“The renaissance is a great thing as long as you can participate in it. In order to make it beneficial, we have to give people access to the vision.”
Since 2000, millions of dollars have been poured into downtown Durham. The investments have paid off in full, and they have financed some of my favorite places—the American Tobacco campus, DPAC and the Streets at Southpoint mall, to name a few. But in order to truly support this city, it’s important to understand the small businesses that have been thriving here for years.
Despite the new emphasis on investment in Durham, a culture of flourishing business is not new to the city. In fact, Durham has one of the longest and richest histories of entrepreneurial spirit of any city in the American South. Durham’s roots lie in tobacco. Washington Duke, the namesake of our university, launched a tobacco manufacturing company in 1865, using a tiny barn as his factory. “W. Duke and Sons” would eventually become the tobacco titan, “American Tobacco,” and the Dukes would become one of the richest families in the world. In true Durham spirit, their success was accompanied by generosity—the Dukes were philanthropists, working to establish Durham’s first hospital that served African-Americans, Lincoln Hospital. Their contributions helped Trinity College grow into a university, and they advocated in 1896 for the admittance of women as residential students and for “placing them in the future on an equal footing” with men.
Unbeknownst to many, Bull City didn’t stop at tobacco. Julian Carr, legendary businessman, took the city into the world of textiles. Cotton mills popped up across the county, and a vast manufacturing community fortified itself, giving new jobs to local laborers.
But perhaps most central and unique to Durham’s economic history is the development of Black Wall Street. A four-block district of Parrish Street became a nationally recognized hub of black business activity. John Merrick and Charles Spaulding, two of the greatest leaders of Durham’s early 20th-century community, established the NC Mutual Life Insurance Fund in 1906, heralding an age of immense success for black-owned businesses. For Durham, business was not only a means of prosperity; it was a means of equality. While in most of the country, the atrocities of Jim Crow raged against black populations, Parrish Street brought power and respect to the black communities of Durham. The Duke family famously invested in NC Mutual Life Insurance and became lifelong friends of Charles Spaulding. Before World War II, the white community in Durham not only tolerated Black Wall Street, they lauded it.
What, then, is the legacy of Durham’s business community? What can we take from the past as we move forward into a period of revitalization?
The Durham Business and Professional Chain tries to answer these questions. The Chain’s aim is to promote investment and wealth creation by increasing African American participation in the open economy and advocating for small business interests. Their work is important: there are structural barriers to black professionalism in this country--be they the school-to-prison pipeline, segregated neighborhoods, or lack of access to capital. In advocating for black businesses and workers, they support a number of historic local businesses.
Denise Hester, Chair of the Durham Business and Professional Chain Communications department, explained their mission, citing the legacy of post-WWII housing and finance discrimination as one of the roots of Durham’s inequality.
“A lot of the small businesses often feel that they have been overlooked in the recent development of downtown,” Hester said. “We try to advocate for the use of local labor and talent whenever possible.”
When big contractors come in to assemble an architectural feat, they often bring their own crews from out of state. If we want to bring true prosperity back to Durham, we should be more conscious of the way we hire, invest and shop. Durham’s historic business legacy has never been business for the sake of business. Rather, business in Durham is successful because it is business with a conscience. The students here will be key in the reinvestment in the triangle—many of you will stay here after graduating. Be mindful of the people who have been here longest, of the businesses that have been here longest, and of the equality of opportunity upon which this city is based.
As for what students can do to support local businesses, Hester says the answer is simple. It lies in the willingness to immerse in a new community—as author Bryan Stevenson told the Class of 2020 a few weeks ago, there is power in proximity.
“If you stay on campus all the time you have a really one-sided view of the place that you're in,” Hester said. “There are lots of things going on in the community around you, but you have to get off campus and experience them.”
Leah Abrams is a Trinity freshman. Her column, “cut the bull,” runs on alternate Fridays.
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Leah Abrams is a Trinity senior and the Editor of the editorial section. Her column, "cut the bull," runs on alternate Fridays.