Melvin Hart

Marketing executive and newspaper publishing executive Melvin Hart was born on January 7, 1952 to Cleola Kimpson Hart, a homemaker, and Furman “Toot” Hart. Furman was a World War II veteran, former member of the Civilian Conservation Corps and one of the founders of the local branch of the NAACP in St. Matthews, South Carolina. Hart attended Guinyard, a segregated African American elementary school. When he reached the eighth grade, Hart became one of a small group of African American students to integrate Saint Matthews High School. In 1970, Hart was one of five African Americans, out of a class of approximately seventy-five students, to graduate from St. Matthews.

Hart was the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Advertising for South Carolina Black Media Group, publisher of Columbia, South Carolina's African American newspaper, "Black News." As manager and director of marketing at the organization, Hart worked to ensure that the information needs of the African American population in South Carolina were met. Black News, a weekly publication, serves South Carolina’s forty-six counties, including rural, suburban and metropolitan areas.

Active in his church and community, Hart was re-appointed to the Historic Columbia Foundation Board of Trustees for 2005 and 2006, his second term.

Melvin Hart was interviewed by the HistoryMakers on July 14, 2005.

Hart passed away on October 30, 2021, at the age of 69.