Durham Sesquicentennial Honors Commission Final Report to Durham City Council March 2019 Report Contents Report Contents.................................................................................................................................................. 2 I. Commission Charge........................................................................................................................................ 2 II. Process............................................................................................................................................................. 4 A. Internal Brainstorming – Honorees and Strategy ................................................................................4 B. Community Outreach ...............................................................................................................................5 C. Commission Deliberations ......................................................................................................................6 III. Results............................................................................................................................................................ 7 A. Short List ................................................................................................................................................ 7 B. Full List ................................................................................................................................................... 8 IV. How to Honor.............................................................................................................................................. 8 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................... 9 Appendix A: Commission Members .............................................................................................................10 Appendix B: Narratives for Short List Honorees........................................................................................12 Appendix C: Full List of Honorees ...............................................................................................................30 Appendix D: Template for Community Outreach......................................................................................33 Appendix E: Criteria ........................................................................................................................................ 34 I. Commission Charge Durham was officially founded in 1869. This year, a wide range of people, organizations, churches, schools, companies, and other groups have come together to commemorate and celebrate the city’s first 150 years of changes, challenges, and development. As part of that broader effort, the City Council elected a seven-member Sesquicentennial Honors Commission and charged it with a two-part mission: To identify particular historical figures in Durham who should especially be lifted up and celebrated as part of the 150th anniversary events, and to suggest how they could be honored. As members of the Commission,1 our responsibility has been to decide who we think should be honored and how, and to present those recommendations to City Council. Part of that responsibility included engaging with the broader community. We have taken this as a core part of our mission. Durham is a large and diverse place. In choosing among the many remarkable figures who have shaped the city’s development, we wanted to ensure wide representation of the groups, neighborhoods, and historical periods that have helped make this place so diverse and vibrant. We also wanted to carefully consider various areas of achievement and 1 A full list of Commission members, including short bios, is included at the end of this report. 2 distinction, such as history and education; arts and sports; innovation, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy; social equity and robust democracy; and health and environment. In carrying out this mission, we have remained focused on the word “Honors” in our Commission’s title. We are not a historical commission as such, and it is not our charge to identify the most important figures in the city’s history, but rather a particular subset of individuals to honor. To honor someone is to regard them with great respect—to admire, think highly of, or hold in high esteem. That is our mission. We are not just recognizing persons who were famous or infamous, but honoring those individuals we admire for what they did for Durham. There are many significant figures in Durham’s history—people who had a major influence on the city’s development—who are not on this list. But that does not mean that we have “rejected” those not included. As we explain in more detail below, there are simply too many potential honorees for us to be able to include them all, and we had to make some very difficult cuts. In short, this is not a comprehensive report of Durhamites worth honoring, but our best effort to identify a manageable list. The history of Durham is a history of the people who have lived here. Our goal has been to highlight some of the many extraordinary people who have helped positively shape this city throughout the first 150 years of its existence. As detailed below, we have identified 150 honorees— an appropriate number, we hope, for the city’s sesquicentennial year. This report summarizes our process and our results. -Joseph Blocher (co-chair), Michelle Gonzalez-Green (co-chair), Ernest Dollar, John Schelp, Aya Shabu, Frances Starn, and Andre Vann March 19, 2019 3 II. Process Beginning in November, 2018, the Sesquicentennial Honors Commission held eleven public meetings at City Hall. At our initial meetings, we discussed our charge and how best to achieve it. By the end of November, we had settled on a timeline for our work, which in general terms would involve some initial internal brainstorming, followed by a period of intense community outreach, and then a final set of weekly meetings to deliberate about the nominations we had received and how to assemble final lists based on that information. A. Internal Brainstorming – Honorees and Strategy We collectively decided that it would be best to present our recommendations to Council before the April 13 kickoff event. Accordingly, we agreed on a tight timeline that would require a significant amount of work on the front end. To structure our discussion, and also to harmonize with the Durham 150 Convening Committee, we began with the four major themes of the Durham 150 celebration: History and Education, Arts and Leisure, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Social Equity and Robust Democracy. We modified those categories to reflect our slightly different mission, and eventually settled on five headers: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) History and Education Arts and Sports Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Philanthropy Social Equity and Robust Democracy Health and Environment Using those themes as a guide, but not a limitation, we individually and collectively assembled an initial list of names. It was a broad and diverse list, representing various demographic groups, eras in history, areas of Durham, and categories of accomplishment. This initial process of brainstorming was an energizing reminder of the city’s extraordinary history. We also made a few consensus decisions to limit to scope of our deliberations. First, we decided only to consider names of people who are no longer living—a limitation that we highlighted in all of our community outreach as well. Second, we decided to prioritize identifiable individuals, rather than groups, organizations, or institutions. We did so not because those groups are unimportant. To the contrary, we think it is crucial to honor the generations of Native Americans, brickmakers, tobacco workers, textile workers, and other groups—many of whose individual names might be lost to history. We note our respect and appreciation for the contributions of those groups, and hope that the City will find effective ways to honor them going forward. Throughout the process, we also developed a longer and more nuanced list of characteristics that we wanted to prioritize and emphasize. Those are described in more detail in the “Deliberations” section below. Much of our brainstorming was focused not on names of potential honorees, but on names of organizations, groups, and individuals in the Durham community with whom we should consult. 