Reimagining Blackness and Architecture
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Reimagining Blackness and Architecture
Instructors: Arlette Hernandez
10,148 already enrolled
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76 reviews
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What you'll learn
Explore how Imagination, Care, Knowledge, Refusal, and Liberation are frameworks for understanding space and tools for community empowerment.
Discover how interdisciplinary influences like Afrofuturism, archives, and oral histories inform the creation of more equitable urban landscapes.
Participate in reflective prompts designed to help you recognize and challenge the invisible structures that shape your own community.
Gain tools to help you lead inclusive architectural practices, shape equitable public policy, and actively design spaces for community empowerment.
Details to know
6 assignments
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There are 6 modules in this course
Architecture is a physical manifestation of power, identity, and history. This course offers a transformative framework for understanding the built environment through the lens of Blackness as both an identity and a lived experience. In an era where urban equity and social justice are at the forefront of global discourse, this course provides the critical fluency needed to deconstruct spatial inequalities and imagine more inclusive futures.
The Museum of Modern Art will take you beyond traditional blueprints to hear directly from a global collective of Black architects, scholars, and artists who are reclaiming stories erased by systemic racism. By exploring how creators use diverse mediums—from hip-hop and fiction to textiles and technology—you will analyze how Black makers have historically shaped, and continue to transform, the world around us. Whether you are a student of architecture or urban studies or a professional in design, policy, or the arts, this course will shift your perspective from observing the built environment to actively reimagining it as a space for collective liberation. Career Application: This course transforms the study of the built environment into a professional competency in spatial justice and equitable urban strategy. By gaining fluency in how race, power, and identity are physically designed into our cities, you develop the critical tools necessary to lead inclusive architectural practices, shape equitable public policy, and actively design spaces for community empowerment.
What's included
5 videos11 readings1 assignment
5 videos•Total 17 minutes
- Preview Reimagining Blackness and Architecture•1 minute
- Charles Davis on the expansive field of architecture•5 minutes
- Adrienne Brown on the Reconstruction era•5 minutes
- Kara Walker on 40 Acres of Mules, 2015•3 minutes
- Deana Lawson on Nation, 2017•3 minutes
11 readings•Total 110 minutes
- Welcome to the course!•10 minutes
- Guide to Module 1•10 minutes
- Getting started: How does this course work?•10 minutes
- Interview with Sean Anderson and Mabel Wilson•10 minutes
- An artist confronts history•10 minutes
- The Black Reconstruction Collective•10 minutes
- What is architecture?•10 minutes
- Key terms•10 minutes
- Optional readings and resources•10 minutes
- Ground rules for engagement•10 minutes
- Optional prompts for discussion, reflection, and creative response•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
- Module 1 Quiz•30 minutes
What's included
5 videos8 readings1 assignment
5 videos•Total 20 minutes
- Walter J. Hood on Black Towers / Black Power•5 minutes
- Germane Barnes on A Spectrum of Blackness•5 minutes
- Pope.L on The Black Factory Archive, 2003–ongoing•2 minutes
- Michelle Joan Wilkinson on representation and Black space•4 minutes
- Garrett Bradley and Donna Crump on America, 2019•4 minutes
8 readings•Total 80 minutes
- Introduction to this week•10 minutes
- Walter Hood, Black Towers / Black Power•10 minutes
- Germane Barnes, A Spectrum of Blackness•10 minutes
- What is Blackness?•10 minutes
- New ways of seeing•10 minutes
- Advice for emerging architects and creatives•10 minutes
- Optional readings and resources•10 minutes
- Optional prompts for discussion, reflection, and creative response•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
- Module 2 Quiz•30 minutes
What's included
6 videos8 readings1 assignment
6 videos•Total 28 minutes
- J. Yolande Daniels on Black City: The Los Angeles Edition•6 minutes
- Sekou Cooke on We Outchea: Hip Hop Fabrications and Public Space•5 minutes
- Audrey Petty on High Rise Stories•4 minutes
- Zora J Murff on the series At No Point in Between, 2018–19•8 minutes
