Three of Charlotte’s four Black mayors met to discuss their experiences during the Sarah Stevenson Tuesday Forum, an event at which they reflected on some of the connections between different generations of leaders.
The forum is named for the late Sarah Stevenson, a local leader who co-founded the gathering.
Harvey Gantt became the city’s first Black mayor in 1983. Anthony Foxx was elected in 2009, although he couldn’t attend Tuesday’s event in person. He spoke by Zoom.
He was followed by Patrick Cannon in 2013, and then Vi Lyles in 2017.
Much of the discussion focused on Gantt’s record as a civil rights icon — not only in Charlotte city government, but as the first Black student to attend Clemson University in 1963. He had to file a lawsuit to attend.
“I just wanted to go to school,” Gantt said. “That’s what people didn’t understand — that the aspirations of a lot of Black youngsters at that time was that they wanted the very best for themselves, and for their families, and they wanted to grow up in the good old warm South.”
Lyles grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. She reflected on going to a Baptist church as a child.
“We would take up a collection to fund people being able to litigate for Harvey (Gantt),” she said. “We would collect your nickels, your dimes, your dollars — that you had to make sure he had adequate representation.”
Lyles worked for roughly 30 years in Charlotte city government, mostly in the budget office. She was elected to the City Council in 2013.
Cannon only served as mayor for four months in 2013 and 2014 before being arrested on federal bribery charges. He grew up in west Charlotte, and said the community had an instant connection to Gantt, who served on the City Council in the 1970s and early 1980s.
“I remember my mom calling me to say (former Democratic Charlotte Mayor) Eddie Knox is my guy,” Cannon said. “But Harvey Gantt is the man.”
Cannon ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2022 after being released from prison in 2016.
Lyles also used the forum to drum up support for Charlotte’s transportation plan, which would build roads, rail transit and expand the bus system. The city is hoping Republican lawmakers in Raleigh approve a one-cent sales tax increase to pay for the plan. After that, Mecklenburg County voters would need to approve the tax in a referendum.