4 Over multiple meetings, we built a list that included neighborhood associations, PACs, faith organizations, newspapers, schools, online forums, and others to contact, as well as events and gatherings where we wanted to be present. We then divided up that list among the members of the Commission, and took responsibility for particular assignments. B. Community Outreach We regarded community outreach as an essential part of our mission, and we worked hard to achieve it. Rather than relying on outreach simply as a means of identifying names, we approached it as part of our substantive responsibility. As noted in more detail in the “Results” section below, the feedback and suggestions we received played a large role in our ultimate recommendations. In fact, the majority of the names we have included in our two lists were recommended by community members. As part of our outreach plan, we developed a template that members of the Commission could use when gathering nominations from community members. The purpose of doing so was to keep nominations reasonably uniform in terms of the information they contained, and also to ensure—to the degree possible—that nominators gave us the information we needed in terms of who should be honored, why, and how. The form was designed to be simple and easy to read, and was also made available in electronic form on our website. It is included as Appendix D of this report. As an initial step, we established an online presence. We began by developing and publishing a website, which is available at https://www.durhamhonors.org/. The website explains the Commission’s mission, requests nominations, provides contact information, and highlights Durham 150’s event calendar. We publicized this link broadly, including via Twitter and Facebook, and received a strong response, which is summarized in the “Results” section below. We also wanted to take an active role in reaching out directly to groups and individuals. That outreach took many forms. Some was face-to-face and individual. Commission members met with neighbors, friends, and other members of the community to ask for their thoughts on who should be honored and how. These responses were handwritten on our form template, and then entered by us via the website to ensure that all information was saved in the same place. Other individual outreach included emails and conversations with individuals who might personally have knowledge of historical figures worth honoring. Much of our outreach happened through organizations. We made presentations to PACs, attended meetings of neighborhood associations, and tried to build connections with other relevant groups. One of those was the Durham 150 Convening Committee. We attended one of its meetings, met with Co-Chairs Shelly Green and Patrick Mucklow, and invited Durham 150 to send representatives to some of our meetings as well, which they did. Although our groups have different missions, timelines, and points of emphasis, we found it very helpful to work alongside them, and did our best to coordinate when possible. Other examples of community outreach included communication with educators to discuss how the work of the Commission might draw from (or contribute to) the curricula of local schools. We contacted groups whose missions we thought intersected with that of the Commission, such as those focused on historical preservation, religion, sports, and environmental protection. Many of 5 these groups then circulated our information to their membership via email listservs and the like, which helped generate nominations targeted at particular areas of interest. In terms of broader publicity, we developed and circulated a short press release, which appeared in the Carolina Times. We also published an article, “As Durham turns 150, how should the figures of the city’s past be remembered?”, in the Herald-Sun and News & Observer, describing the “exciting opportunity to think positively with Durham’s history and focus on who should be celebrated, why, and how.” We provided contact information and asked for nominations. Our plan is not to end the community outreach phase even now that we have submitted this report to Council. To the contrary, many of the plans we have developed will continue throughout the year, and we hope and expect to continue receiving nominations, having discussions, and working on programming throughout the sesquicentennial year. C. Commission Deliberations Beginning in February, now with an extensive list of potential honorees, we began the careful and difficult process of selecting a “final” list. This involved intense discussion and debate at weekly meetings, as well as extensive work by phone and email. Indeed, we found that narrowing down the list of honorees to a manageable number was perhaps the hardest task of all. In doing so, we developed a set of overall criteria to guide our deliberations. As noted in the “Charge” section of this report, we wanted to identify individuals representing a wide range of accomplishments, to include people who are well-known but also those who might be less well known outside of their immediate communities. We sought balance as between the list we had brainstormed and the list we received from community outreach. (The lists ended up overlapping to a considerable degree; in fact all but a handful of our short list of honorees were nominated by community members.) Most of all, we wanted to be true to the honor part of our charge. To make that concept more concrete, and our reasoning more transparent, we identified three layers of criteria. First, our main requirements for evaluating nominations included whether the person had a positive end result in terms of influencing their community, a consideration of socio-economic demographics, whether the person had a sense of “risk” and “grit,” and whether the person impacted a significant number of people either locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally. We thought of these as requirements in the sense that they were our top priority. Second, in considering the list as a whole, we identified some overall considerations: the balance of a person’s impact, an examination of any missing areas, and a goal of having at least three honorees in each of our five themed categories. Some of these criteria are listed in Appendix E. Third, in terms of making final adjustments, we articulated various factors that might guide us our decisionmaking: the era of a person’s action, whether they represented the priorities of where Durham is headed, and how well they met the “mission statement” of Durham (such as that endorsed by City Council here). 6 Our hope was that identifying all of these criteria together would help us ensure that our decisionmaking was transparent, open, and productive. We made every major decision by consensus, and the entire Commission unanimously approved the final results at our March 18 meeting. Those results are explained below. III. Results At the conclusion of our brainstorming, outreach, and deliberations, we had two lists of people, both of which we are presenting to City Council along with this report. We also want to emphasize again that this is not a comprehensive list of important historical figures from Durham. That was not our charge. Instead, it is a list of individuals who we think exemplify the characteristics that define honor. A. Short List The first list includes our main honorees—the short list of people who we think it is especially appropriate to single out as part of the city’s sesquicentennial celebrations. They are a diverse and accomplished group, representing many different facets of Durham’s history. For each of these honorees, we have written short biographical narratives, which explain why we have chosen them. These can be found in Appendix B of the report. The list consists of 29 people whose dedication, accomplishments, and passion have helped shape this city in important ways. Category Honoree History & Education Louisa Whitted Burton Dr. Lucinda McCauley Harris Dr. John Hope Franklin C.P. Ellis & Ann Atwater Dr. James E. Shepard Arts & Sports Ernie Barnes Dr. Baba Chuck Davis Rev. Gary Davis & Blind Boy Fuller Dr. Monte Moses & Mrs. Connie Moses Alex Rivera Dr. LeRoy T. Walker Social Equity & Robust Democracy Dr. Louis Austin Tana Hoffman-Ramirez Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray Gov. Terry Sanford Carl Wittman Innovation, Entrepreneurship 7 & Philanthropy John Merrick, C.C. Spaulding & Richard Fitzgerald Viola Turner Dr. Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Environment & Health R. Kelly Bryant, Jr. Dr. Sharon Elliott-Bynum Dr. Aaron McDuffie Moore Hildegarde Ryals Dick Westcott We are proud of this list, but we want to emphasize that all of the people on both of our lists are meant to be honored. By far the most difficult part of our task was narrowing down the list into something manageable. We could easily have chosen another 29, and been similarly happy with the results. B. Full List What we are calling the “Full List” includes every name that we received via community outreach or through our own internal brainstorming, with a few exceptions. First, we cut out the names that are already represented on the Short List. Second, in keeping with our rule against honorees who are still living, we eliminated names of persons we knew to be alive. Third, we removed duplicate nominations. Fourth, we exercised some (very limited) editorial control in cutting a handful of names that we unanimously agreed did not fall within the ambit of the Commission’s mission. The Full List includes 121 names. Combined with the 29 on our Short List, that makes for 150 honorees—an appropriate benchmark for the City’s sesquicentennial. IV. How to Honor Part of our charge was to consider ways to specifically honor the individuals we have identified. We were urged to think creatively about how that might be done, including mediums such as visual art, song, dance, plaques, place names, and the like. In addition to inviting a different kind of brainstorming, the question of how to honor the individuals we have identified raises a unique set of challenges. We did not want to duplicate efforts already underway by the Durham 150 group, which has ambitious and exciting plans to celebrate Durham in a variety of ways. We are conscious of (but do not have control over) budgetary and other constraints. We also did not want to make recommendations that might be taken to suggest that some of our honorees are deserving of “more” recognition than others. Accordingly, our recommendations here are meant to be flexible and tentative. Our hope was to identify a method of honoring individuals that would be effective, accessible, and flexible. We wanted to capture what is important about these individuals, and to make it possible for future generations not only to learn this history but to add to it themselves. 8 This line of thinking led us to consider the East Coast Greenway. The Greenway provides a tangible, common connection across diverse neighborhoods of Durham, from Bimbe/Rock Quarry, Eno River Festival, and Northgate Park to the north; to Central Park, Farmers Market, and downtown; to Southside/St Theresa, Hayti, Hillside, MLK, Southpoint, and beyond. That geographic diversity is matched by the experience of traveling along the trail. One minute, vegetable gardens brimming with collard greens; the next, homes in Forest Hills or the back of Hillside High. The Greenway is easily reachable by car at multiple street crossings, making it an accessible part of the Durham community. But, in keeping with our theme of honoring those who have had a broad impact, it continues far beyond the city’s boundaries. This ribbon of humanity is the urban cousin of the Appalachian Trail, and will eventually extend from Maine to Florida. We recommend celebrating all of our 29 honorees on this common ground, with bronze plaques atop brick and mortar pedestals. The brick would honor the Fitzgerald family and Durham’s tobacco factories & cotton mills. The bronze would represent our industrial/blue collar heritage. Families, student groups, and others could visit the markers to learn more about significant people in Durham history. This approach would be effective and cost-effective. The land is already city owned, and the markers themselves are durable and do not require much maintenance. Moreover, there is precedent for similar markers. Recently, the city erected a marker for Blind Boy Fuller on the American Tobacco Trail near Fayetteville Street Elementary. In addition to its durability, however, we think that this approach would be desirable because of its flexibility. Future generations could see what we have done and add their own markers. Or, if we were to broaden the frame to focus on more than individuals, we might add markers for Native Americans, tobacco-brick-mill workers, or other groups significant to Durham history. We are happy to work with Council and city departments on the design and placement of such markers. Our second suggestion is that the CCB plaza be renamed. We are aware that there may be practical and even legal obstacles to this proposal, and that there are many worthy possibilities. We present it purely as a recommendation. Third, our commission recommends a full oral history project of our elders outside of the Black and White cultures here in Durham, to make sure we document their achievements for posthumous honors in the future. This is includes the Latino, Asian and Middle Eastern communities and more which contribute to the fabric of Durham. Finally, we are excited about the possibility of further celebrations and commemorations going forward. We have collected a long list of creative and powerful suggestions from community members, including statues, murals, plaques, performances, scholarships, and site-specific art. We hope that some of these ideas come to realization come together going forward as part of the ongoing sesquicentennial celebration. Conclusion 9 Over the past few months, we have been fortunate to have the opportunity to think hard about some of individuals who, over the past 150 years, have made Durham the place it is today. Looking out over that crowd, it is nearly impossible to pick out a subset of people who to honor, but we have done our best, within our constraints, to do so. Our recommended honorees—along with many others—have contributed to making the fabric of this city as vibrant as it is. 10 Appendix A: Commission Members Joseph Blocher (co-chair) is a professor of law at Duke, where he teaches constitutional law, property law, and legal history—including the history of Durham, where he was born and raised. Michelle Gonzalez-Green (co-chair) is owner, curator and artist-in-residence at The584, an art and design studio in downtown Durham, NC. Michelle has more than 20 years experience in the field of nonprofit management, including Executive Director positions at Liberty Arts and SeeSaw Studio, as Program Director for the first pilot MIT Fab Lab artist incubator in NC, and continuing her work as an activist for the cause to fight AIDS. Ernest Dollar, a Durham native, began working in historic sites in 1993 after completing his B.A. in History and B.F.A. in Design from U.N.C. Greensboro. Ernest has worked in several historic parks in both North and South Carolina. In 2006, he completed his M.A. in Public History from N.C. State and has served as the Executive Director of the Orange County Historical Museum, Preservation Society of Chapel Hill, and is currently director of the City of Raleigh Museum. John Schelp worked with the Peace Corps and USAID in Congo for seven years and was an elections observer with Jimmy Carter in Liberia. He's served as vice-president of the NAACPDurham branch, vice-president of People's Alliance, president of the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association, history museum advisory board, Pauli Murray steering committee, president of the North Carolina Peace Corps Association, chair of the UNC-Greensboro Parent Council and People’s Alliance Fund board. Aya Shabu is a performance artist, theater choreographer and educator living in Durham, North Carolina. Passionate about unearthing African cultural traditions in the diaspora, Aya created Whistle Stop Tours —a performance based walking tour company erecting stories in and about black neighborhoods threatened by gentrification. Frances Starn is an aspiring educator and Durham native. She has worked at Student U, Schoolhouse of Wonder, and is currently serving as the AmeriCorps Education and Outreach Coordinator at Durham Public Schools Hub Farm. Andre D. Vann, archivist and public historian and a 30 year resident of Durham City and County is the Coordinator of University Archives and Instructor of Public History at North Carolina Central University and is author of two works on the history of African Americans in Hayti and the Durham communities. Also, he is President of the Friends of the Stanford L. Warren Branch Library and a member of the Friends of Durham Library and a former member of the Durham City County Planning Commission. Vernetta Alston (City Council, Special Liaison to the Commission) has worked as a staff attorney for North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services and the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. She has also served as a member of the Durham's Citizen Advisory Committee, the Durham Peoples' Alliance Board, and the University of North Carolina Law Pro Bono Alumni Board. 