"Beverley Loraine Greene"(October 4.1915-August 22-1957)

Believed to be the first African American woman architect in the United States,was born in Chicago and was raised by her father,James a Greene, a lawyer,and her mother Vera Greene, a homemaker.Beverley earned a Bachelor degree of Science degree in architectural engineering from the University of Illinois in 1936.One year later she earned a Master's of Science degree in City planning and housing from the same university.On December 28,1942 at the age of twenty-seven she was registered in the state of Illinois as an architect.After completing the second degree,Beverly returned to hometown and initially worked for the Chicago Housing Authority.She was one of the first African Americans in the agency.Despite her education and her official recognition as an architect,she found it difficult to obtain jobs,in the profession.Beverly moved to New York City in 1945 to work on the planned Stuyvesant Town private housing project in lower Manhattan being built by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.Given her past experiences,and the Company's prior announcement that African Americans would not be allowed to live in Stuyvesant Town,Beverly believed she would not be hired.She applied anyway and to her surprise she was the first architect employed on the project.She quit however to accept a scholarship at Columbia University where she would study urban planning.Beverley received a Master's degree in Architecture from Columbia on June 5, 1945.She went on to work for a number of notable architectural firms.Her employers during that period included the architectural firm headed Isadora Rosenfield which specialized in health care and hospital design.Beverly also worked on the arts complex at Sarah Lawrence College and in 1952 on a theater at the University of Arkansas.During her time with the architectural firm headed by Marcel Breuer she worked on the UNESCO United Nations headquarters in Paris,France witch was completed in 1958.Beverley next projects included buildings at New York University which were completed between 1956 and 1961.Beverley never saw most of buildinfs  at NYU she helped design.She died in New York City.She also designed the Unity Funeral Home,the building her memorial service was held.