Moses, William H., William H., Jr. (William Henry), 1901-1991
Dates
- Existence: 1901-1991
Biographical Statement
William H. Moses, Jr., architect, columnist, and founder of the architecture program at the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Hampton, Virginia.
William Henry Moses, Jr., was born on August 20, 1901 in Cumberland County, Virginia to William Henry Moses and Julia (nee Trent). The Moses family settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Moses, Jr. attend and graduated from Central High School in 1922.
Moses attended Pennsylvania State University for two years followed by a period of time where he was in New York City working for the recognized African American architect, Vertner Woodson Tandy. Moses eventually graduated from Penn State with his undergraduate degree in architecture in 1933. He pursued is post-graduate studies at New York University (1939) and Columbia University (1945). Moses won the 1939 World’s Fair design competition for the state of Virginia in 1938; however, once it was learned that he was African American his design was thrown out.
Moses started his academic career at Hampton Institute in Virginia in 1934 and was the founder of the architectural program (1934-1967), which received its national accreditation in 1969. He was the chairman of the architecture department for 18 years (1947-1965) retiring in 1967. Moses re-modeled a number of Hampton’s campus buildings and following his retirement continued adjunct teaching for a number of years. The architecture library at Hampton University is named after him.
Moses was a practicing architect throughout his academic career and often collaborated with Charles Russell and Benson Dutton, architect and civil engineer respectively. This collaboration produced a number of significant buildings in the Hampton area including the Whittaker Memorial Hospital (1942), the Butler Oak Park War Housing (1944), the First Baptist Church Home for the Aged (1948), and others. Individually, Moses was an architect for commercial and residential buildings. His work can be seen in the buildings for the Peoples Building and Loan Association (1937), and the Colonial Tavern (1938).
Moses became a columnist during his retirement mainly publishing his column, “A Dark Point of View” in the weekly publications, The New Observer (Washington, D.C.) and The Carolinian (Raleigh, North Carolina). The column, published from 1969 to 1986 was described by Moses as, “A collection of Black concerns expressed by a Black columnist,” and often provided a commentary on the political and electoral landscape of United States national politics, as well as race relations and cultural differences between the white Americans and African Americans in society.
Moses was a member of a number of organizations including the National Technical Association, the National Builders Association, Omega Psi Phi fraternity, and many others. He was also the president of the Hampton chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1960 to 1962.
William H. Moses, Jr. married Julia Ann Mason in 1935 and they had two children, William Henry (III) and Michael Lynn. Moses died on October 19, 1991 and was buried in the Hampton University Cemetery.