How HBCUs Benefit Architects and Architecture

Historically Black colleges and universities have always been a part of my life. Several family members are alums, and I frequently attended local campus activities, including middle school summer camps. There, I had my first glimpse of being in a classroom led by Black teachers and surrounded by other Black students all vying to be the smartest.

“[B]lacks were generally denied admission to traditionally white institutions,” explains a 1991 pamphlet by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. “HBCUs became the principal means for providing postsecondary education to Black Americans,” with the first being the Institute for Colored Youth, founded as the African Institute in Cheyney, Pa., in 1837. The number of HBCUs, which includes the category of schools that were founded after 1965—when the Higher Education Act was signed into law—and called predominantly Black institutions, peaked at 121. According to the Center for the Study of HBCUs at Virginia Union University, HBCUs enroll approximately 3% of all students in U.S. postsecondary institutions (300,000 students) and graduate 25% of all African American students.

Of the 101 HBCUs that remain today, seven offer National Architectural Accrediting Board–accredited degree programs: Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Fla.; Hampton University in Hampton, Va.; Howard University in Washington; Morgan State University in Baltimore; Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas; Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Ala.; and the University of the District of Columbia. In his 2020 article “Where Are My People? Black In Architecture,” Kendall Nicholson, Assoc. AIA, NOMA, director of research and information at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, noted these seven HBCUs represent 5% of the 139 NAAB-accredited schools, but enroll one of every three Black architecture students. Each of the remaining 132 schools graduates two Black students, on average, annually.

Why Students Select HBCUs

“Long before the murder of George Floyd, HBCUs were committed to equity and inclusion. While companies, educational institutions, and others created JEDI committees and task forces, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion were at the core” of these institutions, says Andrew Chin, NOMA, an associate dean and associate professor at FAMU.

Key reasons students choose to attend HBCUs are accessibility, affinity, and affirmation. When schools were segregated, HBCUs provided an accessible path to education. For architects now nearing or at retirement age, predominantly white institutions were just opening to nonwhite students as they were finishing high school. Today, HBCUs remain accessible to a wide swath of students.

Students also choose to attend HBCUs to reduce their likelihood of experiencing on-campus animosity and racism and of being labeled as “other.” As a Howard University alum, I can attest that having professors who looked like me was important and helped me better understand the history of which I was a part.

Parents also influence their offspring’s college choice. Angela King, AIA, NOMA, principal architect for the city of Cincinnati, encouraged her son to enroll at Howard to “learn where he doesn’t have to be distracted by cultural issues at predominantly white institutions” and to “immerse himself in a welcoming culture that affirms and elevates his identity as a young Black man.” Antoine Medley, in Raleigh, N.C., whose daughter studies architecture at Tuskegee, believes the program will “help her build a network of support and encouragement.”

Many architects in practice reflect on their studio years as being toxic, but those who matriculated at HBCUs often regale with experiences of belonging, both in studio and on campus. HBCUs also provide affirmation. Architecture education has centered traditionally on Eurocentric design and identities. Many HBCU alumni recount their education going beyond these ideas. Washington-based E3 Connections founder R. Denise Everson, Assoc. AIA, chose Hampton University “knowing that I was wanted [there] and that I could positively contribute to its legacy.” When students know that their culture is valued and their presence and ideas matter, they thrive.

Professional Connections

Architecture, like many professions, suffers from nepotism in the recruiting and hiring process. Last year, NOMA started its Foundation Fellowship program, which places HBCU students at firms that are members of the AIA Large Firm Roundtable or NOMA’s President’s Circle. The companies’ leadership is oftentimes unfamiliar with HBCUs and their graduates. In turn, the Foundation Fellows can offer firms insight on topics such as the history of urban design’s relationship to social justice.

Continuing “the legacy of stewardship [is] deeply important,” says Howard alum Marcell Snodgrass, Assoc. AIA, NOMA, a San Francisco–based designer at David Baker Architects. “Working with HBCUs allows us to start the recruiting and mentorship process earlier than graduation,” adds Washington-based ZGF people and culture manager Katie Beth Williams. Giving students firm experience also prepares them for licensure and leadership. Of the 2,432 people listed in the Directory of African American Architects at the time of publication, 27% graduated from an HBCU.

Obstacles to Outlast

In 2019, 5% of the 5,985 graduates with NAAB-accredited degrees identified as Black, Nicholson says—a rate that remains stubbornly low. Numerous challenges continue to plague the surviving seven programs at HBCUs. In his book The Crisis of the African-American Architect (iUniverse, 2002), Washington-based architect and former university administrator Melvin Mitchell, FAIA, NOMA, writes that many programs face “issues of high relative cost, low (or no) funded research grants, sparse evidence of (recent or current) professional achievement, dwindling enrollment, low licensure rates, [and] few formations of new viable practices … .” Architecture programs are expensive for any institution to maintain, and HBCUs typically have significantly lower endowments than peer institutions.

To avoid the fate of Southern University’s B.Arch. program, which was terminated in 2013, the remaining seven degree programs must be valued. More people, alumni groups, firms, and institutions need to donate funds, as well as time and talent in the form of internship opportunities, guest lectures, and studio reviews. For 42 years, Tuskegee’s architecture alumni have organized to support its program financially and professionally. Since 2010, architecture staff and students have assembled annually at the HBCU Architecture Forum to commiserate and share ideas and research.

Beyond Necessity

Despite the challenges HBCUs face, their future can be secured. “We need to operate in the mindset of plenty,” Everson says. “There are plenty of funds to support all HBCUs. We need to leverage our collective capital, power, and influence to have a say in the operations of schools of architecture.” Importantly, the service these institutions provide—cultivating and championing a range of voices in the design of our environments—is invaluable. “The profession is getting younger and more diverse,” says

Thomas Allen, AIA, NOMA, principal at Ta² Design and an FAMU alum. “HBCUs are a key part of the profession’s longevity and sustainability.”

An abridged version of this article appeared in the October 2021 issue of ARCHITECT.

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