By Sonja Whitemon
Throughout his life, Harvey Gantt accomplished things that most people would not even think to pursue. Figuratively speaking — Gantt broke the rules. From salutatorian at Burke High School, an all-Black school in Charleston, S.C., he broke barriers in education, business and government.
Gantt chose a career not often associated with Black Americans, especially in 1960 when the segregation of races was the standard. “And back then [architecture] was off limits to us. Ninety-nine percent of all the architects were white,” said Gantt. This did not deter him.
He recalls dinner table conversations with his parents who were working-class people who grew up under the rigid rules of the South. Those conversations instilled confidence and purpose in his life. He recounts, “this notion that no one was better than we were, and we were not better than anybody else, but we had a responsibility to try to achieve and to do well in spite of our color, in spite of our race. I think that’s what motivated me.”
1960s America was not the America we know today. It was the era of Jim Crow laws, which were observed in all southern states and some northern states. Jim Crow restricted Black people in nearly every aspect of life. Understanding the restrictions imposed on Black Americans by these laws, he only applied to Black colleges, such as Tuskegee University and Howard University.
His guidance counselor dared him to try a predominantly white institution. He took the challenge and got into Iowa State University. After about a year and a half, Gantt, a child of the South, decided the Iowa weather was too cold. He applied for a transfer to Clemson University. It was declined.
“So, I was motivated again,” he said. “The Supreme Court had said that segregation was unconstitutional, and Black children had a right to go to school with white children, and that meant at the higher education level too. But no one had done that in South Carolina.”
It was the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 that overruled the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson separate but equal doctrine upholding the constitutionality of Jim Crow laws and legalizing racial segregation in the United States.
Amid written protests against integration from students and alumni — the expected epithets included — Gantt pursued acceptance at Clemson University even though no Black person had ever been accepted at the school. After five rejected applications to Clemson and a lawsuit that was decided in Gantt’s favor by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court, the state of South Carolina sought to appeal to the Supreme Court. They were unsuccessful and Gantt was finally accepted at Clemson. He was once again breaking the rules. He earned a degree in architecture with honors from Clemson University.
Harvey Grant is now a celebrated alumnus at Clemson. In 2017, the Clemson Board of Trustees dedicated granite marble to surround a statue of the school’s namesake, Thomas Green Clemson as “Gantt Circle.” It complements the historical marker near the campus building where Gantt registered for his first semester there on Jan, 28, 1963. There is also The Harvey and Lucinda Gantt Multicultural Center and the Harvey B. Gantt Scholarship Endowment. The scholarship provides academic scholarships to recruit and retain Black students with special preference given to South Carolina residents and entering freshmen.
Gantt went on to an equally remarkable career in architecture. Following his internship, he moved to Charlotte and began working as an architect. He eventually partnered with a former colleague to form Gantt Huberman Architects, which grew to 55 architects, plus interior designers and other specialists. The firm worked throughout North and South Carolina.
You might recognize some of Gantt Huberman’s work in several key buildings in Charlotte, among them the Charlotte Transportation Center, TransAmerica Square, ImaginOn, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church and the Johnson C. Smith University Science Center. To this day, according to the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, only around 2% of architects in the United States are Black.
After serving on Charlotte City Council for nine years, Gantt was elected to the first of two terms as the city’s first Black mayor.
“I always said by the time I reached somewhere around age 70, I thought that it might be an excellent time to retire. It happened so that circumstances allowed our firm to be in a position where we had people interested in the body of work we were doing and the national firm approached us, and they bought us.” He stayed with the firm for three additional years to help with the transition.
After breaking new barriers most of his life, Gantt made the decision to retire. Following a brief vacation, he felt rejuvenated and looked for other things to do. Now, at 82, he enjoys spending time with his family, which includes nine grandchildren.
Today he is also active on several nonprofit advisory boards in the area, he has agreed to take on some responsibilities to do exploratory work for the city of Charlotte and he is working for the Charlotte Rescue Mission to get a fundraising effort to build a new building along with a host of other activities.
Retirement has been defined as withdrawal from an active working life, ceasing to work. That’s not Harvey Gantt’s style of retirement. Today, in retirement, he is still breaking the rules.