Architecture and Black History: a reading list

Our library and publishing teams selected books and resources highlighting the experiences, contributions and achievements of Black professionals in the built environment.

All the books and journals are available to browse and read for free through the RIBA Library.

Books

Race and architecture

Race and modern architecture: a critical history from the enlightenment to the present edited by Irene Cheng, Charles L. Davies II, Mabel O. Wilson (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72.01 // RAC
The Black skyscraper: architecture and the perception of race by Adrienne Brown (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2017) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 721.011.27(73) // BRO
Architecture in black: theory, space and appearance by Darell Wayne Fields with a foreword by Cornel West (London: Bloomsbury, 2016) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72.01 // FIE
Space unveiled: invisible cultures in the design studio edited by Carla Jackson Bell (London: Routledge, 2015) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72.08(73):3 // SPA
Amaza Lee Meredith imagines herself modern: architecture and the Black American middle class by Jacqueline Taylor (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2023) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72.036.6(73):92M // TAY
'Unbuilding Whiteness in the Built Environment' in Architectures of care: from the intimate to the common edited by Brittany Utting (London: Routledge, 2024) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72:3 // ARC
Exposing the barriers in architecture from a FAME perspective Tumpa Yasmin Fellows (London: FAME Collective, 2024)

Colonialism and British architecture

Architecture and empire in Jamaica by Louis P. Nelson (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2016) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72.03(729.2) // NEL
The age of empire: Britain's imperial architecture from 1880-1930 by Clive Aslet (London: Aurum, 2015) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72.03(41/42-44) // ASL
Neocolonialism and built heritage: echoes of Empire in Africa, Asia and Europe edited by Daniel E. Coslett (London: Routledge, 2020) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72:3 // NEO
Designs on democracy: architecture and the public in interwar London by Neal Shasore (Oxford University Press, 2022) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72.036.6(42.1) // SHA
Architecture and urbanism in the British Empire by G.A. Bremner (Oxford University Press, 2016) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72.03(41/42-44) // ARC
Building Greater Britain: architecture, imperialism, and the Edwardian Baroque revival, c.1885-1920 by G.A. Bremner (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2022) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72.036(41/42) // BRE

Articles

DIVIA Award 2023: diversity in architecture e.V. by Ursula Schwitalla, Christiane Fath (eds.). (Berlin: Hatje Cantz, 2023) RIBA Library shelfmark: REF 72-055.2 // DIV
AIA Architect (vol. 111, no. 2, 2022 Mar.) Collective success, by Stephen Hicks, p. 31-32 [Riding the Vortex, the collaboration of African American women in architecture founded in 2007, active in various aspects of the profession, aims to increase the number of architects of color.]
Canadian Architect (vol. 65, no. 7, 2020 Oct., p. 6.) Let's talk about race, by Elsa Lam [On race and architectural practice. Black architects represent less then 2 per cent of licensed practitioners in North America, while black women architects represent less then 0.3 per cent of the industry.]
Architects’ Journal (vol. 248, no. 2, 2021 Feb. 25, p. 16-18.) Bringing it all back home, by Catherine Slessor [Interview with Lesley Lokko, Ghanaian-Scottish architect, recipient of the 2020 Annie Spink Award and the 2021 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize. Lokko's global teaching career has radically changed the conversation around race, identity and architecture.]
Architects' Journal (vol. 206, no. 3, 1997 July 17, p. 28-29.) New life under Labour, by Demetrios Matheou [Profiles Elsie Owusu, founder member of the Society of Black Architects.]
Planning Perspectives (vol. 39, no. 1, 2024 February, p. 7-30) Marshall Plan or neocolonization? The Modern Cities program and Black planning criticism by Jeremy Lee Wolin
Society of Architectural Historians Journal (vol. 83, no. 2, 2024 June, p. 209-232) Modernism as liberation: J Max Bon Jr at Mississippi's Mary Holmes College by Brian D. Goldstein
Museums Journal special issue (vol. 121, no. 5, 2021 September / October, p. 4-63) The Museum X takeover: creating a Black British Museum
Architect special issue (vol. 112, no. 7, 2023 October, p. 8-46) The Dark Matter issue: architecture of joy, collectivity, and abundance
Planning Perspectives (vol. 38, no. 4, 2023 August, p. 855-876) Through the bridges: the Black Cultural Association in São Paulo, urban planning and the contours of the white city by Ana Barone
Society of Architectural Historians Journal (vol. 80, no. 3, 2021 September, p. 258-279) Constructing race and architecture 1400-1800, part 1 by David Karmon et al
Society of Architectural Historians Journal (vol. 80, no. 4, 2021 December, p. 385-415) Constructing race and architecture 1400-1800, part 2 by David Karmon et al