Life and Works of Beverly Loraine Greene
Beverly Loraine Greene, an American architect, was born on October 4, 1915. According to the Illinois Architecture College of Fine & Applied Arts, “Beverly Greene is the first African-American woman to receive a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from the University of Illinois in 1936” (“The Illinois School…”). After earning a bachelor’s degree in architecture, she earned a master’s degree in city planning and housing. Shortly after completing her masters, she returned to Chicago and was hired by the housing authority in 1938. At that time, she became the first American woman of African descent to hold an architecture license. Despite her outstanding credentials, she often became a part of racial and gender discrimination and had difficulty finding suitable jobs. In 1945, she went to Newyork city, and to her surprise, she was hired despite the developer’s racially segregated housing plans. Nevertheless, after only a few days of joining the company, she left the project and accepted the scholarship for the master’s degree at Columbia University.
After obtaining a degree in architecture, she took a job in Isadore Rosefield, where she helped design health facilities. Meanwhile, she also partnered with Edward Durell Stone in a couple of projects. Her architectural works with Edward include a theatre at the University of Arkansas and an art complex at Sarah Lawrence College. Next, she partnered with a modernist architect and furniture designer Marcel Breuer by assisting on designs for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris (Fazzare and Olson). Also, she helped in the design of the University height campus of New York University. These works were completed only after Greene’s death. Her career was short-lived as she died at the early age of 41 on August 22, 1957 (Wilson 176). Due to Racial discrimination and gender inequality in that era, Greene was not celebrated in the architecture community than the white male counterparts.
Works Cited
Fazzare, Elizabeth, and Carly Olson. “Barrier-Breaking African American Architects We Should Be Celebrating.” AD. 22 Feb. 2019. Web. 28 Oct. 2020.
“The Illinois School of Architecture: A History of Firsts.” The Illinois School of Architecture. Web. 28 Oct. 2020.
Wilson, Dreck Spurlock. African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865-1945. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print.
