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Honoring Our Founding Mothers
As we marked 50 years of impact at our Jazzy: Gantt Golden Gala, we proudly honored Founding Mothers, Dr. Mary Harper and Dr. Bertha Maxwell-Roddey with the Spirit of the Center Award for Community. Their visionary leadership laid the foundation for the Gantt Center’s mission to present, preserve and celebrate excellence in the art, history and culture of African-Americans.
As we celebrate Black History Month, we remain committed to honoring their legacy and pioneering spirit. We invite you to join us and pay tribute to the trailblazers who made this journey possible.
Jonette Harper: On Behalf of Dr. Mary Harper
It is my pleasure to be a representative on behalf of my mother, the late Dr. Mary T. Harper, as she is honored with the Spirit of the Center award. As the baby of the Harper girls, I grew up as a guinea pig of the Center. From UNCC, to Spirit Square, to Little Rock AME Zion Church, the three of us were engulfed in the roots of the Afro American Cultural and Service Center.
When you google Black Museum in Charlotte the Harvey B. Gantt Center is the first result, however; the Center is not a museum but a resource for the community. As we watched our mother cultivate this idea for her doctoral dissertation, service and community were her focal points. Service and community were the "Spirit of the Center" over 50 years ago. Her selection of Mama Bertha as her dissertation project supervisor echoed her commitment to service and community as at the time Mama Bertha was not only a fellow UNCC professor but also a fellow First United Presbyterian Church and a true friend.
When selecting members to engage with regarding the inception of the Center, my mother reached back into the community to build from within. From connections at First United to UNCC to JCSU to the Divine 9 and the Charlotte arts community in general, the community was her focal point. My mother would often say that “the Center should always be for the community as grassroot volunteers were key." She would add, "Adults and children alike who would not otherwise have access to these various forms of African American art and history should be able to use the Center as a resource and unforgettable experience."
On behalf of my sisters, the 5 Harper grands, current 6 Harper great grands, and extended children and grandchildren, I would like to thank you all for your support of the vision our "Sweet Mary" had over 50 years ago. Community and service were not only the spirit of the Center but the spirit of our Mother Mary.
Thank you and God bless, Elder Jonette M. Harper
Dr. Sonya Ramsey: On Behalf of Dr. Bertha Maxwell-Roddey
Hello, it is indeed a blessing and a privilege to accept this award in honor of Dr. Bertha Maxwell-Roddey. I want to thank Bonita Buford, Diatra Fullwood, and the staff of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for all their support. As a Professor of History and Women's and Gender Studies, I had the honor of writing the biography of my Delta Sigma Theta soror, Dr. Bertha Maxwell-Roddey. Over the years, as I visited with her to conduct bi-monthly oral history interviews, we became close. Known for her mischievous humor and her charismatic and down-to-earth personality, Dr. Maxwell-Roddey believed in calling people in instead of calling them out and creating cultures of belonging long before the modern-day use of the phrase came into fashion.
In my book, "Bertha Maxwell-Roddey: A Modern-Day Race Woman and the Power of Black Leadership," I call Dr. Maxwell-Roddey a race woman, which is a refashioned phrase from the turn of the century to describe people who have dedicated their professional and civic lives to the betterment of African Americans because of her actions as one of the first Black women principals of a Charlotte white elementary school, a Black Studies forerunner as the founding director of UNC Charlotte's Black Studies Program and the founder of the National Council for Black Studies, and as the 20th National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
As she shared her vision of servant leadership, which I have often applied to my own professional life, one of the key insights I also discovered about Dr. Maxwell-Roddey centered on her willingness to say "Yes." In 1974, when UNC Charlotte English Professor and Black Studies instructor asked the then Bertha Maxwell to help her start the Afro-American Cultural Center, she didn't hesitate to say Yes! As these two professors worked to build the foundation of what would eventually become the Harvey B. Gantt Center, we celebrate and honor Drs. Harper and Maxwell-Roddey, we also thank the countless other staff, students and volunteers, artists, and patrons who transformed their vision into an enduring legacy.
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