Music art and culture they are the Pioneers Trend Setters and groundbreakers leaving their Mark for future Generations black history in the Carolinas a legacy of leadership continues right now good evening and welcome back I’m Erica Bryant and I’m Dey Lewis for nearly 50 years he documented Charlotte’s black history
From weddings to protests and everyday life James peer captured it all with his lens Channel 99’s Amilia white talked with his daughter about preserving his collection of History James peeler was not only my father but he was also known by the city of Charlotte as one of the most
Distinguished photographers in the black community for nearly five decades James G pillar documented Charlotte’s black life through a black lens he captured us as members of fraternities sororities churches Community groups weddings and funerals as a little girl I mean were you curious about your father’s work I was
Oblivious but he did share enough for me to understand really what he was doing was important to the people pillar’s photography collection started in University Park a neighborhood formed in the late 1950s occupied by the growing black middle class his images captured segregated schools and neighborhoods protest in the Carolinas local and
National civil rights leaders and the everyday life of Weston residents he was in and of the thing he documented whatever happened in that Community he got a picture of it including visits to the City by Dr Martin Luther King Jr and you’ll see a lot of uh familiar faces in that
Collection Shirley Chisum Jesse Jackson Julius Irvin th Good Marshall while pillars were captured one generation moving forward in time his approach to photography inspired those around him he gave a several of the neighborhood stud uh teenagers jobs like Suzanne KS who lived a few doors down from the pillars the first thing I
Learned how to do was to dry photographs I learned how to oil paint and Joe worked well with him in the dark room as well most of the work that I did was right there in the studio it was a developing prints I ended up working for
Eastman Kodak company I mean the the largest photographic company in the world once I realized later on you know the impact of what he was doing uh I I it became even more valuable as I look back on it pillars still images were often a way of
Recording history so back in the 60s during the Civil Rights era the students at Johnson C Smith would call him when they were going to do a protest they knew that the police would not touch them they wouldn’t beat them they wouldn’t abuse them when my father was recording the moments of the
Protest pillar’s collection is now housed at the James B Duke Memorial Library liary at Johnson C Smith University the very place where he received his education well I am the director of the library here at Johnson C Smith but when the peeler collection came I was the archivist they brought 37
37 rubber rubber made tubs full of these unprocessed photos and these old sleeves right here Brandon luner says they sorted through more than 200,000 photos how difficult was it trying to make out when was this who was this this uh I mean it’s extremely difficult sometimes
You look at the cars that are in the picture the clothes people are wearing so you can at least like you know narrow it down sometimes you can kind of let people see a part of their lives they thought was kind of lost forever that Mr perer captured pillar captured a
Different side of black life one that wasn’t showcased often what did you see in your father’s photos Ah that’s interesting I did see people in their best he did his best to capture us as beautiful as we could be an ordinary neighbor an ordinary photographer in an ordinary neighborhood is the power of
His extraordinary gift that he has left as his legacy in Charlotte Amilia white Channel 9 Eyewitness News just amazing work and you can view the collection online and we have a link to it on our website wslc TV . just click on Black History Month well one of the many
Towering figures during that time Charlotte’s own Charlie cord he broke the color barrier in golf as the first black PGA Tour member in 1961 helping the PGA to end its Caucasian only member Clause now cifford also became the first black golfer inducted into the World
Golf Hall of Fame in 2014 and in 2011 Revolution Park Golf Course in West Charlotte was renamed in his honor to the Dr Charles IL cfer golf course at Revolution Park hers is a name and voice longtime charlotteans know well chatty Hatty the first black woman DJ in the
Queen City the Pioneer says that her story is still unfolding c h a TT Y and then h a TTY y chatty hadti I like it spell with ditos you know spend even a little time with chatty Hatty leaper and you understand the nickname this Trailblazer has plenty to chat about in
1951 at age 17 she got her own radio show at Charlotte’s wgiv becoming the city’s first black female radio DJ and one of the first in the nation we rhymed a lot of the things that we would say on our programs like I would just open up
The mic and say well hi world this is your girl chatty haty and listen you’re at the top of the do at 1600 on the radio that makes listening all worth your while I mean We R people think rap now is so extraordinary they better not give me a
