ABSTRACT
Lester Bankhead, the eldest of six children, was born on April 20, 1912, in Union, South Carolina. His parents were John Hayes Bankhead and Pearl Eugenia Eskew.1
Lester’s early education was provided by his mother in a one-room Rosenwald School in Cherokee County, South Carolina. Information about his secondary information is vague. Finally oral history says that he was taught at home and he possibly attended Simms High School.2 His father was a minister and farmer, and his mother was trained as a teacher at TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE. Although he grew up on a farm in Cherokee County, unlike most African Americans during the time, his family owned their own land and were not sharecroppers. Lester credited his mother with recognizing his skills in math and drawing and providing him with inspiration to look toward architecture as a future life endeavor. His mother told him on numerous occasions that he would “grow up to be an architect.”3
