Durham Chamber Celebrates Black History Month

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In 1953 Rencher Nicholas (“R.N.”) Harris, a prominent black businessman and community leader, was the first African American to be elected to the Durham City Council in 1953.

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In 1956 Pauli Murray, civil and women’s right activist, lawyer, poet and priest, published her compelling memoir Proud Shoes: The Story of an American Family, in which she relates her grandparent’s struggles in Jim Crow-era Dirham.

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In 1957 Seven protestors, led by Reverend Douglas E. Moore, participated in a sit-in at the Royal Ice Cream Parlor to challenge public segregation. The protest predated the Greensboro sit-in by nearly three years.

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In 1971 Ann Atwater and C.P. Ellis cochaired two weeks of meetings, known as charrettes, on school desegregation.

Their unlikely friendship suggested new possibilities for interracial cooperation to combat poverty in Durham.

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In 1988 Trevor A. Hampton was the Durham Police Department’s first African American chief of Police. His major initiative was reorganizing the department to emphasize communityoriented policing, establishing a Citizens Police Academy, and reactivation the Community Relations Unit. During his tenure he created a Professional Standards Division, a motorcycle squad, and a K-9 team.

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In 2004 Minnie Forte-Brown became a member of the Durham Public Schools Board of Education. She served on the board for 16 years, served as Chair of the National School Board Association’s Council of Urban Board of Education, and is a semiretired professor at North Carolina Central University. Forte-Brown is a Durham native who grew up in segregated schools throughout her education, graduated from Hillside High School and holds a bachelor’s degree in speech and English from St. Augustine’s University and a master’s degree in speech pathology and audiology from North Carolina Central University.

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In 2017 Durham mayor Bill Bell retired after four decades as an elected official. He served as Durham County Commissioner from 1972 to 1994 and from 1996 to 2000; from 1982 to 1994 he was chairman of the Durham County Board of Commissioners.

In 2001, Bill Bell was elected mayor of Durham. He was re-elected seven times.

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In 2018 Sherriff Clarence Birkhead assumes office and became the first African American to serve as Durham County Sheriff. He relocated to Durham in 1988 when he joined the Duke University Public Safety Department as a police officer. After rising through the ranks, Birkhead was appointed Chief of Police in 1998.

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In November 2021, retired judge Elaine O’Neal became the first African American woman elevated as mayor of Durham. Prior to election, O’Neal served as a North Carolina District Court Judge and was named Chief District Court Judge in 2002.

In 2010, she was elected as the first female Superior Court Judge for Durham County.