Chance to get on show rapping I already know how to do that stuff with my eyes clothes for years she was Charlotte’s best known radio personality and that brought its perks lots of perks Harry bellafante Sammy Davis Jr Natt King Cole uh the list just goes on and on and on
Of people that I have had handshaking contact with when they would get their Stars put on the Hollywood Hall of Fame on the sidewalk oh yeah I would MC James Brown The Godfather of Soul he was my man man but she never forgot where she came from
Charlotte and it was a very different Charlotte back then you know you’d go to a restaurant you couldn’t go in the front door if you were you know black brown polka dot you’d go to the back of that restaurant to the back door where all of the trash cans and the Porta John
And stuff in the back you’d go back there and had a little window and you would order what you wanted off of the menu and they would fix it so nice and bring it to the window and you’d pay and you go today her home is filled with
Accolades black women in radio Lifetime Achievement the Charlotte broadcast Hall of Fame plus a book chatty Hatty the legend she celebrates every single memory and she plans to keep celebrating for a very long time I’m so glad I had enough sense to stay where I love and
That’s right here at home this is home Charlotte I love it Hat’s career goes well beyond radio she’s opened two record stores written songs managed group and even started her own record label and she’s also written plays and taught choruses at Gaston College UNCC Charlotte and CPCC the one thing she
Hasn’t done that she still like to do is open a movie studio Charlotte mayor VES is still writing her story she was elected the city’s first black woman mayor in 2017 mayor L is now serving her fourth term and she told us she hopes to leave a legacy that will inspire young
Girls to be better than her when I first came into the office I would have moms bring their daughters up and I’d always tell them I’m mayor but you can be president I believe that what you do is to leave a legacy for someone else to come along and make it even
Better grander all of those things have more confidence understand and it’s not just the little girls but it’s actually I like to think of the black and brown girls especially ones that you know make may not even see what they have inside of them yet but we’ll grow that
Confidence her historic wi came more than three decades after Charlotte elected hary Gant as the city’s first black mayor for the first time a black man has been named the Maestro of Charlotte Symphony Orchestra the CSO says it was a unanimous decision and Channel 9’s denage broom spoke withw
Ryan about the history making role guame Ryan and conducts with Vigor and conviction I just find it so magical and transporting almost intoxicating the sort of audio magic that comes out of a a symphony orchestra and he’s bringing that magic to the Queen City Ryan will be Charlotte Symphony
Orchestra’s next music director the search committee chose him unanimously around the same time he fell in love with Charlotte it’s just a really Buzzy um diverse town and I was really happy to be there Ryan has conducted orchestras around the world including in Germany France the UK Houston St Louis
And the New York philarmonic he joins a list of illustrious music directors to lead the Charlotte Symphony but there’s one glaring distinction he’s the first black man in charge I was just never allowed to doubt that I could achieve my goals for whatever reason and certainly
Not because of my race or my my skin color Ryan GRE GRE up in Trinidad and Tobago where his parents were instrumental in cultivating a love of education and Performing Arts he acknowledges the lack of diversity in his field can be discouraging according to a study by the league of American
Orchestras only 2% of all orchestra music directors are black but he believes if there’s one thing that can create cultural Harmony it’s music there something really unifying about uh bringing that training and that passion and that Focus to bear in the service of something that’s as beautiful and
Powerful as music he’ll fill an interim role beginning in April and will officially be the music director in September and if you think your commute is bad Ryan will split his time between his home in Germany and Charlotte he hopes aspiring musicians take a note from his rise and continue to break
Barriers I do think that the most important things are passion focus and believing in yourself in Charlotte da broom Channel 9 Eyewitness News I wake up you know random days and I’m like dang like I’m really the first and it happened in 2017 so it’s like it really took that long you know and who would have thought it would have been me she’s NASCAR’s first black woman pit crew member
Training right here in North Carolina we sit down with Briana Daniels the challenges she’s overcome the doors she’s opening for others and what’s next for her bright future she’s the first black woman pilot in US Navy history I didn’t know that I could be a pilot until I was in college in Flight
Streaming yeah because it was never encouraged and she hasn’t stopped soaring to new heights how she’s using her skills to help future aviators
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