Nov 11, 2019
Honored to talk with N. Charles Anderson, my friend and colleague for many years. Congratulations to him for his work being part of the Library of Congress.
N. Charles Anderson was born on February 7, 1953, in Gaston
County, North Carolina to Fannie Mae Moses Anderson and Nicodemus
Anderson. He graduated from West Mecklenburg High School in
Charlotte, North Carolina in 1971 and attended Central Piedmont
Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina where he studied
business administration. He later received his B.A. degree in
humanities from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan in
1981.
Anderson started working at Piedmont Natural Gas in 1972 as a mail
clerk when he became involved with the Charlotte NAACP Youth
Council, where he later served as president. There, he helped
organize the NAACP Youth Council radio show, “Talk to the People”
on WGIV Radio in Charlotte, North Carolina and co-hosted the NAACP
television program, “Experience!” In 1974, Anderson was hired as a
sales representative for American Tobacco Company and later moved
to Detroit. After graduating from Wayne State University, Anderson
joined the NAACP Detroit Branch as its youth director in 1981. He
then served on the national staff as director of the NAACP Midwest
Region III from 1983 to 1987. In this role, he directed and managed
NAACP state conferences as well as adult branches and college and
youth councils in seven states including Illinois, Indiana,
Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. Anderson
served as the sixth president and chief executive officer of the
Detroit Urban League from 1987 to 1994. In 1994, Anderson was
appointed by Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer to serve as executive
director of the Department of Human Services for the City of
Detroit, a position he held until 1997. In 1997, he rejoined the
Urban League of Detroit and Southeastern Michigan as the
organization’s eighth president and chief executive officer. For
twenty years, he was responsible for the vision, leadership, and
direction of the Urban League of Detroit and Southeastern Michigan,
which is one of 110 affiliates of the New York-based National Urban
League.
Anderson received the Wayne State University Distinguished Alumni
Award in 2012, and the American Human Rights Council Spirit of
Humanity Award in 2018. He served as a trustee of the National
Urban League, and the New Detroit coalition. He also served on the
board of NAACP Youth Council, CityConnect Detroit, New Center
Community Services, Detroit Alliance for Fair Banking, Health
Alliance Plan and University Cultural Center Association. Anderson
also served as vice-chair of the board of trustees, Henry Ford
Health System, Inc. and vice-chair of City Year Inc.
Anderson and his wife, Marionette Anderson, have three daughters
and nine grandchildren.
The video oral history interview of Nonprofit executive N. Charles Anderson is now a permanent part of The Historymakers Collection at the Library of Congress.