Author: Mark Alexander

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Quote of the Day

Wouldn’t it be great if we could vaccinate our kids to prevent them from catching things like racism, ignorance, and intolerance?” – Angela Mathews

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My Ignorance is Embarrassing

For all the years I was in the architectural profession, I had never heard of this man.

From SickoRicko:

Paul Revere Williams was born in Los Angeles on February 18, 1894 to Lila Wright Williams and Chester Stanley Williams who had recently moved from MemĀ­phis with their young son, Chester, Jr. When Paul was two years old his father died, and two years later his mother died. The children were placed in sepaĀ­rate foster homes. Paul was fortunate to grow up in the home of a foster mother who devoted herself to his eduĀ­caĀ­tion and to the develĀ­opment of his artistic talent.



At the turn of the 20th century, Los Angeles was a vibrant multi-ethnic enviĀ­ronĀ­ment with a popuĀ­laĀ­tion of only 102,000 of which 3,100 were African American (U.S. CenĀ­sus 1900). During Williamsā€™ youth the California dream attracted people from across the United States, and they mixed together with little prejudice. Williams later reported that he was the only African American child in his elementary school, and at Polytechnic High School he was part of an ethnic mĆ©lange. However, in high school he experienced the first hint of adversity when a teacher advised him against pursuing a career in archiĀ­tecture, because he would have difficulty attracting clients from the majority white community and the smaller black community could not provide enough work.

Click here to read more. Click here to see an extensive gallery of his work.

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