Overview Harvey Bernard Gantt is an architect and Democratic politician active in North Carolina. Gantt entered local Charlotte politics in 1974 serving on the city council until 1983. He was elected to two terms as the first black Mayor of Charlotte from 1983 to 1987. In the 1990s, he ran twice for the United States Senate against Jesse Helms. The bulk of the collection is comprised of audiovisual materials from Gantt's 1996 campaign against Jesse Helms for U.S. Senate.