Ethel Furman

Ethel Bailey Furman (née Ethel Madison Bailey; July 6, 1893 – February 24, 1976)

Biography Ethel Madison Bailey

She married William H. Carter on October 12, 1912, in New Jersey, and they had two children.

After training in New York City, she returned to Richmond in 1921 and began designing houses for locals. Furman worked with her father, and also raised three children. During this time she worked other jobs to supplement income to raise her family. As an African-American woman she experienced discrimination in the architecture community, as local bureaucrats refused to accept her as the architect of record on her own projects. Consequently, she would often have to submit her job proposals through male contractors with whom she worked. She trained in drafting through Chicago Technical College into the 1940s. In 2010, Furman was honored as one of the Library of Virginia's "Virginia Women in History" for her civic work and accomplishments in the field of architecture.

Later life

Furman died in 1976.