Kwesi Daniels

In 2003, Jennifer Newsom, then a second-year architecture graduate student at Yale University asked her professor, ‘Why aren’t we studying black [architecture]? The professor replied, ‘Because it doesn’t exist!’… “[because it’s] an oxymoron.” As a Black student she was shocked by the statement and dismayed because she did not have the evidence at the time to refute the professor. Her solution was to curate an exhibition titled “Black Boxes.” The two-day experience in Blackness was the charge she embraced, to elevate the contribution of Black people. As a Black student at Yale, she was in a world that did not recognize the hue-man quality of architecture. It consistently failed to acknowledge architecture constructed by hued people, especially in America, particularly because the architecture of these communities is born out of the experiences grounded by the hue of their skin. Although the professor’s response rendered her silent in the moment, because she could not refute the statement, her silence was not complicity, but rather the inception of an idea to educate herself through educating the masses. Jennifer realized in that moment she needed to create a space for Black scholars to feel welcomed and celebrated, and “Black Boxes” was born. 

In a similar spirit of empowerment undertaken by Ms. Newsom, almost one hundred years prior, in 1912, African-American sociologist, Monroe Work published the first volume of the Negro Yearbook. It was a data-driven account of the accomplishments of Negroes in America. The book and the subsequent volumes that were published for the next forty years were his response to Frederick Hoffman’s book Race Traits and Tendencies of The American Negro (1896) which concluded that Negro people had made no contribution to American civilization. Mr. Work committed his life to gathering data on Negro life and used the findings to publish A Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America, a record of over 17,000 citations of published works focused on providing a well-rounded account of the cultural experience of Black people. In his review of the bibliography, Robert Parks noted in 1928, “The Negro’s history has ordinarily been regarded as no episode in the history of America or of Africa.” This statement underscores the importance of acknowledging and documenting the lived experiences of Black people throughout the globe. Mr. Work recognized the need to document the hue-manity of African-Americans because of the affront by Hoffman to conditions of Negroes in America.  

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