Nationality American Died October 24, 2007 Name Alberta Cassell | Occupation Architect Alma mater Cornell University | |
Born October 24, 1926 ( 1926-10-24 ) Practice Military Sea Life Command | ||
Alberta Jeannette Cassell (also Alberta Jeannette Cassell Butler, November 22, 1926 – October 24, 2007) was an African American architect who worked for the Navy.
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Biography
Alberta Jeannette Charolette Cassell was born to architect Albert Cassell and Martha Ann Mason in the District of Columbia. She attended James Monroe Elementary School, Bannecker Junior Hisgh, 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. 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 1950 she married Francis Bulter, a mechanical engineer trained at Howard University; they had Carl in 1951 and Mira in 1953. She was a member of the Association of Women Architects (founded by Henrietta May Steinmesch), the Alpha Alpha Kappa chapter.
For two years, Cassell worked in her father's architecture firm, but left when he became involved in realestate 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 retired due to a disability in 1982, and in her retirement, she began to write children's stories and devoting her time to photography. Her children's book, The Little White Butterflies was published in 2012.