Donald F. White

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Donald Frank White
BornMay 28, 1908
Canada
DiedApril 23, 2002(2002-04-23) (aged 93)
Troy, New York, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Michigan
Occupation(s)Architect, civil engineer, structural engineer
Years active1932–1968;
1980–1995
SpouseSusie Taylor (m. 1936–1999; death)

Donald Frank White (1908 – 2002) was a Canadian-born American architect and engineer, of African descent.[1] He was the first Black architect registered in the states of Alabama (in 1935) and Michigan (in 1939).[2] He had been a partner of the firm of White & Griffin Architecture–Engineering Associates; and he later worked in the firms of Giffels & Vallet, and Nathan Johnson & Associates.[3] He also worked in the 1950s for the United States government in designing structures in Liberia.[2] White was the first Black graduate from the School of Architecture (now Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning) at University of Michigan, both in the undergraduate and graduate program.[4] He was the first Black member of the Detroit chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and an early member of the national chapter.[4][5]

Early life and education

Donald Frank White was born on May 28, 1908 in Canada, and he was raised in Cicero, Illinois.[3] His parents were Ada Perry and Ferry White, his father worked as a pattern maker for a gray iron foundry.[3] His family moved when he was a teenager to Pontiac, Michigan. He attended Pontiac High School and graduated in 1927.[3]

He married Susie Taylor around 1936, she was from Sparta, Georgia.[3] They never had children.[3] White graduated with a bachelor's degree in architecture (1932) from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, making him the first African American graduate from the department.[6][7] In 1934, he received a master's of science degree in architecture from the University of Michigan's Rackham School of Graduate Studies.[3][7]

Career

From 1931 to 1933, White interned as a field assistant under

Alabama State Teacher's College (now Alabama State University) in Montgomery, and the School for the Deaf in Mount Meigs.[3]

In 1939, White left Tuskegee and moved to Detroit, where he opened a private practice in the Michigan Chronicle Building.[3] He became the first licensed African American architect in Michigan in 1939.[3] His office hired local Black architects, draftsman, and engineers, including Helen Eugenia Parker.[3] In 1943–1944, he worked for Wayne County Better Homes, Inc., a Booker T. Washington trade association project, where White designed 10 floor plans.[8][9]

In 1944, White joined the Detroit chapter of the

Francis Eugene Griffin between 1946 and 1968 to form the firm of White & Griffin Architecture–Engineering Associates.[3][11] He later worked in the firms of Giffels & Vallet, and Nathan Johnson & Associates, Inc., both in Detroit.[3]

White served as president of the National Technical Association from 1949 until 1951, the organization was primarily made of African American engineers, scientists, and architects.[3] He was also a member of the Economic Club of Detroit, the National Society of Professional Engineers, the NAACP, the Albany Inter-Racial Council, and the Booker T. Washington Business Association.[3]

From 1953 until 1958, White was a deputy chief of an educational project in Harbel, Liberia.[3] The project was a joint venture between the United States government, the Liberian government, and Prairie View A&M University to create the Booker T. Washington Institute, a vocational school patterned after the U.S. land grant college system.[3]

From 1952 until 1955, White worked on the design for the Tappan Zee bridge.[4] In 1958, he moved to Troy, New York to be closer to family.[3] He worked as an architect for the New York State Department of Public Works in Albany, New York; after receiving his New York state license to practice architecture and engineering.[3] He retired in 1968. However at the age of 72, in 1980, he came out of retirement to become a staff architect for the City of Albany Community Development Department (in Albany, New York).[3] He returned to his retirement in 1995.

Death and legacy

White died on April 23, 2002 in Troy; his service was held at the Fifth Avenue AME Zion Church in Troy, New York.[3]

He had been a great influence on many early career Black architects in the 1940s and 1950s.[2][6][12] The Donald F. White Fellowship was established in 2003 at the University of Michigan, for graduate students of architecture.[4] White is profiled in the biographical dictionary African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865–1945 (2004).

Many of White's buildings in the Detroit neighborhoods of

Paradise Valley were demolished in the 1950s and 1960s during the time of city "urban renewal" projects.[2]

Works

  • 1931, Prairie View A&M College (now Prairie View A&M University) registrars office, Prairie View, Texas[3]
  • 1932, Prairie View A&M College dorms for unmarried men
  • 1933, Prairie View A&M College duplex, Prairie View, Texas
  • 1934, Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) Chambliss Hotel alterations, Tuskegee, Alabama
  • 1934, Tuskegee Institute Cottage No. 34, Tuskegee, Alabama
  • c. 1934, Tuskegee Institute Kay Barn, Tuskegee, Alabama
  • c. 1934, Tuskegee Institute Russell Barn, Tuskegee, Alabama
  • c. 1934, Tuskegee Institute Tompkins Dining Hall, Tuskegee, Alabama
  • 1938, Sanitarium, Selma, Alabama
  • 1938, Mt. Meigs School for the Deaf, Mount Meigs, Alabama; as associate architect
  • 1940, St. Stephens African Methodist Episcopal Church addition, Detroit, Michigan
  • 1944, Paradise Bowling Alley, Detroit, Michigan (destroyed in a fire in 1950)[6]
  • 1944, Friend Baptist Church Auditorium, Detroit, Michigan
  • 1944, Milton Medical Clinic, Detroit, Michigan
  • 1950, Aijalon Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan[6]
  • 1954, Lincoln University Library, Jefferson City, Missouri; as associate architect
  • c. 1960, Rightway Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan

See also

References

  1. Newspapers.com
    .
  2. ^ a b c d Tribou, Doug (2020-02-17). "Donald White, Michigan's first licensed black architect, broke new ground". Michigan Radio NPR. Retrieved 2023-09-07.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-135-95629-5
    .
  4. ^ a b c d e Fitzgerald, Linda (2003). Portico: Annual Report to Alumni. University of Michigan College of Architecture and Urban Planning. The College of Architecture and Urban Planning. pp. 20–21.
  5. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  6. ^ a b c d Piper, Matthew (2019-07-15). "The legacy of black architects in Detroit". Curbed Detroit. Vox Media, LLC. Retrieved 2023-09-07.
  7. ^ a b The Michigan Alumnus. Vol. 45. Alumni Association of the University of Michigan. 1939. p. 380.
  8. Newspapers.com
    .
  9. Newspapers.com
    .
  10. ^ Race Relations: A Monthly Summary of Events and Trends. Negro Universities Press. 1969. p. 17.
  11. Newspapers.com
    .
  12. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2023-09-07.
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