J. Max Bond, Jr.

J. Max Bond Jr., (1935-2009) was born in Louisville, Kentucky to a distinguished Black family. His father was a prominent educator, his mother an accomplished civil rights leader, teacher and quilt maker. His uncle, Julian Bond, was active in civil rights, the Georgia state senate and was chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1988-2010.

Bond always says he was inspired to become an architect by a staircase that fascinated him at Tuskegee Institute and by architecture he saw in Tunisia as a boy, both places where his father taught. He enrolled at Harvard in the 1950’s where he was harassed for his race, and where a professor warned him against trying to become an architect due to the paucity of Blacks in the field. Fortunately, he persevered and went on to get a Masters in Architecture in 1958 and became one of the most prominent Black architects in the country.

“J. Max Bond, Jr.” Accessed May 12, 2022. http://www.docomomo-us.org/designer/j-max-bond-jr.