Samuel J. Cullers

| Urban Dreamer| Scholar from the Margins | They paved over our homes. We built futures underneath.

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ABOUT ME

Born into cities that tried to erase us. First Black student at Caltech. Mathematician. Blueprint carrier. My Blueprint:

"Learn what they said we couldn’t"

"Exist where they said we shouldn’t"

"Build what they tried to demolish."

"Concrete isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning."

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We were demanding dignity. We weren't just asking, we Protested! Marching through streets where we weren't welcome, knocking on doors that never opened.

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This how we use to live, and some communities still do. This is what I fought for

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Someone who understood the pain. This case makes it evident that during this time African Americans were confronted with housing discrimination and not just lower class African Americans.

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Boarders that refused me: "A Map of Denial"

They told me I don't belong. This map shows where i was refused safety, where my voice, body, and right to exist were denied. Unwelcomed not because of who I am, but of the color of my skin.

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My first article written in the Journal of the American Institute of Planners entitled " A Change in Direction" I interrogated the planning profession and its commitment to civil rights and racial integration. I confronted the exclusion of minority groups and their concerns in the planning profession.

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My philosophy on urban planning. My dedication to improving community development

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In 1950s, I took Mckinley Park Homes to court not just for denying me an apartment, but for denying Black people our basic rights to live. They tried to keep their building white. I fought to make them just. Housing discrimination at its finest.

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Published my latest piece in The Crisis: Our Only Concerns Should Be Black Concerns. In a world that constantly ask Black folks to wait, to compromise, to center everything else. We need to reclaim our right to prioritize ourselves!

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Back when life was all about passing notes and passing classes.

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math wasn’t just number.

it was proof we belonged in the future

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How urban development stole our homes

They called it “progress”. We lived the cost

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Cooking up something for y’all! Making a change in your local neighborhood

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The map isn’t just lines — it was survival routes.