11 The members of the Commission would also like to thank Patrick Mucklow of the Museum of Durham History, Shelly Green and E’Vonne Coleman of Discover Durham, Council Member DeDreanna Freeman, Gineen Cargo and Shade Shakur of Durham 150, and Mayor Steve Schewel. Most of all, we are grateful to the community members who dedicated their time and energy to providing us guidance. 12 Appendix B: Narratives for Short List Honorees History & Education Louisa Whitted Burton (1864-1932) Louisa Whitted Burton was born in Hillsborough , North Carolina in June of 1864, during the Civil War, when her parents Sally Cain and Alston Whitted were enslaved. Louisa was the only girl of nine children born into her family. Louisa was among the first women admitted into Shaw University after it became a coeducational institution and she graduated from "Estey Seminary" and embarked on a career in education and came to Durham Her brother James A. Whitted was the first African American principal and "colored superintendent" of schools in Durham beginning in the 1880s. Ms. Burton served as a grammar school teacher and high school English teacher. From 1926-1932, Ms. Burton was Dean of Girls at Hillside High School, the only African-American high school in the area. W. G. Pearson a pioneering African-American educator, was the principal of Hillside then. Although there was no designated “Assistant Principal” at Hillside, Ms. Burton was Hillside ’s de facto Assistant Principal. Ms. Burton, is remembered as one of the first African American women in North Carolina to have such school related authority, is a role model for all children. The Louisa Burton Magnet Elementary School is named in her honor and she is interred in Beechwood Cemetery. Ann Atwater & C.P. Ellis Atwater (1935-2016), Ellis (1927-2005) Without power or privilege, Claiborne Paul (C.P.) Ellis and Ann Atwater worked together to integrate Durham Public Schools. In 1971 Ellis and Atwater became co-chairs of Save Our Schools, a 10-day series of public forums on school integration. Born in 1935 to a family of sharecroppers, Ann Atwater dedicated her life to community organizing and promoting civil rights in Durham. Caring and powerful, Atwater advocated for improvements to the housing system, created a program bringing together inequality policy “experts” and those most affected by poverty, and was a supportive friend to people across our city. Atwater encouraged others to use their own voices to fight for positive change. Born in 1927 to a family of textile workers, C.P. Ellis was a labor organizer and spent his entire life in Durham. Ellis lived in poverty for much of his life, leading him find sense of belonging as Exalted Grand Cyclops in the Durham chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. On the tenth day of the Save Our Schools forums, Ellis ripped his KKK membership card and left the Klan. He would go on to work as an organizer of the International Union of Operating Engineers. 13 Through the Save Our Schools forum, Atwater and Ellis found what they had in common as parents and people. They recognized their collective struggle as people living in poverty and the dire need to overcome differences for the good of our community’s children. Atwater and Ellis were lifelong friends. Dr. John Hope Franklin (1915-2009) John Hope Franklin was born in 1915 in Oklahoma, earned degrees from Fisk University and Harvard University, and first moved to Durham in 1943 to take up a teaching position at North Carolina College for Negroes—forerunner to North Carolina Central University. By the time he died in Durham in 2009, he had helped shape and define the study of African American history. Widely regarded as one of the most important and influential historians of the past century, Franklin taught at North Carolina College from 1943 to 1947, eventually moving on to positions at Howard University, Brooklyn College, and the University of Chicago. He returned to Durham in 1983 to join the faculty at Duke University, where the John Hope Franklin Center and Franklin Humanities Institute are named for him. Franklin’s best known work is From Slavery to Freedom, published in 1947. On the fiftieth anniversary of that book, Franklin explained, “My challenge was to weave into the fabric of American history enough of the presence of blacks so that the story of the United States could be told adequately and fairly.” He pursued that challenge not only in scholarship and teaching, but in other forms of public service. In the 1950s, he served on Thurgood Marshall’s NAACP legal team, helping to lay the foundations for Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision striking down school segregation. At the national level, he served on the National Council on the Humanities, the President’s Advisory Commission on Ambassadorial Appointments, and One America: The President’s Initiative on Race. In 1995, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. In addition to his positions at NCCU and Duke, he was an active member of the Durham community. Among other things, he helped to establish the Durham Literacy Center and served on its Board until his death in 2009. Despite this towering list of accomplishments, Franklin said, toward the end of his long life, “Looking back, I can plead guilty of having provided only a sketch of the work I laid out for myself.” Dr. Lucinda McCauley Harris (1911-1987) The City of Durham has the legacy of a young black woman, Dr. Lucinda McCauley Harris, an educator, who in the late 1940s dared to dream. Her dream included providing a school to educate African American students, in a then segregated society, who wanted to become entrepreneurs, accountants, executive secretaries, business administrators, computer operators, 14 medical technologists, court reporters and fashion merchandisers. Her vision became Durham College. Her impact to the City of Durham is evidenced by over 5,000 students she bought to Durham, from across the United States and foreign countries, to receive their education. She exposed these students to an educational experience that led them to great successes and left some with a desire to make Durham their home. Her legacy helped the City of Durham gain prominent citizens serving in important position in city/county/state/federal government, federal education, medical field, nonprofit, faith-based institutions and the business area. She represented Durham in the field of education through her travels and contacts with well- known Americans and foreign dignitaries. (Muhammad Ali came to the Bull City to dedicate Durham College's new gymnasium -- the first building in the U.S. named after Ali.) Her vision for these students greatly impacted the City of Durham, the United States and abroad for over three decades and continues to offer Durham the fruits of her labor. Many of the employees in Durham’s banks, federal government offices, local business offices, educational systems and hospitals received their education because of her vision. Dr. James E. Shepard (1875-1947) Dr. Shepard, a Raleigh native, was born on November 3, 1875 to Reverend Augustus Shepard and Harriet