By Sandra Parker
Photography provided by the City of Charlotte Public Service and Information
and the Clemson Libraries’ Special Collection and Archives
Harvey Gantt’s life has been a journey of trying to bring about a brighter future
As Harvey Gantt was growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, he heard his father talk about “a better day.”
He began attending local NAACP meetings with his father and learned about the efforts for civil rights and ending disparities that existed in the segregation-era South. Glimmers of that “better day” were becoming more apparent when the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court (in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka) ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional.
With his parents as role models, Harvey Gantt became an active participant in bringing that better day into existence.
A Part of History
Every story has a beginning, as every superhero has an origin story. Harvey Gantt’s story began in 1943. He is the oldest of Christopher and Wilhelmina Gantt’s five children, and his parents believed strongly in hard work, honesty, integrity, education and treating others as they wanted to be treated.
“We saw by example the kind of life they wanted us to lead and their vision for us to get an education and to do well,” Gantt explains. “What was remarkable about it — I don’t think my sisters and I appreciated that example until we got to junior high or high school — was that we realized that neither one of our parents had a high school diploma.”
Gantt was active in church and sang in the church choir, and in junior and senior high school choirs. He played baseball and made his way up the ranks in Boy Scouts.
During Gantt’s senior year of high school, the Greensboro Four sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter. Gantt and others who had formed a local NAACP Youth Council were inspired to take a stand. They formulated a plan of action to take place a month before graduation in 1960. Twenty-seven students — including Gantt — sat down at a lunch counter at an S.H. Kress & Co. five-and-dime store in Charleston.
As followers of the nonviolent movement led by Martin Luther King Jr., the students had pledged not to respond or retaliate if they were met with violence. But they were prepared for the worst.
“The participants had to be prepared to withstand the insults or ketchup being poured over our heads,” Gantt explains, “but as 17-year-olds, we were excited to participate. We were prepared to ask for a hot dog and a drink and wait to be served, knowing that the attendants would say no, and we would just sit.”
After they were refused service, the students were taken in by police and locked in a courtroom until their parents could pick them up.
“The rest is history,” Gantt reflects. “The Supreme Court ultimately decided that we were not trespassing, and that was one of many sit-ins across the South that helped bring segregation at lunch counters to an end. It was really the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, but the sit-ins led up to that, and I’m so proud to have been a part of that.”
[Gantt’s] parents believed strongly in hard work, honesty, integrity, education and treating others as they wanted to be treated.
Child of the South
After graduating second in his class from Burke High School, Gantt attended Iowa State University to study architecture. After a year of study, he returned home and sued for admission to the racially segregated Clemson University. The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Clemson to admit him, and in January 1963, Gantt became the first African American student to attend Clemson.
“I knew that, eventually, I would get in,” says Gantt. “The law was on our side; morality was on our side.”
The initial application response was positive; Gantt was simply a student trying to return to his home state. But it wasn’t until he sent his transcript from Burke High School that they realized he was African American. After five unanswered applications, Gantt resorted to a lawsuit. Some of his Iowa State classmates wondered why he would go to the trouble.
His answer was simple: “Aside from the cold weather, I was just too far away from home. I was just a child of the South. I wanted to go home.”
“My experience at Clemson was not as daunting as some would want to make it seem,” Gantt continues. “Aside from a few students who tried to make me uncomfortable, most people just ignored me. I had great friends in the School of Architecture, probably because I spent 80 percent of my time there. I got good grades; the professors treated me fairly. I studied hard; that’s what I did at Iowa. I didn’t see any reason to change the pattern at Clemson.”
If you talk to Gantt about his college days, there are some aspects that stand out as life-altering, in the best way possible.
“One of the things that made Clemson special was number 1, I got to know the woman I have been married to for more than half a century — Lucinda.”
Harvey and Lucinda Gantt met during the summer when he was speaking to a group of high school students in Columbia who were interested in attending Clemson and the University of South Carolina.
