Benjamin F. McAdoo (1920–1981) was an American architect mainly active in the Seattle area. Born in Pasadena, California, he was inspired to study architecture by a mechanical-drawing class and the work of Paul R. Williams. After working as a draftsman for local architectural firms and the Corps of Engineers, he pursued his Bachelor of Architecture degree at the University of Washington. The first licensed Black architect in the state of Washington, his work featured a modernist aesthetic influenced by the Northwest Regional style. After designing a number of low-income houses and apartments throughout the 1950s, he was hired by the Agency for International Development to design modular houses in Jamaica. He returned to Seattle after a period of work in Washington, D.C., and pursued civic commissions. Outside of work, he participated in the NAACP, hosted a weekly radio show on racial issues for several years, and unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Washington House of Representatives.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_F._McAdoo

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1814:

War of the Sixth Coalition: French troops led by Napoleon forced the Army of Bohemia to retreat after it advanced dangerously close to Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Montereau

1977:

The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignited the wreaths of late Mao Zedong, killing 694 personnel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_61st_Regiment_Farm_fire

2014:

A series of violent events involving protesters, riot police, and unknown shooters began in Kyiv that culminated in the ousting of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych five days later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_of_Dignity

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Rosie Lee: (Cockney rhyming slang, originally military slang) Synonym of tea (“(uncountable) a drink made by infusing dried leaves or buds of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) in hot water; (countable) a cup of this drink”) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Rosie_Lee

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Racial ignorance is a prison from which there is no escape because there’re no doors. And there are old, old men, and old, old women running institutions, governments, homes all over the world who need to believe in their racism and need to have the victims of racism concentrate all their creative abilities on them. And they are very easily identified. They are the petulant ones who call themselves proud, and they are the disdainful ones who call themselves fastidious, and they are the mean-spirited ones who call themselves just. They thrive on the failures of those unlike them; they are the ones who measure their wealth by the desperation of the poor. They are the ones who know personal success only when they can identify deficiencies in other racial and ethnic groups. They are in prisons of their own construction: and their ignorance and their stunted emotional growth consistently boggle the mind.   --Toni Morrison https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison