Afro-American Cultural Center

Art lover and librarian Vivian Hewitt was born on February 17, 1920, in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Hewitt was the fourth of five children, her elder siblings all born in North Carolina. Her father, Arthur, was a skilled laborer, and her mother, Lela, worked as a teacher and housewife. After completing high school, Hewitt attended Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.A. in 1943. The following year, she graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh with an M.S. in library science. She attended the University of Pittsburgh for further graduate studies in 1947 and 1948. Geneva awarded her an honorary degree in 1978.

Hewitt began her career working in libraries in 1944, when she was hired by the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh as the senior assistant librarian. Relocating to Atlanta in 1949, Hewitt took a position as a librarian and instructor at Atlanta University's School of Library and Information Science. Hewitt and her husband, John, had a son in 1952, and Hewitt returned to work in 1954 as a researcher for Crowell-Collier Publishing. Hewitt joined the Rockefeller Foundation in 1956, and in 1963 she was hired by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to serve as chief librarian. She remained there until her retirement in 1983. Since then, she has served on the Council on Foreign Relations and on the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin.

A lover of travel, Hewitt and her husband began buying works of art wherever they would go, and gave them as gifts on special occasions. They began their collection in earnest by collecting Haitian art for fifteen years. Living near and knowing many of the African American artists from New York, they began to collect their works, as well. In recent years, the collection, considered one of the finest of African American art in the world, was bought by Bank of America and given as a gift to the Afro-American Cultural Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Hewitt is also active in other areas, serving on the Board of Governors of the Laymen's Club of the Episcopal Church of the Diocese of New York, and has served as the secretary of the board of the Graham Windham Child Care & Adoption Agency. She has also received the Distinguished Service Award of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Special Library Association.




	DID YOU KNOW? Josephine Baker's mother was Carrie McDonald and her father was Eddie Carson. Arthur Martin was her stepfather. Her siblings were Richard, Margaret and Willie Mae. Josephine's first husband was Willie Wells; her second husband was Willie Baker; her third husband was Jean Lion; and, her fourth husband was orchestra leader Jo Bouillon. Her twelve adopted children were: Akio (male), Janot (male), Luis (male), Jari (male), Jean-Claude (male), Moise (male), Brahim (male), Marianne (female), Koffi (male), Mara (male), Noel (male), Stellina (female). Josephine's last marriage was to American Artist Robert Brady. DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Overcoming the limitations imposed by the color of her skin, she became one of the world's most versatile entertainers, performing on stage, screen and recordings. Josephine was decorated for her undercover work for the French Resistance during World War II. She was a civil rights activist. She refused to perform for segregated audiences and integrated the Las Vegas nightclubs. She adopted twelve children from around the world whom she called her "Rainbow Tribe." DATE OF DEATH: Josephine died in 1975, in her sleep, after a large party given in her honor. PLACE OF DEATH: She died in Paris and was buried in Monaco. She became the first American woman to receive French military honors at her funeral. Women in History. Josephine Baker biography. Lakewood Public Library. http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/bake-jos.htm Jane Addams is remembered primarily as a founder of the Settlement House Movement. She and her friend Ellen Starr founded Hull House in the slums of Chicago in 1889. She is also remembered as the first American Woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Jane is portrayed as the selfless giver of ministrations to the poor, but few realize that she was a mover and shaker in the areas of labor reform (laws that governed working conditions for children and women), and was a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Jane grew up in the small community of Cedarville, Illinois. She was the daughter of a very well-to-do gentleman; her mother was a kind and gracious lady. Jane had five brothers and sisters at the time of her mother's death, when Jane was two. Her father remarried and her new stepmother brought two new step-brothers to the already large family. Jane was especially devoted to her father. He taught her tolerance, philanthropy, and a strong work ethic. He encouraged her to pursue higher education, but not at the expense of losing her femininity and the prospect of marriage and motherhood -- the expectation for all upper-class young ladies at that time. Jane attended the Rockford Seminary for young ladies and excelled in her studies. She also developed strong leadership traits. Her classmates admired her and followed her examples. Jane decided that she wished to pursue a degree in medicine when she completed her studies at Rockford. This choice caused a great stir in the Addams household. Her parents felt that she had had enough education and were concerned that she would never marry. Jane became despondent. She wanted more in life. If her brothers could have careers in medicine and science, why couldn't she? Besides, she disliked household duties and the prospect of raising children held no appeal. Jane's parents decided that the best course was to take Jane and her friends on a grand tour of Europe for a year or two. Perhaps Jane would settle down and realize that her duty was to marry and have a family. Jane began to show signs of serious illness during this time. Was her health affected by stress? There was the pressure to do her parents' bidding, and inner turmoil over whether or not to disobey them and choose a career. Her father died upon her return. This set Jane into a deeper depression and a sense of guilt that somehow she had upset him with her insistence upon a vocation. Her illness grew to the proportion of "invalid." She could barely walk or move without great pain. Jane did have a slight curvature of the spine and for this she sought treatment. Eventually, she had surgery and was strapped into a back harness from which she could not move for about a year. This year gave her time to think. When she recovered, she headed to Europe, this time just with friends. Jane did a lot of the usual sightseeing. Just by chance, while in England, she was introduced to the founders and the workings of Toynbee Hall, a settlement house in the slums of London. It did not immediately strike her that social work was to be her calling. It took some time after returning to the United States before she and her traveling companion, Ellen Starr, committed themselves to the idea of starting a settlement house in Chicago. Once committed, there was no stopping these young women, especially Jane. Jane was a fireball. She was the creator, the innovator, and the leader. People flocked to her. Most everything she needed she was able to procure with the generosity of patrons. Money poured in. Within a few years, Hull House offered medical care, child care and legal aid. It also provided classes for immigrants to learn English, vocational skills, music, art and drama. In 1893 a severe depression rocked the country. Hull House was serving over two thousand people a week. As charitable efforts increased, so too did political ones. Jane realized that there would be no end to poverty and need if laws were not changed. She directed her efforts at the root causes of poverty. The workers joined Jane to lobby the state of Illinois to examine laws governing child labor, the factory inspection system, and the juvenile justice system. They worked for legislation to protect immigrants from exploitation, limit the working hours of women, mandate schooling for children, recognize labor unions, and provide for industrial safety. All this led to the right to vote for women. Addams worked for Chicago municipal suffrage and became first vice-president of the National American Women Suffrage Association in 1911. She campaigned nationwide for Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Party in 1912. She became a very controversial figure while working on behalf of economic reform. When horrible working conditions led to the Haymarket riot, Jane was personally attacked for her support of the workers. It resulted in a great loss of donor support for Hull House. She supplemented Hull House funding with revenue from lecture tours and article writing. She began to enjoy international acclaim. Her first book was published in 1910 and others followed biennially. Her biggest success in writing came with the release of the book, Twenty Years at Hull House. It became her autobiography and brought her wealth. Addams foresaw World War I. In 1915, in an effort to avert war, she organized the Women's Peace Party and the International Congress of Women. This latter organization met at The Hague and made serious diplomatic attempts to thwart the war. When these efforts failed and the U.S. joined the war in 1917, criticism of Addams rose. She was expelled from the Daughters of the American Revolution, but it did not slow her down. In 1919 she was elected first president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, a position she held until her death. She was founder of the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP. These positions earned her even more criticism than her pacifism. She was accused of being a socialist, an anarchist and a communist. Hull House, however, continued to be successful. When the depression of the 1930's struck, Addams saw many of the things that she had advocated and fought for become policies under President Franklin Roosevelt. She received numerous awards during this time including, in 1931, the Nobel Peace Prize. That year her health began to fail but she continued her work until her death in 1935. Thousands of people came to her funeral at Hull House before she was taken to Cedarville to be buried. Women in History. Jane Addams biography. Lakewood Public Library. http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/adda-jan.htm. Mahalia Jackson is viewed by many