Enlarge A work from Radcliffe Bailey at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African Ameri

Posted: October 20th, 2009 Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman

FOR MORE PHOTOS, please click HERE

The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Art + Culture opens to the public on Saturday, Oct. 24, and you're all invited.

There's a lot of buzz about how much the center cost, who will visit it, who paid for it and how, and whether or not it will turn a profit. But, after the newness wears off, those sorts of conversations will be forgotten while the center's powerful legacy will live on.

The building – inside and out – was designed with a school known as "Jacob's Ladder" in mind.

According to Mary Kratt, a local historian, "Jacob's Ladder" was the first grade school for African Americans. It was built on Myers Street in 1882, in Second Ward, by J.T. Williams, one of the first African American physicians licensed in the state of North Carolina. The neigbhorhood was known as Brooklyn. Where Brooklyn used to be, the Gantt Center now stands.

The school was called Jacob's Ladder because of two outdoor staircases that masked the front of the building, a constant reminder to students reach for the sky.

When you look at the exterior of the new Gantt Center or up at the ceiling, or walk up the stairs, the center's designers want you to think of that first school, of that first doctor and of his sense of opportunity. They hope the building will remind you to reach for your dreams.

The center, named after Harvey Gantt, Charlotte's only African American mayor and the first African American admitted to Clemson University, may have a new face and a new name, but it's not new to Charlotte. From 1974 until now, it has been housed in a nearly 100-year-old building near Little Rock AME Zion Church, on the corner of Seventh and North McDowell streets.

The original center got it's start with the help of faculty and staff at UNC Charlotte. Mary Hopper, an assistant professor and doctoral student, needed to develop a project that demonstrated excellence and the hope for some sort of societal change. Bertha Maxwell, also an associate professor at the university, was the first director of the school's Black Studies Center during the turbulent 1960s.

Eventually, they joined forces and, along with the help of several university and civic leaders, created the Afro-American Cultural and Service Center. They hoped to offer the greater Charlotte community access to African American culture. Saturday, their dream, seeded 35 years ago, will take flight.

"I am hopeful that it becomes a big stage for the enrichment of the Charlotte community," said Gantt, "especially our children." He also said he hopes the center displays "the significant cultural heritage and history of African Americans and their impact historically and today on this region."

No doubt it will.

Gantt, an architect who moved to Charlotte 35 years ago, has been active in the community since he arrived, working with other local leaders to re-brand this city, older than Atlanta or Raleigh, as a New South City.

When the center's organizers approached him about naming the new center after him, he hesitated. His wife and thoughts of walking into the building with his grandchildren changed his mind.

The center's theme, by the way, is "where you belong."

Want to attend the "Grand Opening Community Celebration"?

The ribbon cutting ceremony will begin at 551 S. Tryon St. at 9:45 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24. Musicians and artists will entertain throughout the day. Guided tours will be offered every hour on the half hour, starting at 11:30 a.m. and ending at 6:30 p.m. Festivities, including a lecture by artist Radcliffe Bailey at 3 p.m. and a performance of "Miles and Coltrane" by Concrete Generation at 9:15 p.m., will go on into the wee hours.

Tweet

Previous Page