E. Whitted Shepard. He received his undergraduate education at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., and graduated with a Ph.G. degree in pharmacy in 1894. From 1895 to 1897, he worked as a pharmacist and religious educator in Virginia and North Carolina. In 1895, Shepard married Annie Day Robinson, the granddaughter of furniture maker Thomas Day and settled in Durham. From 1905 to 1909, he traveled the country as field superintendent for the International Sunday School Association In 1909, the Durham Merchants Association together with prominent African American businessmen John Merrick and Charles C. Spaulding, physicians Aaron M. Moore and Charles H. Shepard, and educator William Gaston Pearson raised $25,000 for a school that Shepard planned to open in Durham, N.C., called the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race. The official charter was signed on 28 June 1909, and classes began in 1910. The original 25 acres were donated by Brodie L. Duke. In 1923, the North Carolina General Assembly began to provide annual support and the name was changed to Durham State Normal School. Despite the support, the school faced financial hardships and mounting debt nearing $49,000. Shepard urged the state of North Carolina to take over the school. In the legislative session of 1925, a bill was passed with only one dissenting vote to make it a state institution, and the school was renamed the North Carolina College for Negroes, becoming the first public liberal arts college for African Americans in the United States. He was a founder of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, Mechanics and Farmers Bank, and the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs. 15 The James E. Shepard Middle School , The James E.Shepard Memorial Library, Shepard House, and the newly named James E. Shepard Administration Building at NC Central University are all named in his honor. He is interred in Beechwood Cemetery. Arts & Sports Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) Born in 1938, Ernest Eugene “Ernie” Barnes Jr. was a visual artist, NFL football player, actor and author born in the Hayti community of Durham. Always a creative child, the limited opportunities for artists in the segregated South forced him to revise his art dreams and instead pursue athletics. In 1956, he graduated from Hillside High School with 26 athletic scholarship offers. He took this opportunity to use his sports talent to support his creative abilities, majoring in art at North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University). As an athlete, his track coach was Dr. LeRoy T. Walker. In football, he played positions of tackle and center at NCC. In 1960, he was the 10th draft choice of the then-World Champion Baltimore Colts, who dropped him when they found out he was Black. He spent a successful NFL career played for the San Diego Chargers (1960-62), the Denver Broncos (1963-64) and other teams. Always creative, during break times he was known to run onto the sideline to give hand sketches he made to the offensive line coach until the end of the game. In 1965, Barnes retired from football to devote his life to art. NFL Jets owner David Werblin paid Barnes his football salary to quit football and become an artist. Barnes first work was at Manhattan's prestigious Grand Central Art Galleries. Barnes moved to Los Angeles to pursue his art career, and also producing and acting, with roles in TV and film including: Number One with Charlton Heston; Doctors' Wives; Don't Look Back, the story of Satchel Paige; and the series Doctors' Hospital. In 1971 Barnes created the exhibition “The Beauty of the Ghetto”, a solo work of 35 paintings that premiered in Los Angeles and toured the US from 1972 to 1979, including a 1974 presentation hosted by Ethel Kennedy in Washington, D.C, during which time Representative John Conyers wrote Barnes into the Congressional Record. In this exhibition was his most famous painting to date, entitled “Sugar Shack”. This work has become an icon in American culture; it was used for the opening credits and in the television show Good Times, and by Marvin Gaye as the cover to his 1976 album. In 1984, he was appointed Official Artist of the XXIII Olympiad of Los Angeles. After the 1992 LA Riots, the city licensed his painting "Growth Through Limits" as a billboard to inspire hope and unity. Junior high school students won a cash prize in an essay contest awarded by Barnes himself for interpreting the painting's symbolic message. He died in 2009 in Los Angeles. What Ernie Barnes said of his “The Beauty of the Ghetto” exhibition speaks to his life as a whole: "I am providing a pictorial background for an understanding into the aesthetics of Black 16 America. It is not a plea to people to continue to live there, but for those who feel trapped, it is a challenge of how beautiful life can be." Dr. Baba Chuck Davis (1937-2017) Baba Charles “Chuck” Davis was Durham’s “cultural arts ambassador” and an American icon who used dance to build a bridge between America and the African global village. Baba Chuck was a fixture at important community events, opening annual festivals like Bimbe and Kwanzaa with grand ceremony. One of the foremost teachers and choreographers of traditional African dance in America, Baba Chuck traveled extensively throughout Africa for his research and cultural exchange. A student of dance giants Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, and Geoffrey Holder Baba Chuck later danced with companies formed by Babatunde Olatunji, Eleo Pomare and Bernice Johnson, and became the founder and artistic director of the Chuck Davis Dance Company (1963), DanceAfrica (1977), and the African American Dance Ensemble (1983). During his tenure with the American Dance Festival (1974), Davis coined the term “in-reach” rather than outreach, bringing his dancers and cultural arts programming into every school and recreation center in Durham. Baba Chuck believed in and nurtured the innate gifts of every individual regardless of their background. Recognized for his artistic and humanitarian efforts, Baba Chuck has been the recipient of numerous awards in the dance world and beyond. In 1992 he received the North Carolina Award in Fine Arts, the state's highest honor. Davis and DanceAfrica, were cited as one of America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures: The First 100 by the Dance Heritage Coalition. In 2014 Davis received a Bessie Award for outstanding service to the field of dance. Baba Chuck Davis united people of all races, classes, genders, and abilities under his message of “Peace, Love, and Respect for Everybody”. Reverend Gary Davis & Blind Boy Fuller Davis (1896-1972), Fuller (1907-1941) Blind Boy Fuller (aka Fulton Allen) and Reverend Gary Davis are seminal figures in the development of folk blues, influencing folk artists around the world. Fuller and Davis epitomized what was known as the Piedmont Blues and produced songs that were later covered by Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Peter, Paul and Mary, the Everly Brothers, and Keb’ Mo’. At different times, both Fuller and Davis migrated to Durham - the epicenter of black culture - to make money as street musicians in the tobacco warehouse district along E. Pettigrew St. Fuller was a student of Davis, and both men became part of a band with other musicians and both attained commercial success as a result. Reverend Gary Davis had exceptional skill on both the harmonica and banjo and is most celebrated for his unique fingerpicking style on guitar. During the 1950s, Rev. Davis co-authored a 300-page oral history with folklorist Elizabeth Harold Goodman. 