Philip Hart
Civic leader and professor Philip Hart was born on June 12, 1944 in Denver, Colorado to Murlee Shaw Hart and Judson Hart. He received an athletic scholarship to attend Colorado College and transferred to the University of Colorado Boulder where he received his B.A. degree and graduated with honors as a student athlete in 1966, and was later inducted into the University’s Distinguished Alumni Gallery in 1995. He received his M.A. degree in social psychology and his Ph.D. degree in sociology from Michigan State University in 1974. There, Hart worked for the Greater Lansing Urban League and the Center for Urban Affairs.
In 1966, Hart joined the staff of the Office of Economic Opportunity in Washington, D.C. In 1971, he was recruited to lead the Joint Center for Inner City Change located in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. Hart then served as superintendent of the Federation of Boston Community Schools. In 1974, Hart cofounded the College of Public and Community Service at the University of Massachusetts Boston. From 1974 to 2002, Hart served as a professor of sociology, department chairman and director of the William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture.
In 1980, Hart along with business partner Marvin Gilmore, Jr. developed CrossTown Industrial Park in Roxbury with Fortune 500 technology company Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) as anchor tenant. In 1989, they repurposed an industrial building across from the DEC plant into a biotechnology facility with Boston University School of Medicine as anchor tenant and partner. This partnership led to the creation of BioSquare, Boston's premiere biotechnology business park. In 2016, Hart as a member of the Los Angeles Biosciences Coalition developed a plan to expand the biotechnology industry cluster in LA County similar to Hart's work in inner city Boston.
In addition, Hart wrote and produced children’s books and documentary films including the 1987 PBS documentary film Flyers: In Search of a Dream based on the history of his maternal great uncle, James Banning, who was one of the nation's first African American aviators. His children's book Flying Free: America's First Black Aviators was named a 1992 Notable Children's Trade Book in Social Studies. He also appeared in documentaries about early African American aviators Black Aviators: Flying Free and Black Wings. He authored, Early African American Aviators, and along with his wife, created and produced Dark Passages a documentary about the Atlantic slave trade. The Harts also wrote, produced and directed the three-hour nationally syndicated radio documentary Ray Charles: The Music Lives On.
In 1990, Hart and his wife moved to Los Angeles and joined West Angeles Church of God in Christ. In 1995, Hart joined the West Angeles Church building committee whose charge was to plan and construct the 5,000-seat West Angeles Cathedral in South Los Angeles. In 1996, he was named project manager for the Cathedral project which was dedicated in April 2001.
Hart and his wife, Tanya Hart, have one daughter, Ayanna Hart Beebe
Philip Hart was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 19, 2017.
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Gilpin Montessori School
East High School
Columbine Elementary School
McAuliffe International School
Colorado College
University of Colorado Boulder
Michigan State University
Philip
Denver
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Fall
Colorado
Martha's Vineyard
God Is Good All The Time.
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7/12/1944
Los Angeles
United States
Barbecue (Ribs)
Civil leader and professor Philip Hart (1944 - ) taught at the University of Massachusetts, Boston College of Public and Community Service and authored fourteen books.
U.S. Postal Service
Office of Economic Opportunity
University of Massachusetts Boston
Greater Lansing Urban League
Center for Urban Affairs
Joint Community-University Center for Inner City Change
Federation of Boston Community Schools
Red And White
Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Philip Hart describes his father's family background, pt. 1
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - Philip Hart remembers the musicians who frequented Al Hart's Barbeque in Salina, Kansas
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - Philip Hart remembers visiting his paternal relatives in Wildersville, Tennessee
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - Philip Hart describes his father's family background, pt. 2
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - Philip Hart describes his parents' education and professions
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - Philip Hart describes his mother's family background
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - Philip Hart talks about his parents' experiences at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - Philip Hart describes his parents' move to Denver, Colorado
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - Philip Hart recalls his experiences in the integrated Denver Public Schools
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - Philip Hart talks about segregation in Denver, Colorado
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - Philip Hart describes his father's career at the Denver Housing Authority
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - Philip Hart remembers George L. Brown and Sonny Liston
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - Philip Hart remembers his classmates at East High School in Denver, Colorado
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - Philip Hart describes his elementary school experiences in Denver, Colorado
Tape: 2 Story: 8 - Philip Hart describes his early interest in athletics
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - Philip Hart remembers his teachers in the Denver Public Schools
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - Philip Hart talks about his early athletic career
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - Philip Hart describes his family life in Denver, Colorado
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - Philip Hart remembers his parents' discipline
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - Philip Hart describes his basketball career at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - Philip Hart recalls his position at the Office of Economic Opportunity
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - Philip Hart describes his involvement in civil rights activities
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Philip Hart talks about his interracial relationships
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - Philip Hart talks about his student activism at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - Philip Hart recalls his U.S. military deferment from the Vietnam War
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - Philip Hart describes his graduate thesis on decision making
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - Philip Hart describes his decision to move to Boston, Massachusetts
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - Philip Hart talks about his role at the Federation of Boston Community Schools
Tape: 4 Story: 7 - Philip Hart describes his early experiences as an administrator
Tape: 5 Story: 1 - Philip Hart talks about his teaching career at the University of Massachusetts Boston
Tape: 5 Story: 2 - Philip Hart remembers building a facility for the Digital Equipment Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts
Tape: 5 Story: 3 - Philip Hart recalls developing the BioSquare center in Boston, Massachusetts
Tape: 5 Story: 4 - Philip Hart talks about his article, 'Planning for a Racially Diverse America'
Tape: 5 Story: 5 - Philip Hart talks about the redevelopment of urban communities of color
Tape: 5 Story: 6 - Philip Hart describes his role in the biotechnology industry
Tape: 5 Story: 7 - Philip Hart recalls his early research on African American aviators
Tape: 6 Story: 1 - Philip Hart describes his research on the history of African American aviators
Tape: 6 Story: 2 - Philip Hart talks about William J. Powell
Tape: 6 Story: 3 - Philip Hart talks about the Bessie Coleman Aero Club and James Banning
Tape: 6 Story: 4 - Philip Hart talks about his daughter
Tape: 6 Story: 5 - Philip Hart describes his brothers' careers
Tape: 6 Story: 6 - Philip Hart describes his plans for the future
Tape: 6 Story: 7 - Philip Hart talks about the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, California, pt. 1
Tape: 7 Story: 1 - Philip Hart talks about the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, California, pt. 2
Tape: 7 Story: 2 - Philip Hart talks about his mother's career in the Denver Public Schools
Tape: 7 Story: 3 - Philip Hart recalls his family's musical activities
Tape: 7 Story: 4 - Philip Hart reflects upon his parents' legacy
Tape: 7 Story: 5 - Philip Hart reflects upon his legacy
Tape: 7 Story: 6 - Philip Hart reflects upon his life