Alberta Jeannette Cassell
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Alberta Jeannette Cassell (November 22, 1926 – October 24, 2007), was an African American
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
who worked for the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
, and a children's book author. She was also known by the name Alberta Jeannette Cassell Butler.


Early life and education

Alberta Jeannette Charolette Cassell was born in the
District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, the daughter of architect
Albert Cassell Albert Irvin Cassell (1895–1969) was a prominent mid-twentieth-century African-American architect in Washington, D.C., whose work shaped many academic communities in the United States. He designed buildings for Howard University in Washington D ...
and teacher Martha Ann Mason. She attended James Monroe Elementary School, Bannecker Junior High, and Dunbar High School, graduating in 1944. Her father was determined that all of his children would become architects like himself, and that they would also attend his alma mater,
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
. Cassell honored her father's wishes and went to Cornell University. In 1948, she became one of the first two African American women to graduate from their school of architecture (the other was her sister Martha Cassell Thompson). In 1947, she was part of an award-winning Cornell architecture team, in a national competition sponsored by the
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
.


Career

For two years, Cassell worked in her father's architecture firm, but left when he became involved in real estate development. In May 1951, she began working as an architectural engineer for the Naval Research Laboratory, until May 1961, when she started working as an engineering draftswoman with the Military Sea Life Command. Afterwards, she became a naval architect with the United States Naval Sea Systems Command between 1971 and 1982. She was a member of the Association of Women Architects (founded by Henrietta May Steinmesch), the Alpha Alpha Kappa chapter.


Personal life

In 1950 Casell married Francis Butler, a mechanical engineer trained at
Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...
; they had two children, Karl (born 1951) and Mira (born 1953). She retired due to a disability in 1982, and in her retirement, she began to write children's stories and devoting her time to photography. She was widowed in 2004, and she died in 2007, aged 80 years. Her children's book, ''The Little White Butterflies'', was published posthumously, in 2012.


See also

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African-American architects African-American architects are those in the architectural profession who are members of the African diaspora in the United States. Their work in the more distant past was often overlooked or outright erased from the historical records due to ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassell, Alberta Jeannette Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning alumni American women architects African-American architects 20th-century American architects 1926 births 2007 deaths Architects from Washington, D.C. 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women