More African-Americans Join the Ranks

More African-Americans are becoming registered architects in the United States, with black women increasing their ranks most rapidly. Architects Dennis Mann and Bradford Grant, current and former faculty at the University of Cincinnati, respectively, are cocreators of an online directory of African-American architects (www.blackarch.uc.edu), derived from data they've collected since 1991. Back then, they counted 880 licensed African-American architects. The number has since increased by 60 percent, to 1,408. While women accounted for 5 percent of the 1991 figure (the directory listed only 44), their numbers have increased by 230 percent to 145 over the past 12 years. These findings are only estimates, however, as state registries for architects such as NCARB and AIA do not keep information on the ethnicity of their members; thus, Mann and Grant rely on a wide network of contacts (including the National Organization of Minority Architects) for their word-of-mouth data collecting. Mann says that, while the raised percentages appear dramatic, they are "just increasing by nature, not exploding," as more African-Americans become professionals across the board.