On The Margins

Harvey B. Gantt is known for many things. Among them is being the first African American admitted into Clemson University in 1963. But what is less talked about is his K-12 experience in the all-Black segregated schools of Charleston, SC. Harvey's alma mater, Burke Industrial School, was the subject of a research article that makes the powerful argument that Black teachers in the South helped catalyze the Civil Right Movement through their unique pedagogical approaches. Many civil rights leaders just like Gantt, first sat the feet of expert Black teachers long before they engaged in activism that sought to break the color line in America. In this episode, he reflects on the memory of his teachers, the profound impression they left on him as a person and offers a critical counterstory in the discussion of school segregation.