John A. Lankford

John A. Lankford (1874–1946) was an American architect. He was the first professionally licensed African-American architect in Virginia in 1922 and in the District of Columbia in 1924. He has been regarded as the "dean of black architecture". John Landsford was born on a farm near Potosi, Missouri on December 4, 1874. He attended Lincoln Institute and Tuskegee Institute. He studied architectural and mechanical drawing from the International Correspondence School. He earned a bachelor of science from Shaw University in 1898. He earned master of science degrees from Morris Brown College and Wilberforce University. He married Charlotte Josephine Upshaw in 1901. She was the granddaughter of Henry McNeal Turner, a bishop of the African...