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The African American Architect Initiative (c)
Harry G. Robinson III, FAIA
October 1990
Howard University

The Howard University AFRICAN AMERICAN ARCHITECT INITIATIVE is a comprehensive set of activities directed toward documenting and making visible the presence, work, philosophies and achievements of African American architects. Underrepresented in the profession, the African American comprises less than one percent of those in the practice of architecture. Of the 43,493 regular members of the American Institute of Architects, 344 are African American. The extent of the diminishing numbers and the implications for the profession and society have generated task forces within major architectural organizations and an increase in the voices speaking forcefully on the issue of the "plight of the Black American architect."

The Initiative is a response to the near total absence of research and public education efforts on behalf of the lives and work of African American architects and the impact that this situation has on recruitment and retention of the next generation of these professionals. For example, the first and only juried exhibit of the work of "Negro architects" was organized by Paul R. Williams and Howard H. Mackey at Howard University in 1931 and although several individuals are pursuing research on Black American architects, only recently has a coordinated effort been organized to document the presence of African American architects in the United States. The Initiative seeks to formalize and unify all of the individual undertakings, coalesce the support of the professional organizations around common goals and develop durable projects that will sustain both the research base and a meaningful public image. The seven elements of the Initiative are as follows:

THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ARCHITECT ARCHIVE
Established in the Howard University School of Architecture and Planning, the archive is a cooperative venture between the School and the Moorland - Spingarn Research Center. The Research Center is the one of the world's largest and most comprehensive repositories of research materials on the history and culture of black people in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States and has deep roots in the history of Howard University. As