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Less than 8% of sites on the National Register are associated with women, Latinos, African Americans or other minorities. [...]
The reason for this underrepresentation is an overly technical, legalistic approach to determining what merits designation.
— Los Angeles Times
Sara Bronin, a University of Connecticut Law School professor specializing in historic preservation law, penned an LA Times op-ed about the technical hurdles that have hindered many non-white historic sites to be designated for the National Register of Historic Places. "Preservationists have... View full entry
The Anti-Racist School of Architecture Symposium 2021 will shine a spotlight on the intersection of architecture, race, and education. The Symposium aims to address the following topics: Injustices Black, Indigenous, and People of Color face in the architecture and design education... View full entry
Vestiges of racism and oppression, from bricked-over segregated entrances to the forgotten sites of racial violence, still permeate much of America’s built environment. — The New York Times
For the NYT, photojournalist Richard Frishman shares powerful images of sites, buildings, and places throughout the United States along with their almost forgotten, sometimes preserved, stories from America's segregated past. "All human landscapes are embedded with cultural meaning," Frishman... View full entry
Do the architecture and design industries represent the same diversity as the population it serves? This panel takes a look at this critical issue, and will address ways to make positive changes to ensure we push towards justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in A&D. We invite you to... View full entry
AIA New York released a statement showing initiative towards impactful reform. The letter urges to create actionable steps to dismantling racial and social injustice issues sustained by the criminal justice system. The Chapter addressed they will no longer "reward or highlight work that... View full entry
You might remember Wandile Mthiyane from Archinect's recent profile on him, Undoing Apartheid Architecture. In that profile, Wandile talked about a pioneering new program his organization, Ubuntu Design Group, has developed. Called the Ubuntu Architecture Summer Abroad Program (UASA)... View full entry
Launched July 1st by a group of students and alumni from the Harvard GSD, Design Yard Sale is a month-long fundraising event that "sells and auctions creative works to support [Colloqate Design and The Bail Project], two organizations fighting systemic, and anti-Black racism."... View full entry
In a joint statement from the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Chapter (AIALA) and the Southern California Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (SoCal NOMA), a new tool to expand inclusion has been announced: the SoCal NOMA Diversity Equity and Inclusivity... View full entry
The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) will no longer use the term "master" to describe the primary bedroom of a home on their housing listings. The term "master" has roots in slavery, and HAR says the topic of removing it from realty terminology has been debated for years.
Now, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) platform that HAR uses for listings, will use "primary bedroom" and "primary bath," HAR said in a statement to CBS News.
— CBS News
"The origin of the terms is debated, and we are not saying they are rooted in slavery. Others didn't personally view them as sexist or racist but believed we should change the terms for anyone else who might find them objectionable. The consensus was that Primary describes the rooms equally as... View full entry
The aftermath of George Floyd’s death while in police custody has created a moment for radical truth-telling. So here’s some ugly truth about the city of Los Angeles: Our freeway system is one of the most noxious monuments to racism and segregation in the country. — The Los Angeles Times
Mattew Fleischer, Senior Digital Editor of The Los Angeles Times pens an editorial for the newspaper highlighting the indefensible, racist legacy of highway construction in American cities. Citing historical research regarding the ways in which highway construction and urban renewal... View full entry
In a statement issued this week, London Metropolitan University announced the decision to rename its Art, Architecture and Design School and remove the name of John Cass, an English merchant who was instrumental in the early development of the slave trade in the late 17th and early 18th century... View full entry
Following the now famous Black Lives Matter street mural in Washington D.C., activists later painted one in Oakland, California. This urban activism has garnered the attention of another city as well, Berkeley, who plans to paint a new street mural on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, in front of Old... View full entry
An unaffiliated group of architects, designers, theorists, urbanists, teachers, students, and built environment workers have joined together to spearhead a "pencils down protest" as an expression of solidarity with Black Lives Matter. "This moment demands a direct confrontation with architecture... View full entry
In a bold move to address its affordable-housing crisis and confront a history of racist housing practices, Minneapolis has decided to eliminate single-family zoning, a classification that has long perpetuated segregation. — NYT
After the tragedy, [a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Va.] and another honoring Stonewall Jackson were shrouded, but only temporarily. Around the country, similar monuments have been removed. In some cases, only their pedestals remain.
We asked artists to contemplate these markers of our country’s racist and violent history — the space they take up, physically and psychically — and imagine what should happen when they are gone.
— The New York Times
Around the US many statues and monuments celebrating racism in our country's history have been removed, either partially or fully. The question currently remains on what we as a culture should do concerning the spaces these historical monuments inhabit[ed]. The New York Times asked artists to... View full entry
