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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

"Ethel Furman"(July 6,1893-February 24,1976)

Was an American architect,who was the earliest known African-American female architect in Virginia.Born Ethel Madison Bailey in Richmond Virginia,she was the daughter of Margaret M.Jones Bailey and Madison J.Bailey.Her daddy was the second licensed African American building contractor in Richmond.Ethel moved to New York City,where studied architecture privately.She married William H.Carter on October 12,1912,in New Jersey and they had two children.Having divorced Willam by 1918,she married Joseph D.Furman.Ethel return to Richmond in 1921 and began designing houses for locals.She worked,with her daddy,and also raised three children.As an African American woman she experience discrimination in the architecture community,both because she was African American and a woman.Ethel would often have to submit her job proposals through a male contractor with whom she worked with.In the late 1920s,she was the only woman to attend the Hampton Institute's annual conference.Up into the 1940s Ethel trained in drafting through Chicago Technical College.Ethel designed over 200 churches and residences in Virginia and two churches in Liberia.In 1985 a park in Richmond was named after her.

 

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