What is a Black space? Is it physical, metaphorical, spiritual, or all of the above? Why are Black spaces important? Armando Sullivan is a Harlem based-urban planner and Co-chair for Programming on the board of BlackSpace, a nonprofit working to protect and create Black spaces, offers some perspective on these questions.
Sullivan’s love for urban and Black spaces was shaped by his experience growing up in the Washington region, and having access to mass transit. As a kid, he would take the Metro from his Aspen Hill neighborhood in Montgomery County, Maryland into DC to attend summer camp at the Smithsonian Museums. Later, he would navigate the region to catch shows at the 9:30 Club or hang out at Gallery Place with friends. After switching majors four times during his undergraduate studies, Sullivan discovered transportation planning as a discipline that combined his love for history, reading and writing, and transit.