Durham Chamber Celebrates Black History Month

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W I T H T H E D U R H A M C H A M B E R

The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce is excited to celebrate Black History Month throughout the month of February. Several days a week we will be posting about a historical figure from Durham that helped shaped our community. We invite you to follow along as we celebrate Black historical figures in Durham's history!

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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.

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In 1925 John Scarborough purchased the old Lincoln Hospital building with plans to open a day care home for young children, many of whom resided in African American community of Hayti. The home served infants, preschoolers, and school-aged children.

Clydie Scarborough, John’s wife, became executive director in 1932 and would serve in a leadership capacity for 50 years.

Scarborough Nursery School, Inc. continues its mission today and is the oldest licensed nursery school in the state of North Carolina.

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In 1927 Regal Theatre, an African American owned live entertainment venue and movie theatre, was added to the selfsufficient and thriving Hayti community.

George Logan built and operated the theater on East Pettigrew Street. The building was demolished in the 1970s as part of urban renewal.

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In 1935 C.C Spaulding and Dr. James E. Shepard formed the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs, today the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People. Early campaigns focused on voter registration.

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In 1941 Piedmont Blue musician Blind Boy Fuller died at the age of 34. Fuller lived in Hayti and played in and around tobacco warehouses. He was a dominant figure in the heyday of the Bull City’s blues scene from 1920s – 1940s.

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In 1943 Charles DeWitt Watts was the first surgeon of African-American ancestry in North Carolina. Earning his degree from Howard University in 1943, he later moved to Durham in 1949 and established a clinic to provide access to medical services for the poor.

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In 1949 Ebony magazine published Alex M. Rivera, Jr.’s article about Durham’s African American community titled “Wall Street of Negro America”. The article probably inspired the term “Black Wall Street,” a nickname used to describe the African American financial and business district on Parrish Street.

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In 1951 Floyd McKissick was the in the first group of black students to be admitted at University of North Carolina School of Law. Previously rejected from the university because of his race, the NAACP accepted his case and filed a lawsuit against UNC School of Law. Thurgood Marshall led the NCAACP defense and in a 1951 ruling the United States Court of Appeals allowed McKissick and three other students admission to UNC/s school of Law.

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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.