Dear Mazie,: Sanctuary, Speculation, and Sky - Amaza Meredith

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nRedressing the woeful under-recognition of a pioneering Black queer architect and artistn nPublished with Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. n nThis is an experimental illustrated reader exploring the work and legacy of American architect, educator and artist Amaza Lee Meredith (1895-1984), a trailblazer who was the first known Black queer woman to practice as an architect in the United States. nThis book takes Meredith's expansive letter-writing practice as a conceptual framework for epistolary responses in the present, plotting Meredith's life and work within themes of placemaking, gender, sexuality and Black love, with a focus on how she built sanctuaries (homes, institutions and communities) for herself and other people of color to foster rigorous artistic pursuit, free of persecution. nThe book features previously unpublished photos, blueprints, letters and scrapbooks from Meredith's archives and an annotated timeline of her life and work. Essays from architectural scholars and oral histories with former students, colleagues and friends explore her legacy in public education, the arts, modernist architecture and the built environment in the context of school desegregation, civil rights, and land and property rights. A diverse group of contemporary artists also respond to Meredith's legacy.n