Bertha Maxwell-Roddey, education advocate, dies at 93

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Bertha Maxwell-Roddey, an influential educator with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and UNC Charlotte who also co-founded what is now the Harvey B. Gantt Center, died Thursday at age 93.

Bertha Maxwell-Roddey, one of Charlotte’s most influential educators and culture advocates in the 20th century, died Thursday at age 93.

Mrs. Maxwell-Roddey, who retired as UNC Charlotte’s Frank Porter Graham professor emeritus, in 1968 was one of the first Black women appointed principal at a formerly all-white Charlotte-Mecklenburg elementary school. She was founding director of UNCC’s Africana Studies Department and in 1974, co-founded the Afro-American Cultural and Service Center with UNCC colleague Mary Harper, forerunner to the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Art + Culture.  

“She just became the mama on campus that everybody could go to,” Vanessa Gallman, a UNCC alumnus who edited “Who Am I?” a tribute to Maxwell-Roddey published in 2020, told The Post in 2021. editor and a UNCC alumnus who knew Maxwell-Roddey, told The Post in 2021. “If you had a bad day, you would go to her office and she or some of the faculty members would help you through a situation. They were trying to make us stronger to deal with the university and to deal with the world.”

Mrs. Maxwell-Roddey, born June 10, 1930, in Seneca, S.C., was at the front lines of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools desegregation in the 1960s, which coincided with the rise of Charlotte’s Black middle class and advocacy for economic and social equity.  A Johnson C. Smith University graduate, she founded the National Council for Black Studies and was an active member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority’s Gamma Lambda Chapter, where she served in several capacities, including Charlotte Alumnae Chapter president and national president.  

Mrs. Maxwell-Roddey gained notice in the 1950s for her work in Charlotte’s all-Black schools as a teacher and principal. Mecklenburg County Commissioner Arthur Griffin recalled Mrs. Maxwell-Roddey’s emphasis on encouraging students to think big when she was his elementary school teacher in the First Ward community.

“Often, her office was a place you would go to get your ‘get out of jail’ card,” Griffin, who was also elected to Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s school board, said. “It was a place to reset after a difficult test or school challenge. You could always count on Bertha’s counsel, listening ear and shoulder to cry on.

“Finally, I give credit to Bertha’s guidance for my life’s focus on equity and equality, and for many of my personal achievements. She persuaded me to work with her and her colleague Dr. Mary Harper in setting up the Afro-American Cultural Center at Little Rock Church in Charlotte.

“That experience crystallized my commitment to racial justice. She opened the door for an internship and subsequent job at the Legal Aid Society. From there, I never looked back.”

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