Julian Abele.

African Americans have contributed a lot of art and history to Philadelphia. There are many African American artist who have contributed to Philadelphia.

Julian Abele was the first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania's architecture program in 1902. He was born in Philadelphia on April 30, 1881; he was the youngest of 8 children. Abele was educated at the Institute for Colored Youth, Brown Preparatory School, and The Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art; before going to the University of Pennsylvania in 1881. He was an outstanding student who had won many prizes during his undergraduate years. During his senior year he served as president of the Architectural Society.

After graduating he became an apprentice to Horace Trumbauer, who financed his three years of study in Paris. Abele returned to Philadelphia and the Horace Trumbauer Company, he eventually took over the office after Trumbauer's death in 1938. Abele was responsible for the design of such Philadelphia buildings as The Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Free Library of Philadelphia. "When he was given the task of designing the Philadelphia Art Museum in 1919, he immediately traveled to Greece to study classic Greek buildings; he was responsible for adapting not only the column styles of classical Greece temples for the Art Museum, but also the color of the stone and the polychrome figures on the facade" (Penn Biographies, 1).

Racial prejudice was the reason Julian Abele did not sign his name to architectural designs he did for Trumbauer's firm until after Trumbauer's death in 1938. During most of his career Julian Abele's role in the firm of Horace Trumbauer was neither a well-kept secret nor a well-publicized fact. No one knows if it was his choice to keep it a secret or if it was because of his race that he had to hide the fact that he was working on the designs. Julian Abele died in Philadelphia on April 23, 1950.

Julian Abele is responsible for some of the most beautiful buildings in Philadelphia. His contribution to art work in Philadelphia goes beyond what he is credited for. He often quoted "the shadows are all mine" (Abele 1881-1950). Julian Abele was a gifted artist who contributed to the beauty of Philadelphia.