The next semester, Lucinda Brawley enrolled at Clemson, becoming the second African American student and the first African American woman. Gantt formally met Lucinda at her dormitory and escorted her to the dining hall. The two became friends and after a couple of months went on their first date to see a movie. The friendship became a romance, and they were wed in October 1964 in Hopkins, South Carolina. The couple then lived in a small off-campus house rented to them by friends. “There were classes during the day, and we saw each other in the evening,” Gantt says. He describes his wife as a whiz at math while he favored the creative and artistic path.
Gantt’s Clemson days also were boosted by the warmth of the neighboring community. “While at Clemson, I met the Clemson African American community, the people who were taking care of students for generations,” Gantt says. “They really surrounded me with the kind of friendship and support that made going to school very bearable. I still remember some of the good times I had at Golden View Baptist Church. I met some great people in Clemson, the Reid and Gantt families, and in Seneca, the Hill, Pinckney and Battle families. Those families really befriended me, and the African American community made it feel like home.”
Gantt received his B.A. in architecture from Clemson with honors in 1965. Lucinda completed her college career in applied mathematics with a B.A. at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and later continued her education by earning a B.S. in accounting. She has worked for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System; Peat, Marwick, Mitchell; and FDY. She retired her professional career after serving years as business manager of East Towne Manor, an assisted-living facility.
Photo by Etoyle Dorn
Harvey Gantt is a remarkable man – his impact throughout the places he has called home – is enormous.
Why is this? Because he is a true servant leader; his concern has always been other-centered. He says he is fortunate.
He might be — but we are more fortunate by having him share his time, talent and hope.
Keep up the good work, Harvey – we need you now as much as ever.
JoanZ
Is the publication of Mr. Harvey Gantt in the Clemson World University Magazine? Or will it be forthcoming?
Yes, it should be in your mailbox soon. If you don’t get it, send an email to nspitle@clemson.edu. Thanks!
Great article, Sandra! Makes me all the more proud to be a graduate of Clemson! It also motivates me to continue emulating that path of servant leadership. Go Tigers!
Thank you for reporting on such an inspirational person.
Wow! So glad this article to educate me and others about Mr. Gantt was written and that I stumbled upon it. I certainly have a new Hero!!! Makes it special he’s a fellow Tiger, even more special that he’s a unifier, because united we stand vs. fall, and eternally special that he’s a brother in Christ. Let’s all try to follow he and his wife’s foot steps. That’s what would truly make America great! Dear Lord God please give us more American’s and leaders like this and make us all more like this and ultimately like You!!!
Mr. Gantt was a legend in the architecture department when I was a student in the 70’s and 80’s; known for his talents as an architect and held up to us as a role model. All very well deserved.
Great piece on Harvey Gantt. Since I was born in SC and graduated from Clemson University in 1969, I am familiar with Mr. Gantt. I did not meet him until years after graduating from Clemson. Our meeting was just in passing at a gathering in Charlotte, NC. It was only a handshake and our introducing ourselves, but I appreciated his gracious handshake and his kind words. With my being a South Carolinian and a Clemson Alumni as well as living-in and working-in the Charlotte area for 25+ years, I appreciate his accomplishments for Clemson University, the Carolinas, our country, and our local communities. He deserves a great retirement, but I suspect he will continue to work at inspiring others to do “the right thing”.
Harvey Gantt and I are good friends. I believe that we are much better off today because of Harvey. He and I both were together for a long time in Charlotte. We both served on the board of the Greater Enrichment program which was started by Bishop George Battle as a young minister to help students with after school programs with their studies. This program has been recognized as one of the best of its kind in the entire nation. I thank both Bishop Battle and Harvey Gantt for their tireless efforts to help people of all races to achieve success. I admire these two men greatly. They have done so much good. God bless Harvey and his family. Steve Griffith, class of 54
Thank you, Ms. Parker for writing this article on an extortionary individual and fellow Clemson graduate. As a 1966 graduate, I can appreciate
the courage and leadership of Mr. Gantt and Mrs. Gantt.