What are the Julian Abele Awards?
In early April, the Black Student Alliance, Mary Lou Williams Center, and Black Graduate and Professional Student Association (BGPSA) co-sponsor the annual Julian Abele Awards, the premier Black community awards dinner. This annual event honors the significant achievements of the Black community members and their supporters. They are named in honor of Julian Abele, an African-American who designed the architecture for Duke's West Campus. In the spring of 1990, the BGPSA began hosting the Julian Abele Awards and Recognition Banquet. At the first banquet, a commissioned portrait of Julian Abele was unveiled and now hangs in the foyer of the Allen Building, the first African American portrait displayed on Duke's campus. The event is named after Julian F. Abele (1881 – 1950), a prominent African-American architect who was the primary designer of the "Gothic Wonderland" that is Duke University's West Campus. Abele was the chief designer and draftsman of the Trumbauer firm, and when discussing the unique style of the drawings, once proudly proclaimed, "The shadows are all mine." With that statement, Abele unknowingly articulated a central fact of his life. As an African American, he lived in the shadows as time and circumstance conspired to conceal his considerable professional talent. |
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