as the pinnacle of gospel music. Her singing began at the age of four in her church, the Plymouth Rock Baptist Church in New Orleans. Her early style blended the freedom and power of gospel with the stricter style of the Baptist Church. As a teenager, through her cousin's aid, she was influenced by such famous singers as Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Enrico Caruso and Ma Rainey, and her own style began to emerge into a more soulful expression. In 1927, at the age of 16, she moved to Chicago and found work as a domestic. But soon after, she found plenty of work as a soloist at churches and funerals after joining the Greater Salem Baptist Church choir. Her unique contralto voice caught the attention of many small churches from coast to coast. Larger, more formal churches frowned upon her energetic renditions of songs. After performing with the Prince Johnson Singers, she began recording for Decca Records in 1937. When the records did not sell as well as expected, she became a beautician. However, after five years of touring with composer Thomas A. Dorsey at gospel tents and churches, Mahalia's popularity and success garnered her another record contract, this time with Apollo Records, from 1946 to 1954. She then switched to Columbia Records, from 1954 to 1967, where she attained broad recognition as a spiritual singer. Throughout the 1950s, Mahalia's voice was heard on radio, television and concert halls around the world. Her shows were packed in Europe, and her audience very enthusiastic at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, at a special all-gospel program she requested. In 1954, she began hosting her own Sunday night radio show for CBS. She performed on the Ed Sullivan show in 1956 where she catapulted gospel music into America's mainstream. She sang for President Dwight Eisenhower and at John F. Kennedy's inaugural ball in 1960. From the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott until her death, Mahalia was very prominent in the Civil Rights Movement. Very close with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., she often performed at his rallies--even singing an old slave spiritual before his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington in 1963. She also sang at his funeral five years later. Despite her doctors ordering her to slow down, Mahalia refused and collapsed while on tour in Munich in 1971. She died of heart failure on January 27, 1972, at her home in Evergreen Park, Illinois. Mahalia Jackson biography. Lakewood Public Library. http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/jack-mah.htm. Melvin L. Watt ("Mel") was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina on August 26, 1945. He is a graduate of York Road High School in Charlotte. He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967 with a BS degree in Business Administration and was president of the business honors fraternity as a result of having the highest academic average in the Business School. In 1970 he received a JD degree from Yale University Law School and was a published member of the Yale Law Journal. He has been awarded honorary degrees from North Carolina A&T State University, Johnson C. Smith University, Bennett College and Fisk University. Mel practiced law from 1970-1992 and has been a small business owner. Mel was the campaign manager of Harvey Gantt's campaigns for City Council, for Mayor of Charlotte and for the United States Senate. Mel served one term in the North Carolina Senate (1985-86) where he was called “the conscience of the Senate.” He did not seek a second term in the state Senate and announced that he would not consider running for elective office again until his children completed high school. Mel is married to Eulada Paysour Watt, an educator. They have two sons, Brian and Jason, both of whom are graduates of Yale University and have earned graduate degrees. Mel is a member of the Mt. Olive Presbyterian Church and a life member of the NAACP. He served as president of the Mecklenburg County Bar and has been a member of many professional, community and civic boards and organizations. In 1992, Mel was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 12th Congressional District and became one of only two African American members elected to Congress from North Carolina in the 20th century. Mel is a member of the House Financial Services Committee where he serves on the Financial Institutions Subcommittee, the Domestic and International Monetary Policy Subcommittee and the Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee. Mel is also on the House Judiciary Committee on which he is the Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. In December of 2004, Mel was unanimously elected Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. Mel enjoys tennis, running, reading and music. Since 1995 he has been the starting pitcher for the Democratic baseball team in the annual Congressional Baseball Game and was named most valuable player in 1995, 1996 and 2000. The Honorable Harvey B. Gantt has spent his life breaking new ground. In 1963, he became the first African-American student to attend a previously all-white institution of higher learning in South Carolina when he was admitted to Clemson University. Twenty years later, he became the first