17 Fuller recorded 130 albums under several labels between 1935 and 1941; his song, “Step it Up and Go” sold over one million copies. Fuller generously wrote and played songs about his own life experiences, giving a raw and honest voice to the struggles of black tenant farmers. Former Mayor Nick Tennyson proclaimed June 16, 2001 as "Blind Boy Fuller Day". Dr. Monte Moses & Mrs. Connie Moses Monte (1919-2011), Connie (1920-1985) Monte, born in 1919, was a scientist and supporter of the arts who served as President of the Carolina Theater and as Professor of Anatomy at Duke University School of Medicine. In 1959, Monte was already a world recognized scientist when he moved to Durham and joined the Duke University School of Medicine as an Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy; he became a Professor in 1966. He served as Vice-Chairman from 1987-1988. In 19811989, he was the R.J. Reynolds Professor in Medical Education, and was honored with Professoremeritus status in 1989. In 1969, through continued study at Duke, Monte re-named his already famous discovery of the synaptinemal complex to the etymologically more correct term “synaptonemal complex”, used in many scientific studies to this day, particularly around the work on DNA and cell division. Monte spent the rest of his scientific career studying the SC, opening up a field of active investigations by many scientists on the functions, protein constituents, and molecular mechanisms of the synaptonemal complex. In 2006, a session at the Gordon Research Conference on Meiosis celebrated the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the SC. Monte joined Duke’s Department of Cell Biology upon its establishment in 1988, helping to promote the careers of pioneering women in biology such as Sheila Counce and Adelaide Carpenter, offering them space for their research. Obviously one of the brightest scientific minds in the Durham community, Monte was also described as an eternal optimist and a funny, sweet man of many talents: magician, musician, sailor, carpenter, juggler, theater performer and photographer. He was known to entertain his fellow faculty with circus and puppetry performances with his family in the backyard of his home in Durham. The child of artistic parents, as a young man, he was one of the few people that actually ran off to join a circus. But his lasting contribution to Durham was yet to come. In 1978, Monte, along his wife Connie, organized efforts to save the Carolina Theatre from demolition and to re-open it as an art movie house. In the early days, Monte sometimes did the theatre’s maintenance and repair himself, once spending Christmas Eve fixing the heating system in time for the next day’s showings. The family also established the Connie and Monte Moses Endowment for Arts in Durham at the Triangle Community Foundation. Friends and colleagues described him as a true gentleman: kind, thoughtful, and caring, and had an enthusiasm for science and life itself. Connie Moses was a fierce champion for the arts in Durham. She is credited with being the tour de force behind rescuing The Carolina Theatre from demolition. She was a professional performer with a background in radio who loved to sing. In 1978, The Carolina Theatre was closed 18 and in threat of being gone forever. She used her experience and her love of the arts to form a nonprofit with her husband, called the Carolina Cinema Corporation. Connie spearheaded the efforts to garner support to renovate and preserve the theater, and the City of Durham leased the venue to their nonprofit. Through the late 1970s and the 1980s, Connie led scores of volunteers to renovate, preserve and maintain one of the historical treasures of downtown Durham. She was known to do most of the work of cleaning and preserving the architectural details of the building herself. In one of the rooms, she even put a gilded frame around a section of the dirt that she and volunteers personally scrubbed away from the walls as a reminder of their accomplishment. The Carolina Theatre became an art house cinema. Today there is a ballroom named after Connie, who was described as “the four-star general who led the army of volunteer troops who saved the theatre from the wrecking ball.” Alex Rivera (1969-2018) Born in 1913 in Greensboro, Alexander “Alex” McCallister Rivera Jr. was a world-renowned photographer, civil rights activist, and avid supporter of North Carolina Central University and the Hayti community. In 1939, NCCU Founder Dr. James E. Shepard personally recruited Rivera, who was then a photojournalist for the Washington Tribune, to establish a news bureau for NCCU, then known as the North Carolina College for Negroes. Rivera graduated from Durham College in 1941. During WWII, Rivera served with the Office of Naval Intelligence. In 1946, while based in NC, he became a correspondent for the National Negro Press Association and the Pittsburgh Courier, then one of the country’s leading Black-owned newspapers. Rivera became famous for his coverage of the last lynchings in South Carolina and Alabama, the legal challenges to school segregation, and the aftermath of the landmark Brown v. The Topeka Board of Education decision, for which he was awarded a Global Syndicate Award in 1955. In 1949, Ebony magazine published one of his articles about Durham's Parrish Street headlined: "Wall Street of Negro America," which is now known as Black Wall Street. During his career, Rivera photographed many noted leaders and celebrities, including opera singer Marian Anderson; tennis star Arthur Ashe; writers Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright; Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and NC Chief Supreme Court Justice Henry Frye. In 1975, he accompanied President Richard Nixon on a trip to Africa. An avid athletics fan, he photographed sports basketball coach John B. McLendon and his team players, including five-time NBA All-Star Sam Jones. Rivera captured former US Olympic Committee President and NCCU coach and Chancellor, Dr. LeRoy T. Walker, and gold medalist hurdler Lee Calhoun. Rivera helped establish the Athletic Hall of Fame there and managed its induction ceremony for 15 years. In 2005, the Alex M. Rivera Athletic Hall of Fame was named in the McLendon-McDougald Gymnasium. It displays many of Rivera’s large-scale photographs from NCCU’s athletic history. 19 In 1975, at the invitation of Rivera, President Gerald Ford visited the 65th NCCU Founders Day celebration. He served as NCCU’s public relations Director from 1977 to 1993. Upon retirement, Gov. James Hunt awarded Rivera the Order of the Longleaf Pine. In 1996, Rivera's work was featured in the PBS documentary "Exposures of a Movement," about the civil rights movement in the Carolinas. His work was also featured in an exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of History. Later in life, he also served at the local Boys and Girls Clubs and on the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People. Although internationally respected, Alex Rivera was also well-loved by neighbors and known as a humble, genuine, dapper dan of a man who often gave gifts of the portraits he took while walking in his beloved Hayti community of Durham. Dr. LeRoy T. Walker (1918-2012) LeRoy Tashreau Walker was born on June 14, 1918, in a poor area of Atlanta, the youngest of 13 children. He was the only one in his family to go to college. Attending Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., on an athletic scholarship, he was an all-conference basketball player, an AllAmerican quarterback and a magna cum laude graduate. He went on to earn a master’s degree in physical education from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in exercise physiology and biomechanics from New York University. Dr. Walker was a pioneer. He coached athletes at every Olympic Games from 1956 to 1976. He was the first African-American Olympic head coach when he led the U.S. track and field team at the 1976 Montreal games. He became the first African American president of the U.S. Olympic Committee and played a central role in bringing the 1996 games to Atlanta, his hometown. In a career that began in 1945 at North Carolina College (now NCCU), he coached 111 All-Americans, 40 national champions and 12 Olympians. He also coached Olympic teams from Ethiopia, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, and Trinidad-Tobago. In 1983, UNC President Friday tapped Dr. Walker to become interim chancellor of NCCU. He served in this capacity until 1986, the UNC Board of Governors retroactively awarded him the title of permanent chancellor. When he left NCCU, it was to assume the position of treasurer, then chief of mission and finally president of the U.S. Olympic Committee. It was under Dr. Walker’s leadership from 1992 to 1996 that the games came to Atlanta in 1996. The LeRoy T. Walker Athletic Complex at North Carolina Central