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Charles Harrison (1931-2018) was an American industrial designer who had a long tenure as a designer for Sears Roebuck between 1961-1993.
Charles Alfred Harrison Jr. was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on Sept. 23, 1931. His father taught industrial arts at Prairie View A&M University, a historically black university in Prairie View, Texas. His mother, Cora Lee (Smith) Harrison, had gone back to her parents’ house in Shreveport for the birth, since many hospitals at the time did not welcome blacks.1
His upbringing in a rural setting, according to Mr. Harrison, gave him an especial appreciation for nature and ability to learn from it. His family moved to Phoenix, where he attended high school at the Phoenix Union Colored High School, where his father also taught shop classes. He briefly attended the City College of San Francisco before enrolling in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This education was interrupted when he was drafted into the U.S. military in the mid 1950s, and served as a cartographer stationed in Germany.
Charles Harrison, or "Chuck" as he was commonly known, returned to the United States and took on a number of freelance jobs including working for his mentor, architect Henry Glass. In 1958, working for Charles Podall and associates, he redesigned the ViewMaster viewing machine. The Model G Viewmaster, sold from 1959 onward, replaced the original Bakelite material with injection molded plastic making the viewer lighter, more colorful and more durable. In 1961, he was hired as a designer for Sears Roebuck and Company, becoming the first Black executive to be hired in the company's 75 year history. At Sears, he was involved in the redesign of countless household goods from toasters to sewing machines to plastic garbage cans.
A 2002 interview with Charles Harrison on HistoryMakers2 indicates that he experienced racism and prejudice as a black designer at Sears Roebuck. He also expressed hope for the next generation of designers especially through the Organization of Black Designers, of which he was a member and senior adviser.
Since retiring from Sears Roebuck and Company in 1993, Harrison taught industrial design at the University of Illinois and Columbia College Chicago. He also volunteered with the Evanston Arts Council and served as a senior adviser for the Organization of Black Designers.
When asked about his legacy by HistoryMakers in 2002, Charles Harrison is quoted as saying " I really believe that [what] I've made available to humanity, some products made their life better. I made them happier and pleasant. I made products that are easy to use, that are more pleasant to look at...I've given something to humanity, at least that's what I hope."