Norma Sklarek became the first black woman to be licensed as an architect in New York and California.
According to the African-American Registry website: From New York City she graduated from Barnard College (part of Columbia University) with a degree in architecture in 1950. Sklarek became the first African-American woman to be licensed as an architect in the United States with certification in New York State in 1954 and in California in 1962. She was the first African-American woman director of architecture at Gruen and Associates in Los Angeles. In 1966, she was the first woman to be elected Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Some twenty years later, in 1985, she became the first African-American woman architect to form her own architectural firm: Siegel, Sklarek, Diamond. At the time, this was the largest woman-owned and mostly woman-staffed architectural firm. Among Sklarek’s designs are the City Hall in San Bernardino, California, the Fox Plaza in San Francisco, Terminal One at the Los Angeles International Airport and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. From 1989 to 1992, Sklarek was a principal at The Jerde Partnership.
There she was in charge of project management and review of the functional and technological aspects of projects. Norma Sklarek is now semi-retired serving as Chair of the AIA National Ethics Council.
In her honor, Howard University offers the Norma Merrick Sklarek Architectural Scholarship Award.
To learn more about Norma Sklarek, go to: http://www.essortment.com/all/normasklarek_rqbo.htm
Win a copy of Martin Luther King: The Essential Box Set:
The Landmark Speeches and Sermons of Martin Luther King, Jr. By Clayborne Carson, Kris Shepard, Peter Holloran
About Martin Luther King: The Essential Box Set:
This definitive box set includes all the landmark speeches of the great orator and American leader Martin Luther King, Jr., from his inspirational “I Have a Dream” to his firey “Give Us the Ballot.” Comprised of recordings previously included in A Call to Conscience and A Knock at Midnight, THE ESSENTIAL BOX SET is a must-have for any home, library, or school collection.
Audio and Video
What do you have to do to enter? Leave a comment on this blog post and there will be several other opportunities this month to enter but you have to check the bottom of random blog posts. (Sign up to mailing list so you’ll be alerted of new posts). The more you comment, the more chances you have to win. Contest ends on February 28, 2010. U.S. & Canada residents only. Avoid where prohibited by law.
Related posts:
Again, thanks for the knowledge and the box set is an amazing prize.
This is great prize.
My students are really enjoying learning about little known sucessful African-Americans.
What a great prize. We share a birthday!
I have read about Norma in I Dream A World; She is one of the few who conquered a world closed to sisters; Thanks.
please enter me
spynaert@hotmail.com
I did not know and always enjoy learning of our history.
Good luck all.
Can you imagine having a scholarship in your name for your accomplishments? God is good.
Thanks