Durham’s Black Wall Street Research Guide

Introduction and Background

Black Businesses & Black Workers

Key Figures

Key Locations

Women and Black Wall Street

Contemporary Preservation Plans and Efforts

Additional External Materials

 

Introduction and Background

The time frame for this research guide is 1890-1950 because North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company (originally the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association) was founded in 1898 and urban renewal started in 1949. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Durham was a hot spot for Black economic prosperity. Parrish Street, where North Carolina Mutual and some other important Black businesses were located, is what was known as Black Wall Street. The time frame ends in 1950 because urban renewal displaced businesses and community members which had a direct impact on Black Wall Street. For additional information following 1950, please see the Civil Rights and Black Activism Research Guide.

The following materials can be used as background material for better understanding the environment that led to the creation of Black Wall Street in Durham.

Black Businesses & Black Workers

It is impossible to talk about Black Wall Street without talking about North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. John Merrick, Aaron McDuffie Moore, and C.C. Spaulding not only founded and ran North Carolina Mutual, but they also served as important social figures for Black Durham residents. These wealthy Black residents also founded landmark institutions such as the Negro Braille Magazine, Mechanics and Farmers Bank of Durham, and Durham Drug Company. These institutions, organizations, and community members are what put Durham on the map as far as Black economic prosperity in the South. So much so that prominent national figures, such as W.E.B Du Bois, called on others to look at Durham as a positive example of Black accomplishment. The materials in this section give insight into the creation and growth of some of these businesses as well as some context on working-class Black folks.

Negro Braille Magazine
North Carolina Mutual

Key Figures

As mentioned in the previous section, there are many important figures who worked to build a Black Wall Street in Durham. The sources include biographies and in-depth sketches of specific individuals as well as reference sources. Subcategories are included if two or more sources pertain to a specific person. 

Pauli Murray

For more information on Pauli Murray please see the Pauli Murray subject guide. 

James Shepard
Louis Austin

For access to The Carolina Times, there are a number of digitized issues at DigitalNC.

Encyclopedia and Reference Sources
  • Encyclopedia of African American Business History by Juliet K. Walker (1999).
    • The relevant entries in this encyclopedia are Entrepreneurial Enclaves (pp. 201-05), Insurance Companies (pp. 295-300), South, Black Business (pp. 523-28), and Spaulding, Asa and C.C. (pp. 528-30).  
  • Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History 2nd ed.  edited by Colin A. Palmer (2006).
    • This is a 6-volume set. The relevant entries are: Spaulding, C.C. (pp. 2127-28), Merrick, John (pp. 716, 1094-95), North Carolina Mutual Insurance (p. 1656), and Moore, Dr. Aaron (pp. 1656, 2127).  
  • North Carolina Lives by William Powell (1962). 
    • Relevant entries are for Spaulding, Asa and Spaulding, C.C.
  • Notable Black American Men by Jessie Carney Smith (1998), pp. 1075-1078.

Key Locations

This section highlights the specific locations that were important for Black Wall Street. It includes information on Chapel Hill Street and the Hayti neighborhood. Additionally, there are pictorial sources in this section to help give researchers a visual lens to explore Black Wall Street.

Pictorial Sources

Women and Black Wall Street

While many of the the resources on Black businesses and workers in Durham focus on men, women played a major role in obtaining economic prosperity for Black working-class families. This section gives resources on the intersections of gender, race, and class for Black women workers in Durham.

Contemporary Preservation Plans and Efforts

Since urban renewal in the mid-1900s effectively destroyed many of these monumental locations, there has been some discussion of ways to preserve what is left of Black Wall Street. It is important to recognize the plans that were created while also noting that as of February 2024, many of these plans have not materialized in the community. To learn more about urban renewal, please see the Civil Rights and Black Activism Research Guide.

Additional External Materials

Important external resources that are relevant to this guide include collections at the Duke and UNC Libraries. Two oral histories discuss working at NC Mutual and C.C Spaulding and James Shepard’s impact on Black Durham. 

Oral Histories
  • Interview with Conrad Odell Pearson by Walter B. Weare, April 18, 1979. H-0218 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
  • Interview with Viola G. Turner by Walter B. Weare, 15 April 1979. C-0015 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  • Interview with Viola G. Turner by Walter B. Weare, 17 April 1979. C-0016 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

 

This page was originally created by Sophia Chimbanda, Hart Leadership Fellow at Duke University, in Spring 2024. Corrections or additions may have been made by NCC staff.