- Betye Saar on "Keep for Old Memiors", 1976•2 minutes
- Maren Hassinger on Leaning, 1980•2 minutes
8 readings•Total 80 minutes
- Introduction to this week•10 minutes
- J. Yolande Daniels, Black City: The Los Angeles Edition•10 minutes
- Sekou Cooke, We Outchea: Hip Hop Fabrications and Public Space•10 minutes
- The tender lenses of two photographers•10 minutes
- Artists repurposing objects and salvaging materials•10 minutes
- Optional readings and resources•10 minutes
- Optional prompts for discussion, reflection, and creative response•10 minutes
- Optional mid-course survey•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
- Module 3 Quiz•30 minutes
What's included
5 videos9 readings1 assignment
5 videos•Total 18 minutes
- Amanda Williams on We’re Not Down There, We’re Over Here•5 minutes
- Olalekan Jeyifous on The Frozen Neighborhoods•6 minutes
- Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series, 1940–41•2 minutes
- Willie Cole on Domestic ID III and IV, 1991–92•2 minutes
- Lorna Simpson on Wigs, 1994•3 minutes
9 readings•Total 90 minutes
- Introduction to this week•10 minutes
- Amanda Williams, We’re Not Down There, We’re Over Here•10 minutes
- Olalekan Jeyifous, The Frozen Neighborhoods•10 minutes
- Portfolio: Bodys Isek Kingelez•10 minutes
- Portraits of yesterday•10 minutes
- The magic of stories•10 minutes
- Artifacts for the future•10 minutes
- Optional readings and resources•10 minutes
- Optional prompts for discussion, reflection, and creative response•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
- Module 4 Quiz•30 minutes
What's included
7 videos8 readings1 assignment
7 videos•Total 24 minutes
- Emanuel Admassu on Immeasurability•5 minutes
- V. Mitch McEwen on R:R•6 minutes
- Robert McNeill, The Bronx Slave Market series, 1937•2 minutes
- V. Mitch McEwen on Philip Johnson, Architecture, and White Supremacy•4 minutes
- Faith Ringgold on American People Series #20: Die, 1967•4 minutes
- Robin Coste Lewis reads a poem on Barbara Chase-Riboud, The Albino, 1972•1 minute
- Melvin Edwards on Lynch Fragment Series, 1986–89•2 minutes
8 readings•Total 80 minutes
- Introduction to this week•10 minutes
- Emanuel Admassu, Immeasurability•10 minutes
- V. Mitch McEwen, R:R•10 minutes
- Artists making their own stories•10 minutes
- Artists making their own path•10 minutes
- Artists refusing expectations•10 minutes
- Optional readings and resources•10 minutes
- Optional prompts for discussion, reflection, and creative response•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
- Module 5 Quiz•30 minutes
What's included
5 videos10 readings1 assignment
5 videos•Total 22 minutes
- Felecia Davis on Fabricating Networks: Transmissions and Receptions from Pittsburgh’s Hill District•6 minutes
- Mario Gooden on The Refusal of Space•6 minutes
- Justin Garrett Moore on Architectures of Difference•4 minutes
- Hervé Télémaque on No title (The Ugly American)•2 minutes
- Ibrahim El-Salahi, Prison Notebook, 1976•3 minutes
10 readings•Total 100 minutes
- Introduction to this week•10 minutes
- Felecia Davis, Fabricating Networks: Transmissions and Receptions from Pittsburgh's Hill District•10 minutes
- Mario Gooden, The Refusal of Space•10 minutes
- Searching for freedom•10 minutes
- The power of printmaking•10 minutes
- Sheldon Gooch on Wangechi Mutu’s “Eve”•10 minutes
- Optional readings and resources•10 minutes
- Optional prompts for discussion, reflection, and creative response•10 minutes
- Optional course completion survey•10 minutes
- Recordings of virtual sessions (optional)•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
- Module 6 Quiz•30 minutes
Instructors
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Reviewed on Apr 20, 2021
The course designers did a great job including so much important information in six weeks.
Reviewed on Nov 27, 2025
I loved the visuals and videos from the many different architects and creators. It was inspiring and instructional. The courses through MOMA have always been grand.
Reviewed on Apr 26, 2021
An engaging, well-paced, critical course. Would recommend to all architects.
Frequently asked questions
This course is open to everyone. No prior knowledge of architecture, art, design, or history to complete this course successfully.
Coursera currently provides certificates of completion, but MoMA does not offer additional accreditation at this time.
Yes! No prior knowledge of architecture, art, design, or history is necessary for this course to shift your perspective from observing the built environment to actively reimagining it as a space for collective liberation.
More questions
Financial aid available,
