It’s no secret that much of this country was built on the backs of African American slaves. Black people helped create schools, churches and municipal buildings across the country. A Black man even helped design the blueprint for Washington, D.C. As we celebrate Black History Month, check out these iconic American buildings designed and built by Black people.
African American slaves were involved in every aspect of the construction of the White House, including clearing the land, transporting building materials, carpentry and bricklaying. The National Archives has record of over 120 names of people listed as “Negro hire” who worked with white laborers from the United States and Europe. But, as you probably could have guessed, the slave owners, rather than the slaves themselves, were paid for their work.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital founder Danny Thomas called on his friend, well-known Black architect Paul R. Williams, to design the original hospital building dedicated to caring for children diagnosed with cancer in 1962.
Inducted as the first Black member of the American Institute of Architects in 1923, Paul R. Williams was known for designing fabulous celebrity homes for stars like Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. He also put his signature stamp on The Beverly Hills Hotel, choosing the pink and green colors and the font for the iconic sign, as well as designing the Polo Lounge and the Crescent Wing.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in 2016 as the 19th museum of the Smithsonian Institution and the only national museum dedicated to Black culture. Located on the national mall, the museum’s lead designer was Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye.
In addition to the White House, African American slaves worked with free Black and white laborers on the construction of the United States Capitol building. In 2012, Congress added a marker featuring a block of sandstone and a bronze plaque to honor the contribution African American slaves made to the building.
The first Black student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Robert Robinson Taylor was the first accredited Black architect in the United States. After graduation, he went to work at Tuskegee Institute, where he designed 25 campus buildings, including a home for the school’s founder and first president Booker T. Washington. Taylor is also the great grandfather of Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Barack Obama.
Pierre Charles L’Enfant gets credit for designing the plans for Washington, D.C. in 1791. But he had a team of surveyors helping him, including Benjamin Banneker, a self-taught mathematician who served as official assistant surveyor.
The first Black undergraduates at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill received their degrees in 1955. However, African American slaves built most of the first campus buildings of the country’s oldest public university in 1793 and maintained them until 1865. In 2018, for the school’s 225th anniversary, Chancellor Carol L. Folt apologized for the school’s relationship to slavery.
New York’s Wall Street is known around the world as the center of America’s financial system. But few people know that African American slaves built the wall after which Wall Street is named. The wall was built in 1653 in Lower Manhattan to protect the Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam from British invasion. The wall stood until 1699, when the British took control of the area and named it New York.
Clarence Wigington didn’t have a degree or certification in architecture. But after earning the highest score in his group on a qualifying exam for a senior draftsman position with the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, he made history as the first Black municipal architect in the country. During his time with the city, Wigington designed schools, fires stations and park buildings.
Founded in 1873 as the First Colored Baptist Church of Birmingham, Alabama, 16th Street Baptist Church was the first Black church in Birmingham. Black architect Wallace Rayfield was picked to design the church building on 16th Street. A popular meeting place during the Civil Rights Movement, the church was also the site of tragedy when a bomb set off by members of the Ku Klux Klan killed four Black girls in 1963.
The development of the Transcontinental Railroad in the early 19th century created a new and more efficient way to move people and products across the country. Much of the credit for the construction goes to African American slaves who were used to build much of it.
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello is a massive Virginia estate that hosts tours daily. Although Jefferson was one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence and wrote all of that stuff about all men being created equal, he owned more than 600 slaves in his lifetime. And his grand home was built using slave labor.
The first Black graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Architecture, Julian Abele’s impressive resume includes being a primary designer of the West Campus of Duke University, Harvard University’s Widener Memorial Library, The Philadelphia Museum of Art and Philadelphia’s Central Library.
A donation to Harvard College from Isaac Royall Jr. in 1781 was used to establish Harvard Law School in 1817. The only problem is that Royall and his father owned nearly 65 slaves – more than any other slaveowner in the state of Massachusetts. Harvard recently released a detailed report on the school’s ties to slavery along with recommendations – including providing economic and educational support to the descendants of slaves – for reparations.