University is named in his honor. Social Equity & Robust Democracy Dr. Louis Austin (1898-1971) 20 Louis Ernest Austin, who was a native of Enfield, North Carolina came to Durham, North Carolina in 1917 to attend the National Training School (now North Carolina Central University). Austin, was a small, slender man and one who wore plain dark suits, white shirts, narrow ties, but who loomed large in the minds of those in the Durham community. Austin worked as an insurance agent for the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company until 1926. In 1927, Austin purchased the Carolina Times, with a $250.00 loan from R. L. McDougald, executive vice president of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank. In 1928 he bought a flatbed press and a small amount of type and brought a fervent belief in decency and dignity for African Americans throughout the "Long Civil Rights Struggle" in North Carolina from the 1930s to the 1970s. As editor and publisher of the militant newspaper, the Carolina Times, he dedicated the paper, whose motto is "The Truth Unbridled," to justice and equality for all African Americans in the Durham community and greater North Carolina community at large. As a journalist he used the weekly paper to raise the consciousness level of the black citizenry in Durham and to serve as an "organ of protest and reform" in all facets of life in Durham. Austin’s office located at 436 E. Pettigrew Street served as the headquarters for many civil rights efforts in the local community. He also fought to hire black firemen, policemen, and bus drivers; he crusaded for equal pay for black teachers and paved streets and adequate streetlights in black communities. In 1933, he was the driving force behind Raymond Hocutt's legal challenge of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's segregation policy. In 1935, he helped to found the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs to serve as a political base for the black community and in 1934, he was among the first black magistrates elected in the south during that era. In 1938, Austin crusaded for the hiring of black policemen and firemen which resulted in the hiring of two African Americans on the police force. Austin used the Times to challenge segregation, discrimination and white supremacy at great cost under the threat of terror and financial repercussions; nonetheless, he persisted. During the 1950s and 1960s he was at home with a new generation of civil rights demonstrators in demanding equality and freedom in the civil rights struggles. In 1953, he handled public relations for Rencher N. Harris's successful and noted campaign to become the first black member of the Durham City Council. Austin died on June 12, 1971, but the legacy of the Carolina Times continues, as it is now published by the family’s third generation of publishers, and it stands as a monument and voice of the people in the Durham community-the Louis E. Austin History Grove was dedicated in his honor in 2017. NC Central University history professor Dr. Jerry Gershenhorn has authored the definitive biography of Austin entitled Louis Austin and the Carolina Times: A Life in the Long Black Freedom Struggle. The State of North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program will recognize Austin with a marker dedication in Enfield, North Carolina in June 2019. Tana Hoffman-Ramirez 21 (1969-2018) Tana Hoffman Ramirez worked for almost two decades as a passionate feminist advocate for Latina women’s rights in Durham. A licensed psychologist in her native country of Mexico, she immigrated to the United States and worked for 17 years at El Centro Hispano, North Carolina’s largest grassroots Latino organization, based in Durham. Tana spent almost two decades volunteering as director of their women and children program around issues of domestic violence and health, helping Latina women to navigate community resources and combat cultural isolation by connecting them to each other. While at El Centro, she worked on a program called “Café de Mujeres” (The Women’s Café) and built up an additional evening women’s group called “Hablemos de Nuestra Salud”, (“Let’s Talk about Our Health”). Each year Tana would play a major role in organizing festivals such as Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and Dia de la Mujeres, (Mother’s Day). Tana would also call that day “Mama and Mamasita’s Day” for the women who did and didn’t have children, so all could feel included. Her work with the March of Dimes helped Latina women track their folic acid intake to improve the health disparities of pregnant women in our area. These programs provided safe spaces, programs and health fairs for women to talk about issues around literacy, connect then to ESL classes and further their education. She also loved participating in and organizing dance troupe performances to celebrate the folkloric dances of Mexico, even bringing famous dancers to Durham for all to enjoy. Tana was known for her beautiful welcoming smile, her sense of calm, patience, and her unwavering love, whether it was in her professional role at the organization, or to give rides home to women if they didn’t have a car. She spent her life supporting advocacy that helped Latinas access the resources necessary to learn how to be an active and positive part of their community. Tana helped hundreds of Latina women stay connected to the community as a whole yet empowered them to continue to display a sense of pride in their culture. Her passion for helping others had a positive impact not only on El Centro and the Latino families she worked for, but on the entire community of Durham. Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray (1910-1985) A champion for civil rights and a saint, Pauli Murray grew up in Durham's West End neighborhood. Murray sat in the whites-only section of front of a bus, years before Rosa Parks; helped integrate sat at a segregated lunch counters in DC, years before the Greensboro 4; crafted a legal strategy for helped write the Brown v Board of Education case for Thurgood Marshall and others litigated to desegregate public schools; coined the term "Jane Crow" to reflect the oppression experienced by black women due to race and gender (when Black women were left off the stage); co-founded the National Organization for Women and fought injustice throughout her life. African American activist, poet, historian, attorney, teacher, member of the LGBTQ community and priest, Murray was named an Episcopal saint in 2012. 22 Governor Terry Sanford (1917-1998) James Terry Sanford was born in 1917 in Laurinburg, North Carolina and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1939. Sanford served in the U.S. Army during World War II, earning a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Upon his return, he entered politics as a Democrat and served, first as a state senator from 1953-55 and governor from 1961-1965. During his tenure, Sanford campaigned to revolutionize the state’s educational system by nearly doubling expenditures on public schools and increasing teacher pay. He consolidated the state’s supported universities into a single system and oversaw the creation of the North Carolina Community College System, which included Durham Technical Community College. Another progressive program was the creation of the North Carolina Fund, headquartered in Durham, that launched anti-poverty or racial equality efforts across the state. After leaving office, Sanford served as president of Duke University until his retirement in 1985. He continued to be active in national politics and served as a senator in Congress from 1986 to 1993. Terry Sanford died in Durham in 1998 leaving a remarkable record. He was a major public figure of the post-World War II South. His progressive programs played a key role in transforming North Carolina and national politics, especially in the areas of race relations and education. Carl Wittman (1943-1986) Carl Wittman arrived in Durham in 1980. Carl’s activism was born in the civil rights and anti-war movements. As a student in the early sixties, he was arrested several times protesting segregation. He was a leader in Students for a Democratic Society and co-wrote “An Interracial Movement of the Poor” with Tom Hayden. Carl came to Durham as a gay activist. In 1970 while living in San Francisco he wrote, “The Gay Manifesto”, a seminal document of gay liberation. In the early 1980s, Carl was the co-director of N.C. Public Interest Research Group. The students he mentored there continue to be involved in the civic life of Durham. Carl was also a leader in Citizens for a Safer East Durham, a group whose efforts led to the closing of Armageddon Chemical Company and the passage of Durham’s toxic waste ordinance (later preempted by the state legislature). In April 1981, in response to homophobic violence at the Little River, Carl and others organized a vigil at the Durham Courthouse. Our Day Out, Durham’s first pride march followed in June. Carl was also one of four co-founders of the N.C. Lesbian and Gay Health Project (LGHP). The formation of LGHP preceded the AIDS crisis and was notable as an atypical collaboration between lesbians and gay men. Carl’s first passion was dance and insisted that dance was about community. Carl and his partner, Allan Troxler, developed a gender-free calling method. The Sun Assembly English Country Dancers, which they co-founded, still dance every Thursday evening. 