He is charting the campus buildings and private homes built by blacks. He is assembling a dossier of black instructors at FAMU who were trained in architecture but who had to turn to teaching during segregation. He is studying the history of FAMU's mechanical-arts program, which provided some architectural training before FAMU established a formal school of architecture in 1975. Dozier hopes someday to erect historical markers at Tallahassee's black-built homes and buildings, and to write a book about FAMU's architectural history. Many believe such efforts are needed.
Architects are the professional tip of the construction world.
Architects design buildings, plan their construction, sometimes oversee actual building and bear the ultimate legal responsibility for structural flaws. Yet the numbers of blacks admitted to that demanding plateau are small. Though there are more than 65,000 licensed architects in the United States, there are only 1,185 licensed black architects. Rodner Wright, Dean of the FAMU School of Architecture. Florida has more than three dozen licensed black architects, and many more live in Florida who are licensed in other states.