of the total U.S. population.