African-American mayor of the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. Gantt has a formula for success, "Successful people have a strong sense of their own self worth, and that sense of self-esteem is the foundation on which they reach out and move forward," he says. Born in Charleston in 1943, Gantt was educated in the public school system of that city. He graduated second in his class from Burke High School and attended Iowa State University on a merit scholarship. In 1961, he applied to Clemson University and was admitted under court order. In 1965, he graduated with honors with a bachelor of architecture degree. In 1970, he earned a master of city planning degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The following year, Gantt started Gantt Huberman Architects, a Charlotte architectural firm co-founded with Jeff Huberman. The firm grew tremendously and became an award-winning design organization. In 1986, he was made a fellow in the American Institute of Architects, which is the highest honor granted to practicing architect. He devotes time to speaking and lecturing nationwide at colleges and universities on current architectural and political issues. Harvey Gantt is also known for his political activities. He served more than three terms on the Charlotte City Council during the late 1970s. He was mayor pro tem of the city in 1981 and 1983, and later was elected mayor of Charlotte, an office he held for two terms. During his tenure, the city of Charlotte underwent one of its greatest periods of prosperity. More than 21,000 new jobs were created and investments reached more than a million dollars. In 1990, Gantt, a Democrat, decided to run for national office and contested Jesse Helms in the North Carolina US Senate race. In a much publicized and controversial campaign, Gantt lost the election but won national acclaim and respect. for positions he took on education, health care and the environment. Today, he remains active in politics, serving on the North Carolina Executive Council and Democratic National Committee. With more than 15 years of service to the public, he remains an active participant in dozens of civic cultural and professional organizations. Gantt's awards and honors are numerous and include honorary doctoral degrees form six colleges and universities. Gantt's spirited bid to dislodge Helms typifies his belief that no challenge is too great. His motto can be found in the works of Booker T. Washington, who said, "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life, as by the obstacles which one has to overcome while trying to succeed." Young people should never give up on their dreams and vision to become somebody," Gantt says. "We all possess the potential to become successful in life, and I challenge every student to settle for nothing less." Art lover and librarian Vivian Hewitt was born on February 17, 1920, in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Hewitt was the fourth of five children, her elder siblings all born in North Carolina. Her father, Arthur, was a skilled laborer, and her mother, Lela, worked as a teacher and housewife. After completing high school, Hewitt attended Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.A. in 1943. The following year, she graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh with an M.S. in library science. She attended the University of Pittsburgh for further graduate studies in 1947 and 1948. Geneva awarded her an honorary degree in 1978. Hewitt began her career working in libraries in 1944, when she was hired by the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh as the senior assistant librarian. Relocating to Atlanta in 1949, Hewitt took a position as a librarian and instructor at Atlanta University's School of Library and Information Science. Hewitt and her husband, John, had a son in 1952, and Hewitt returned to work in 1954 as a researcher for Crowell-Collier Publishing. Hewitt joined the Rockefeller Foundation in 1956, and in 1963 she was hired by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to serve as chief librarian. She remained there until her retirement in 1983. Since then, she has served on the Council on Foreign Relations and on the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin. A lover of travel, Hewitt and her husband began buying works of art wherever they would go, and gave them as gifts on special occasions. They began their collection in earnest by collecting Haitian art for fifteen years. Living near and knowing many of the African American artists from New York, they began to collect their works, as well. In recent years, the collection, considered one of the finest of African American art in the world, was bought by Bank of America and given as a gift to the Afro-American Cultural Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hewitt is also active in other areas, serving on the Board of Governors of the Laymen's Club of the Episcopal Church of the Diocese of New York, and has served as the secretary of the board of the Graham Windham Child Care & Adoption Agency. She has also received the Distinguished Service Award of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Special Library Association. A phenomenal athlete with a unique combination of grace, power, artistry and improvisational