NEW MEMORIAL BENCHES HONOR UVA SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE'S FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN GRADUATES
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Concurrent with the large, ongoing construction projects at the University of Virginia are a series of subtle, albeit significant, changes shaping the built environment. Seven curved concrete benches have been installed across Grounds in recent weeks to recognize underrepresented women and people of color who have made an impactful contribution to either the University of Virginia or the world. Two of these memorial benches are sited at the School of Architecture's Campbell Hall to honor and celebrate the School's first African American alumni: Edward Wayne Barnett (1950–2009) who received his Bachelor of Architecture in 1972 and Audrey Spencer-Horsley who received her Bachelor of City Planning in 1975.
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE MEMORIAL BENCH HONOREES
Born in Botetourt County, Virginia, Edward Wayne Barnett (1950–2009) attended Academy Hill School, Central Academy School, and James River High School, from where he graduated in 1968 as salutatorian of his class. He was the first African American to graduate with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the UVA School of Architecture and followed his undergraduate education with a master’s degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Upon graduation, Mr. Barnett dedicated his professional life to architecture working in firms in Roanoke, Virginia; Richmond, Virginia; Beckley, West Virginia; and Valdosta, Georgia before starting his own practice, Barnett Company. Through the Peace Corps, he also served as the architect for the capital city of Accra in Ghana helping to advance housing and development by strengthening the capacity of local communities. Mr. Barnett was a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.
In addition to his dedicated career in architecture, he was an advocate for his local African American community—leading an important research project to build a collection of artifacts, documents, images, and stories that focuses on the history of the Botetourt County African American community—funded by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Featuring the legacies of prominent African American community leaders and citizens, veterans from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and Tuskegee Airmen, the collection has been digitized as part of the permanent display of The Botetourt Historical Museum and featured in an exhibition titled “Finding What Has Been Lost.” Mr. Barnett was on the Board of Directors of the Harrison Museum of African American Culture in Roanoke; was a member of the Roanoke Arts Commission; was a board member of the History Museum of Western Virginia at Center in the Square in Roanoke; and was on the Board of Directors of the Oliver White Hill Foundation—established in support of the next generation of social justice pioneers and engineers.
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Audrey Spencer-Horsley was born (1953) in Richmond, Virginia. She graduated among the top students of her class with honors from Maggie L. Walker High, in 1971, during the year of integration of the high school. Ms. Spencer-Horsley received her bachelor’s degree in City Planning from the University of Virginia in 1975. She went on to receive her master’s in public administration from The George Washington University. Her path-breaking experience as the first African American woman to graduate from UVA’s School of Architecture continued to a position early in her career as a community planner, starting in 1975 to over a decade with the City of Lynchburg, Virginia—and leading to her subsequent promotion to community development administrator. Over the course of her highly accomplished career in planning, she focused especially on community development and affordable housing in Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland. She worked for over twenty years for Fairfax County in Virginia, administering federal, state, and locally funded community development and affordable housing programs, as well as community-based services by nonprofits, notably serving as Chief Planner and later, Associate Director, in the Housing & Community Development Department. In 2015, she was named the Director of the Housing, Human Rights, and Community Development Department in Orange County, North Carolina.
In these positions, Ms. Spencer-Horsley emerged as a leading expert in community planning and development, homeownership and rental housing programs, particularly for households with low and moderate incomes, persons with disabilities, and for homeless and elderly populations. Ms. Spencer-Horsley was also active working with the Orange County Human Relations Commission. In 2015, she participated in the annual Human Relations forum, focused that year on women’s rights and called, “Voting Rights to Human Rights: The Continuing Struggle.” As Ms. Spencer-Horsley observed, in an interview prior to the event, the aim of these efforts was “improving human relations through eradication of discrimination and by addressing unfair inequities.” She continues to work professionally and as a community volunteer for access, equity, and inclusion.
UVA MEMORIAL BENCHES INITIATIVE
The UVA Memorial Benches Initiative took shape in February 2020 under the vision of Sanjeev Kumar, now a fourth-year, double-majoring in American studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and business in the McIntire School of Commerce and Abigail Schofield, a fourth-year pursuing a History degree through the Distinguished Major Program and a minor in politics. Kumar, who received a John T. Casteen III Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Leadership Award last spring for his project, was described by UVAToday as "one of those UVA students who, if he sees a gap in opportunities, he’ll fill it by creating a new group or initiative." Kumar, Schofield and their team partnered with seven of the University's schools to build consensus for selecting alumni and alumni groups to be honored by each school. With $60,000 in contributions and the help of supportive collaborators, their original idea has become a very concrete reality.
In addition to fundraising, the design and installation processes were critical to the project's implementation. Fine Concrete, a design studio based in Waynesboro, Virginia, specializing in high-performance concrete was commissioned to design and fabricate the benches. Each of the 1,100-pound forms are engraved with the alumni's name, their school, and graduation year, plus a small QR code linked to information about the benches' trailblazing namesakes will be added in the coming weeks.
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Assistant Professor of Architecture and Design Thinking, Elgin Cleckley mapped the location for the School of Architecture's memorial benches. Cleckley, who named his advanced research studio after Edward Wayne Barnett, and also chairs the committee for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Scholarships named for Barnett and Spencer-Horsley, is very familiar with the achievements of the bench honorees. In his sketch for the benches' placement (above), he explains that "[it] shows how guidelines from each bench extend off from the [Campbell Hall] North terrace to locations Barnett and Spencer-Horsley lived and practiced." Associate Dean of Academics and Associate Professor of Architecture Anselmo Canfora also contributed to the benches orientation and placement. Using the benches' curved forms as a cue, he set the two arcs together to create an implied circle, representing coming together as a community.
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Last week, UVA's Facilities Management General Services team delicately installed the School's honorific benches on the second level North terrace of Campbell Hall while staff looked on with abated breath. They executed the operation with precision, grace, and a sigh of relief. In that moment, a new place was created at the School of Architecture, where current and future students, faculty, and staff can continue to cultivate a more inclusive community, inspired by the legacies of Barnett and Spencer-Horsley.
The School of Architecture thanks Sanjeev Kumar, Abigail Schofield, Fine Concrete, the Facilities Management team, and everyone involved in bringing this project to UVA.
