page_title: Martha Cassell Thompson
section_title: Early life and education
hierarchical_section_title: Martha Cassell Thompson / Early life and education
caption_attribution_description: National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.
context_page_description: Martha Ann Cassell Thompson was a member of the prominent Cassell Family of African-American architects. She was the chief restoration architect for the Washington National Cathedral.
context_section_description: Martha Ann Cassell Thompson was the second child of Albert Cassell, an architect, and Ann Mason Cassell, a Baltimore Public school teacher. She attended James Monroe Elementary School, Garnett Patterson and Banneker Junior School, and Dunbar High School, graduating as class valedictorian in 1943. Along with her siblings Charles Cassell and Alberta Jeannette Cassell, Martha was encouraged by their father Albert Cassell to attend Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning for graduate work. She attained a bachelor of science in architecture from Cornell University's School of Architecture in 1947 or 1948. She and her sister Alberta Jeannette Cassell were the first two African American women to graduate with a bachelor of architecture from the university.
caption: National Cathedral Center
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