Harvey Bernard Gantt (born 1943 in Charleston, South Carolina) is an American architect and Democratic politician active in North Carolina.[1] He was Mayor of Charlotte from 1983 to 1987, and ran twice for the United States Senate.
In 1963, he was the first African American to be admitted to Clemson University in South Carolina, the last state to hold out to racial integration. He received a degree in architecture with Honors from Clemson and a Master's degree in City Planning from MIT.
From 1974 until 1983, Gantt served on the Charlotte City Council. He was then elected and re-elected as the first African-American mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, serving in that position from 1983 to 1987. A Democrat, he staged two unsuccessful U.S. Senatorial campaigns against Republican Jesse Helms in 1990 and in 1996, around which time Republican Party operatives came forward as having worked within the Democratic Party of North Carolina, reported in Raleigh's News & Observer. The Helms' campaign then used well-crafted TV ads against affirmative action, which opponents continue to claim were racist or racially-motivated.
He manages a successful architectural practice, Gantt Huberman Architects, and remains active in politics, having served on the North Carolina Democratic Party Executive Council, the Democratic National Committee, and the National Capital Planning Commission.
His daughter, Sonja Gantt, is a news anchor at WCNC-TV in Charlotte.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Eddie Knox (D) |
Mayor of
Charlotte, NC 1983 – 1987 |
Succeeded by Sue Myrick (R) |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Jim Hunt |
Democratic Party
nominee for United States Senator from North Carolina (Class 2) 1990 (lost) and 1996 (lost) |
Succeeded by Erskine Bowles |
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