Hidden Figures: Ethel Bailey Furman #BlackHERstoryMonth 19/28 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Ethel Bailey Furman #BlackHERstoryMonth 19/28

Ethel Bailey Furman, born Ethel Madison Bailey on July 6, 1893 and died February 24, 1976, is the first female Black American architect in Virginia and one of Richmond's lesser known but highly influential architects. She was the daughter of Margaret M. Jones Bailey and Madison J. Bailey. Furman's father, Madison J. Bailey was the second black contractor to be licensed in Richmond. As a child Furman accompanied her father to client sites, becoming acquainted with building sites, construction methods, and architecture. Later, Furman attended Armstrong High School and received architectural training in New York and later at the Chicago Technical College. She married William H. Carter on October 12, 1912, in New Jersey, and they had two children. Having divorced Carter by 1918, she married Joseph D. Furman, a Pullman porter for the New York Central Railroad. Together they had a son. After training for architecture in New York City, she returned to Richmond in 1921 and began designing houses for locals. Furman worked with her father, and also raised her three children; during this time she worked other jobs to supplement income to raise her family. As a Black American woman she experienced discrimination in the architecture community, as local bureaucrats refused to accept her as the architect of record on her own projects. Consequently, she would often have to submit her job proposals through male contractors with whom she worked. Late in the 1920s she was the only woman who attended the Hampton Institute’s annual Builders’ Conference. She continued her training in the 1940s with coursework in architectural drafting at the Chicago Technical College. Throughout her long career, Furman designed an estimated two hundred residences and churches in central Virginia as well as two churches built in Liberia. Furman completed over 200 architectural commissions within the historic Church Hill Community, most of which have since been destroyed. Some of her most significant surviving works are an educational wing for the Fourth Baptist Church on Q Street, built in the International style; the baptistery addition to Cedar Street Memorial Baptist Church, located at 2301 Cedar Street; and the St. James Holiness Church at 16 East 28th Street. Furman was active in the Richmond community; she received the Walter Manning Citizenship Award and was named to the Richmond Afro-American's Community Honor Roll in 1954 and 1959. In 1985, a small city park was dedicated to her memory at 28th and M street, near the site of her home and office. Her 1962 design for the educational wing of Richmond’s Fourth Baptist Church was recognized on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Church Hill North Historic District extension in 2000. A leader in her community, Furman was recognized for her extensive civic work by the Richmond Afro-American League in 1958. A Church Hill park was named in her honor in 1985. She died on February 24, 1976. #HiddenFigures #EthelFurman ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: 'What Ethel Built:' https://richmondmagazine.com/home/special-addresses/ethel-bailey-furman-home/ 'MEET ETHEL BAILEY FURMAN: THE EARLIEST KNOWN BLACK FEMALE ARCHITECT IN VIRGINIA:' https://blackthen.com/meet-ethel-bailey-furman-the-earliest-know-black-female-architect-in-virginia/ Ethel Bailey Furman House: http://www.aahistoricsitesva.org/items/show/129 THIS DAY IN VIRGINIA HISTORY: http://www.virginiamemory.com/reading_room/this_day_in_virginia_history/february/14 Ethel Furman (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Furman