ability, Michael Jordan has single-handedly redefined the NBA superstar. Despite not playing for three seasons from 1998-99 through 2000-01, Jordan was still probably the most recognizable athlete in the world during that time. However, after assuming an ownership and team executive role with the Washington Wizards in 2000, he returned to play the game he loves as a Wizard upon signing a two-year contract on September 25, 2001. He is not only the top player of his era, but is quite possibly the best player ever to wear the uniform of an NBA team. A legend on the court, Jordan added to his mystique with a totally unexpected retirement just before the 1993-94 season. After a year spent playing minor league baseball, he authored yet another amazing chapter to his story by returning to the Chicago Bulls late in the 1994-95 campaign with his basketball skills intact. By the end of the 1997-98 season, he had won a record 10th scoring title and led the Bulls to their sixth NBA championship of the 1990s. A summary of Jordan's basketball career inevitably fails to do it justice. The 6-6 Brooklyn native attended high school in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he was cut from the basketball team as a sophomore. He spent his college career at North Carolina, playing for an NCAA Championship team as a freshman and hitting the game-winning shot in the title game. He was named College Player of the Year by The Sporting News in both 1983 and 1984 and won the Naismith and Wooden Awards in 1984. After his junior year he was chosen with the third overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. Jordan burst into the big time with a fabulous first season, earning the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 1984-85 after averaging 28.2 points per game. An injured foot sidelined him for 64 games in his second campaign, but he came back late in the year to score an NBA playoff-record 63 points in a first-round game against the Boston Celtics. Starting with the 1986-87 season he began a career-long onslaught on the NBA record book. That year saw him average 37.1 points in the first of seven consecutive seasons in which he led the league in scoring (a feat matched only by Wilt Chamberlain) and topped 30 points per contest. By the time he announced his retirement in 1993, he had earned three league MVP Awards, an NBA Defensive Player of the Year selection, a pair of NBA slam-dunk championship titles, seven berths on the All-NBA First Team and six selections to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. He also led the league in steals three times. A nine-time All-Star Game selection, he earned the game's MVP Award in 1988 after a 40-point performance. More than just a scoring machine, Jordan also showed that he was a leader and a winner by guiding Chicago to a trio of NBA Championships. As a rookie, he joined a Bulls team that had won only 28 games the previous season. By 1991 the club had topped 60 wins during the regular season while marching to the first of three consecutive titles. If anything, Jordan was even more spectacular in postseason play. Prior to his retirement he had averaged below 30 points per game in the postseason only once (29.3 ppg in his rookie year). In the 1985-86 postseason he poured in an astounding 43.7 points per contest. He left basketball temporarily in 1993 as a three-time Finals MVP, and he owned a career playoff average of 34.7 points per game, the best in NBA history. He also had two Olympic gold medals to show for his participation on Team USA in 1984 and 1992. Jordan shocked the NBA by announcing his retirement prior to the 1993-94 season. He spent the year playing minor league baseball for the Class AA Birmingham Barons of the Chicago White Sox organization, for whom he was a competent if unspectacular performer. But Jordan's hopes of reaching the major leagues seemed dim, and with Major League Baseball embroiled in a labor dispute as the 1995 season neared, he focused his competitive fire back on the NBA. Late in the 1994-95 NBA season he came out of retirement and attempted to carry the Bulls to another title. Jordan averaged 26.9 points in 17 regular-season games, then poured in 31.5 points per contest in the playoffs. Despite Jordan's presence in the lineup, the Bulls didn't have quite enough to get past the Orlando Magic in the conference semifinals. Chicago lost to the Magic in six games. Jordan's championship quest was fulfilled the following season as the team enjoyed one of the most remarkable years ever posted by any club. Jordan led the NBA with 30.4 points per game as the Bulls charged to a record 72 victories during the regular season, then stormed through the playoffs with a 15-3 record. Chicago's combined record of 87-13 for the 1995-96 regular season and playoffs was the best in NBA history. Along the way, Jordan captured the MVP awards for the regular season, All-Star Game and Finals, joining Willis Reed (1970) as the only men to win all three honors in the same season. Although he relinquished the MVP award to Karl Malone in 1996-97, Jordan again led the Bulls to the NBA Championship with a satisfying six-game victory over Malone's Utah Jazz, and was named the NBA Finals MVP for the fifth time in his remarkable career. Click here to read about more great African-Americans!