FEATURE

'A special space carved out here in Durham’: The rise, fall and impact of Black Wall Street

By Sana Pashankar | 4 days ago

“Most people, when they talk about Durham’s Black Wall Street, they only talk about the financial district, the businesses, but it was also what we call the Hayti community. ... It was literally a community that helped the business sector to thrive and survive,” said Jim Harper, chair and professor of history at North Carolina Central University.

---

FEATURE  |  THE KUNSHAN REPORT

DKU will not allow rising first-years and sophomores to study abroad at Duke in fall 2022

By Charlie Colasurdo | January 18, 2022

Rising sophomores and the incoming class of first-years will instead be provided with in-person academic opportunities via customized DKU Global Sites for fall 2022. 

---

FEATURE

Meet Durham’s Friendship House, a community of Divinity School students and people with disabilities

By Chris Kuo | January 13, 2022

“And the 12 Divinity students are not taking care of the four core residents and our daughter. They’re friends, and that’s a magnificent thing.”

---

FEATURE

East Durham’s Rofhiwa Book Café offers access to Black literature, coffee, community

By Chloe Beittel | January 10, 2022

The Rofhiwa Book Café first opened in February 2021 as an online book retailer, then later in May as a physical storefront. Owner Beverley Boitumelo Makhubele and curator Naledi Yaziyo dreamed of creating a space for the Durham community to experience Black literature.

---

FEATURE

Keeping Cameron under control: The history behind K-Ville’s line monitors

By Anisha Reddy | January 6, 2022

Over the years, the position has grown with the basketball program’s reputation. The line monitors play a crucial role in nurturing the revered tradition of tenting before UNC-Duke matchups in Cameron. 

---

FEATURE

‘The voice of the University’: Unearthing the history and tradition of Duke’s Chapel bells

By Matthew Griffin and Paige Carlisle | December 14, 2021

The human element of choosing songs and playing them live is a way of “honoring events of Duke, of our community, of our nation, of the world in sound and music."

---

FEATURE

Clusters, craters and crescents: A night at the Duke Teaching Observatory

By Katie Tan | December 9, 2021

When it’s my turn to view, I peek into the telescope and let out an audible gasp. I see a ball of gas surrounded by large, gray elliptical rings. Though I’ve seen pictures of Saturn countless times, seeing it for real is an otherworldly experience.

---

FEATURE

From Madagascar to Durham: Duke researchers share joys, hurdles of studying lemurs

By Alison Korn | December 3, 2021

The first time Lydia Greene saw sifaka lemurs in the wild in Madagascar, it was a “very emotional” moment for her. She had studied sifakas at the Duke Lemur Center for all of her undergraduate and graduate career.

---

FEATURE

Fight to teach critical race theory in North Carolina schools continues following veto of House Bill 324

By Anisha Reddy | November 30, 2021

Recent controversy over a North Carolina bill reflects a larger national debate over how the country’s classrooms should reckon with the past. 

---

FEATURE  |  THE KUNSHAN REPORT

DKU senior Ege Kaan Duman marks first student from Turkey, Kunshan campus to be named Rhodes Scholar

By Charlie Colasurdo | November 22, 2021

Duman, a global health and biology major, plans to pursue graduate study in medical anthropology. 

---

FEATURE  |  THE KUNSHAN REPORT

A Duke education, but not in China: Duke Kunshan University international students await return to campus

By Charlie Colasurdo and Catherine Flanagan | November 16, 2021

The starkly different outcomes for DKU’s international students have been exacerbated by border closures, visa logistics and the challenge of paying for college amidst the pandemic. 

---

FEATURE

'We wanted to be involved’: Duke Law Immigrant Rights Clinic helps refugees navigate legal system

By Audrey Wang | November 12, 2021

On Sept. 13, third-year law student Andrea Guzman, second-year law student Kate Weaver and Shane Ellison, a lecturing fellow in the Law School and supervising attorney for the clinic, travelled to Fort Pickett, Va. There, thousands of Afghan refugees sleep on barrock cots or in trailers in a makeshift village.

---

FEATURE

Reforms to SOFC organizational culture prioritize inclusivity, transparency with student groups

By Connor Booher | November 10, 2021

This year, SOFC is taking a decidedly different approach to its job, with more goodwill towards student groups and committee-wide reforms. 

---

FEATURE

Forbidden real estate and broken promises: The history of housing inequality in Durham

By Katie Tan | November 8, 2021

Look around Durham today, and you’ll see neighborhoods like Walltown, Trinity Heights and Hickstown, as well as the Durham Freeway that cuts diagonally through the city. These houses and highways have existed for decades, but few know the full story behind them. 

---

FEATURE

How Durham’s population has changed in the last decade, according to U.S. Census data

By Sana Pashankar | October 29, 2021

How has the population of Durham County been affected by these developments? To answer this question, The Chronicle investigated changes in Durham’s population and income over the last 10 years using 2020 U.S. Census Data. 

---

FEATURE

‘Child of the village’: Elaine O’Neal believes community effort will make Durham a place ‘where everyone belongs’

By Chris Kuo | October 26, 2021

"The stories that she can tell, the understanding that she has of the rhythm of the city, how the rhythm of the city has changed over time, she’s watched it cycle through success and failure and dark times and bright times. She really is a living oral history of the city.”

---

FEATURE

‘We want challengers’: How did pickleball become Durham’s new favorite sport?

By Alison Korn | October 24, 2021

It all started with a couple of dads who couldn’t find their badminton rackets. 

---

FEATURE

‘Service was just the obvious choice to give back’: Duke ROTC students share their experiences as cadets

By Ayra Charania | October 20, 2021

Before dawn on a recent Thursday, cadets in Duke’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps lined up in the Morris Williams Track & Field Stadium to warm up for their physical fitness test, a once-a-semester event critical for their future as cadets. 

---

FEATURE

‘Homicide at Rough Point’: Doris Duke’s killing of longtime employee reinvestigated after half a century

By Sana Pashankar | October 17, 2021

The local police ruled Eduardo Tirella’s death an “unfortunate accident.” Duke was found negligent in the death of Eduardo Tirella and escaped the trial without any criminal liability. For decades, this official narrative remained untouched, despite rumors of murder. But new evidence now challenges that account. 

---

FEATURE

New jobs, struggling startups, a lack of affordable housing: The effects of Google and Apple coming to the Triangle

By Alison Korn | October 12, 2021

The major companies' expansions to the Triangle will provide a boost to the Triangle’s economy by bringing thousands of new jobs to the area, including for Duke students—but it could also stymie the success of tech startups, increase congestion and accentuate Durham’s lack of affordable housing.