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Markers honor unique heritage
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"To-day there is a singular group in Durham," he wrote, "where a black man may get up in the morning from a mattress made by black men, in a house which a black man built out of lumber which black men cut and planed; he may put on a suit which he bought at a colored haberdashery and socks knit at a colored mill; he may cook victuals from a colored grocery on a stove which black men fashioned; he may earn his living working for colored men, be sick in a colored hospital, and buried from a colored church; and the Negro insurance society will pay his widow enough to keep his children in a colored school."
Chuck Watts, chairman of the Parrish Street Advocacy Project, cited that article Friday as he and other leaders of that project, city officials and other elected leaders gathered to dedicate a second group of historical markers celebrating that heritage.
Parrish Street, home to the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company, Mechanics and Farmers Bank and other major black enterprises evolving in the early years of the last century, became known as a "black Wall Street" for that economic concentration.
The development of those businesses and the tightly knit middle- and upper-middle class that was if not unique certainly highly unusual in the Jim Crow era is a distinctive part of Durham's heritage.
The three markers unveiled Friday, added to three installed last autumn, are part of an ambitious effort to embrace that heritage. Watts' group and the city are working to eventually develop a "museum without walls" that brings to life the accomplishments and resilience of the men and women who shaped "black Wall Street" in the face of considerably difficulty.
As local historian R. Kelly Bryant put it Friday, "You look back at history now and wonder how they did it. If you have faith, dreams and fortitude, you can be a success and build on the experiences we had."
Every one of us in Durham today benefits from the legacy of that faith, dreams and fortitude, and the Parrish Street markers are a tangible daily reminder.
The Herald-Sun, 2828 Pickett Road,
Durham, NC 27705 • 919-419-6500
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Your follow up does help to narrow the question for me. If your basic point is that white supremacy in America has been and is a bad thing, then you will get no dispute from me or any other thinking person.
However, you seem not to want to even commemorate and recognize what was unique in this place at that time. On that, we just disagree.
The work of these brillant trailblasers who found a way from no way to help build churches, banks, insurance companies, libraries, universities and small businesses that continue to this day should be recognized and celebrated. These men and women were not simply a few elites but were from all segments of the anti-bellum south -- John Merrick was born a slave and worked as a brick mason, a bootblack, a barber, etc on his way to participating in the founding of most of the financial institutions that made up black wall street.
His is but one of the many unique and interesting stories. Maybe you might research Aaron McDuffie Moore or W.G. Pearson, or John Avery or Bessie Whitted, etc. The broad lableing of these folks as "elites" just dosen't really apply when you learn the specific stories of each of these titans and even that ignores the hundreds of other folks who's stories are also notable who lived during that period.
The black capitalism that grew here through the middle part of the last centruy was legendary nationally and internationally in its time even if in a context that would be unacceptable today. That horrid context is what makes their success and the level of relative tolerance around them on places like Parrish Street so notworthy.
Let me say also that the agenda of the Parrish Street Advocacy Group is to indeed develop these varied histories of real people who made this history, to challenge the dominant narrative with facts and to, in fact, have a common room where discussions like these can happen in person with authoritative resources rather than as comments to an editorial at the Hearld-Sun. I invite you to join in that effort. These markers are only the most tangible beginings of what we plan to accomplish.
Chuck Watts
I didn’t mean to suggest that black businessmen of the era were given anything; they did indeed earn it. However, they could easily have been prevented from operating a business had the white power structure now at least allowed it to happen.
I agree that the black businessmen did not have much of a choice. Simply by being in business they were aiding and abetting the racist system. It was a terrible situation. Be that as it may, elite black businessmen (and women) were useful to the system. They were much less likely to challenge the overall injustices than those with little else to lose. I agree that Durham had exactly the conditions (i.e. fairly well-to-do blacks) that could, had they challenged the system directly, led to violence as it did in Tulsa and Wilmington. This fact, however, doesn’t blunt my critique that the existence of a small black elite here served to bolster the white regime.
Perhaps I didn’t make it clear in my original posting but I have all the sympathy in the world for folks who are in this situation. My problem with the commemorations going on concerning “Durham’s Black Wall Street” is that they don’t adequately give voice to these aspects of the history of the area. It is the same sort of mentality that holds Native Americans up as brave and spiritual without addressing the conditions of slaughter and devastation wrought by European expansion in North America.
I don't disagree with your zeal to challenge the dominant narrative. Critical thinking is important, but I think your claims here are simply ahistorical. In the spirit of dialogue, let me address them point by point: a) "it gave a small number of elite blacks a stake in the racist system" -- no one gave the black wall street leaders anything, they earned it; BWS didn't simply benefit a small number of elite blacks, it fueled economic development in the entire Hayti community -- Hayti of this era had more black capitalism than any other city in the country -- and Hayti was an economically and educationally diverse community; while it probalby did result in them having a stake in the racist society of the time . . . what alternative was there . . . of course, they could have not had a stake as was the case in most cities and towns in the US . . . hmm I think that makes this history notable; b) "it enlisted those same elites to keep the more militant blacks in line" . . . the history is much more complex than that . . . when this group started the Durham Committee it was to further a broad agenda for black folks in Durham . . . militancy at the turn of the last centrury would probably not have been a viable strategy to achieve anything. . . violence would have likely triggered a Wilimington/Tulsa sort of experience in Durham but that didn't happen . . . hmmm . . . again this seems notable; c) "it gave black folks just enough money to be good customers" . . . Steven go back and read the Dubois quote . . . during that period in Durham the dollar changed hands many more times in the black community than it does today. So those dollars fueled development and respectable jobs primarily in the black community.
As Cong Price pointed out at the event, history is challenging and can be embarasing or up lifting etc but this history is clearly noteworthy and not simply self serving as you a bit too cynically suggest.
Chuck Watts
If you were threatened with hanging and being burned alive simply for being black you'd probably "go along to get along" also.
I know the white overlords loved helping "obedient" black folks. The relative success of these black businesses did several things: a)it gave a small number of elite blacks a stake in the racist system b) it enlisted those same elites to keep the more militant blacks in line and 3) it gave black folks just enough money to be good customers.
But, hey, why let the truth stand in the way of a good (self serving) story.
Steven Matherly