School Buildings, Model City and the Struggle for Access
This episode features an exciting conversation with Amber N. Wiley, PhD, who has just published her new book titled 'Model Schools in the Model City: Race, Planning, and Education in the Nation’s Capital' The interview covers various topics including the challenges and triumphs of writing her book during the pandemic as well as the history and architecture of black schools in Washington, DC. Amber also discusses her upbringing, the significance of black public high schools, and the efforts to get them recognized as national historic landmarks. The interview concludes with a look at Amber's future projects and her upcoming book tour events.
Amber N. Wiley Ph.D. is the Wick Cary Director of the Institute for Quality Communities. An award-winning scholar, Wiley has over 20 years of experience in teaching, research and professional practice in historic preservation, architecture and community engagement. She has dedicated her career to advancing the history and narrative of design and preservation in Black communities, as well as advocating for theoretically rigorous, thoughtful and inclusive expansions of preservation policy and practice. She currently serves on the board of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. Her first book, Model Schools in the Model City: Race, Planning, and Education in the Nation’s Capital was released by the University of Pittsburgh Press in April 2025. Her second book, Collective Yearning: Black Women Artists from the Zimmerli Art Museum is scheduled for release by the Rutgers University Press in May 2026.
Amber received her Ph.D. in American Studies from George Washington University. She also holds a Master’s in Architectural History and Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Virginia School of Architecture, and a B.A. in Architecture from Yale University. She is a native of Oklahoma City with roots in Washington, DC, Maryland, North Carolina, and Arkansas.
Learn More:
Purchase Model Schools in the Model City: Race, Planning, and Education in the Nation's Capital at www.ambernwiley.com and https://dchistory.org/events/book-talk-model-schools/
Watch Clips:
Walter Fauntroy, Urban Renewal and The Model City
Video Short: https://youtube.com/shorts/s_-AKvIGZfY?feature=share
Professor Wiley research interests center on the social aspects of design and how it affects urban communities - architecture as a literal and figural structure of power. She focuses on the ways local and national bodies have made the claim for the dominating narrative and collective memory of cities and examines how preservation and public history contribute to the creation and maintenance of the identity and sense of place of a city. Her publications cover African American cultural heritage, urbanism in New Orleans, school design, urban renewal, and preservation. Her current book project is entitled Concrete Solutions: Architecture, Activism and Black Power in the Nation’s Capital.
Amber was co-Principal Investigator of the National Historic Landmark Nomination Update for the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site. She gave expert testimony for the highly contested Barry Farm historic landmark designation in Washington, DC. She also worked as a consultant for the National Building Museum exhibition “Community Policing in the Nation’s Capital: The Pilot District Project, 1968-1973.” She has served on the National Park System Advisory Board Landmarks Committee, and on the boards of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, Latrobe Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians, and the Yale Black Alumni Association.
Amber received her Ph.D. in American Studies from George Washington University. She also holds a Master's in Architectural History and Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Virginia School of Architecture, and a… Read More
