Danielle McCleave has made history as the first Black woman to earn a Doctorate degree in Architecture from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa School of Architecture.
“When I first found out I would be the first Black woman to obtain this degree, I was hit with a variety of emotions. I was excited to be in this position of trailblazing, and I knew it would be encouraging for other Black women looking to get into design,” McCleave said, according to the University of Hawaii News.
While Danielle was proud of her accomplishment, she was also partly saddened that in 2022, she was yet the first and only one. Her degree serves as a milestone within the industry where out of 116,242 architects in the US, only 2% are Black architects and 0.4% are Black females.
