Durham Chamber Celebrates Black History Month

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M A R G A R E T F A U C E T T E A N D M O L L I E A N D E D I A N M A R H A M

In 1866 Margaret Faucette and Mollie and Edian Marham established Hayti as an African American community south of town by building homes and founding religious congregations.

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D R . A . M . M O O R E , J O H N M E R R I C , C . C . S P A U L D I N G , W . G . P E A R S O N

In 1898 seven men called together by John Merrick gathered in the office of Dr. Aaron Moore to found the North Carolina Mutual Life and Providence Association. Among the group of African American leaders were James E. Shepard, Edward A. Johnson, and C.C. Spaulding. This enterprise went on to become one of the largest black-owned business in the world and to become a hub of AfricanAmerican businesses later referred to as Black Wall Street which included Mechanics and Farmers Bank and North Carolina Mutual.

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In 1901 Lincoln Hospital, founded by Dr. Aaron Moore, Dr. Stanford Warren, and John Merrick, opened in the historic Hayti neighborhood. The hospital provided health care, health education, and medical training for Durham’s African American population until its closure in 1976.

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In 1907 – Richard Fitzgerald and James E. Shepard established the first African-American bank, Mechanics and Farmers Bank. Few options were available for African Americans to safely make deposits and earn interest, considering they were often barred from using White-owned banks.

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In 1910 James E. Shepard founded what is now N.C. Central University as a private institution to train clergy and teachers. It became the first publicly-funded liberal arts college for African Americans in the nation.