Harvey Gantt

Gantt worked across politician and architect. This article rests on 47 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Harvey Gantt • Office — 50th Mayor of Charlotte • Term Start — 1983 • Term End — 1987 • Predecessor — Eddie Knox • Successor — Sue Myrick • Birth Name — Harvey Bernard Gantt • Born — 14 January 1943 • Birthplace — Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. • Party — Democratic • Spouse — Lucinda Brawley • Children — 4 • Education — Iowa State University (attended) Clemson University (BArch) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MUP)

Gantt was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to Wilhelminia and Christopher C. Gantt, a shipyard worker. He started to participate in civil rights activism in high school. In 1963, he was the first African American to be admitted to Clemson University in South Carolina. when he transferred from Iowa State University. He received a degree in architecture with honors from Clemson and a master's degree in city planning from MIT. In 1976, despite never having designed a church before, Gantt won the commission for the First Baptist Church–West, Charlotte's oldest Black Baptist church, and designed a modernist structure.

From 1974 until 1983, Gantt served on the Charlotte City Council. He was elected to two terms as the first African-American mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, serving in that position from 1983 to 1987. He was defeated for a third term as mayor in 1987 by Sue Myrick. He was Charlotte's last Democratic mayor until Anthony Foxx was elected in 2009.

In 1990, Gantt ran for a Senate seat in North Carolina as a Democrat against the incumbent, Republican Jesse Helms. Gantt avoided the issue of race, instead attacking Helms's record on jobs, education and health care. With one and a half weeks to go, Gantt was ahead in the polls, but Helms aired a number of television commercials emphasizing Gantt's color. One, which attacked Gantt's pro-choice stance, repeatedly rewound and replayed a soundbite from Gantt, with the image changing from color to black and white, and Gantt's face appearing darker at the end. Another advertisement, known as the White Hands ad, showed a close-up of the hands of a white person reading, then crumpling a letter, while a voice-over said "You needed that job, and you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota. Is that really fair?" It accused Gantt of supporting "Ted Kennedy's racial quota law". Gantt lost the election by 47% to 53%. Gantt ran against Helms again in 1996, but he lost again with 46% of the vote.

Gantt manages a successful architectural practice, Gantt Huberman Architects, and remains active in politics. He served on the North Carolina Democratic Party Executive Council, the Democratic National Committee, and was appointed as chair of the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington, DC. In 2009, the Afro-American Cultural Center and the City of Charlotte honored Gantt by building the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, recognizing his contributions to the civil rights movement and as the city's first black mayor. The four-story, 46,500-square-foot building was built for $18.6 million, and is part the Levine Center for the Arts. In 2016, PBS Charlotte and UNC-TV featured Gantt in their online series, Biographical Conversations. In this series, Gantt recalls his life experiences, ranging from his attendance at Clemson University to his inauguration as Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina. • Illustration — Harvey B. Gantt Center on opening day

Gantt and his wife Lucinda (Brawley) Gantt, the second black student to attend Clemson, have four children: Sonja, Erika, Angela and Adam. Their daughter, Sonja Gantt, is a former news anchor at WCNC-TV in Charlotte.

Harvey Gantt is recorded with the occupation politician. Established in Library of Congress under no98050983. Established in FAST under 412053. Recorded as having studied at Clemson University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Iowa State University. Within the Encyclopedia. Connected to 1 other published record in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.