23 Carl died from AIDS on January 22, 1986 at the age of 43; his was one of Durham’s first AIDS deaths. Carl’s legacy can be seen in Durham’s spirited activism and connections. Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy John Merrick, C.C. Spaulding & Richard Fitzgerald Merrick (1859-1919), Spaulding (1874-1952), Fitzgerald (? - 1918) We choose to recognize these three business pioneers together to illustrate their significant contributions as entrepreneurs in the city of Durham. John Merrick was born enslaved on September 7, 1859, in Clinton, (Sampson County), North Carolina. He learned to read, write, and figure without the benefit of a formal education. By age 12, he was working in a brickyard in Chapel Hill to help support his mother and younger brother. When he was eighteen, he moved to Raleigh, N.C., where he worked as a hod-carrier and brick mason in the construction of the first buildings at Shaw University. He was persuaded by members of the Duke Family to move to Durham. By 1880, at the age of 21 Merrick had moved to Durham and become a pioneer business leader and financier. Merrick along with his friend John Wright owned six barbershops-three for blacks and three for whites as custom and law dictated the segregation of the races. He used his earnings from the barber business to purchase land in present-day Durham's Hayti District and built modest houses for African Americans moving into Durham to work in the tobacco industries. In October of 1898, he co-founded the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association with six other African American men which was incorporated on April 1, 1899 in Durham and Durham County. He was named the first president of what would become the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, which held the title of the "Largest Negro Life Insurance Company in the World". He also founded and served as president of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank, the Durham Drug Company, the Durham Negro Observer, a local black newspaper, Lincoln Hospital, present day North Carolina Central University and the Merrick-Moore-Spaulding Land Company. He is interred in Beechwood Cemetery and the Merrick-Moore Elementary School is so named in his honor and Merrick Street as well. C. C. Spaulding, was born in Clarkton (Columbus County), North Carolina and came to Durham in 1896 at the urging of his uncle Dr. Aaron Moore to seek better educational opportunities. He later graduated from the Whitted School in 1898 and later became manager of local grocery store before entering the insurance industry. His employment with North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance began in 1900, and he served as an agent, general inspector, general manager, secretary-treasurer, and as president from 1923 to 1952. He also served also as president of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank and Mutual Savings and Loan Association all until his death. He was a noted interracial leader and served as founder and 24 head of the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs and founder of present day North Carolina Central University. He was also awarded citations from Presidents F. D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. In honor of his service to the Durham community the C.C. Spaulding Elementary School and Spaulding Street is named in his honor. A self-made millionaire, philanthropist and literate free-man of Color from the North, Richard Burton Fitzgerald began his career in the Piedmont as an innovative brickmaker. At the height of Durham’s early growth, Richard and his brothers supplied the tobacco and cotton mill industries’ demand for bricks, building lasting institutions like Erwin Mills and St. Joseph AME. By 1886, Richard’s early success and savvy investments enabled him to out-produce the competition churning out 30,000 bricks a day. Richard converted his profits into real estate, owning 100 acres of land in Durham and developing much of the housing stock for middle class African American families along what is now Kent St. in the West End Neighborhood and beyond. When white factory owners refused to hire blacks, Richard used his wealth to establish black businesses in protest of Jim Crow social customs. Fitzgerald started Coleman Manufacturing Company - the first cotton mill in the United States built, owned, and operated by blacks- in 1898, and Durham Real Estate, Mercantile, and Manufacturing Company in 1899. Additionally, Richard played a significant role in the New South’s economic effort towards racial uplift, serving as treasurer of Lincoln Hospital, co-owner of Durham Drug Company, as well as the founder and first president of Mechanics and Farmers Bank. By 1907, Richard, the Fitzgerald family, and other prominent African Americans had tripled the number of black businesses in Durham. Viola Turner (1900-1988) Viola Turner was born in 1900 in Macon, Georgia, the only child of teenage African American parents. Following her mother’s insistent on “all that education,” she graduated from Morris Brown College in Atlanta, and built a long and successful career in business, most of it with North Carolina Mutual. She began working for the Mutual in 1920, helping to establish branch offices in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mississippi. In 1924, moved to the company’s headquarters in Durham, and soon became personal secretary to company president C.C. Spaulding. Over the next few decades, she worked her way up through the company, taking on ever-more-significant roles. She eventually took charge of the company’s portfolio of mortgages and government bonds, which she successfully invested in stocks, contributing to the company’s financial success throughout the 1940s. Though she did not describe herself as a crusader for gender equity, her career helped further it. Upon learning that she was being paid less than a male employee, Turner confronted management, and the imbalance was rectified. After that incident, she would later say, “I never knew what anybody else made. And I had every opportunity, because all the checks were signed by my boss until I became the Treasurer and I signed them myself.” 25 She took on the role of Treasurer in 1957, and in 1960 became the first female Vice President of N.C. Mutual. She was also elected to the company’s Board of Directors, a position she held until her retirement in 1965. Active socially both before and after her retirement, Turner contributed to the social fabric of Durham much as she had contributed to the business success of the Mutual. She died in 1988. Dr. Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans (1920-2012) Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans was born in New York City in 1920, granddaughter of Benjamin N. Duke and great-granddaughter of Washington Duke. Her family was by that time already famous for its wealth and philanthropy, and throughout her long life she furthered that tradition, committing herself to a wide range of progressive causes in Durham. In 1934, she moved to Durham to live with her grandmother Sarah P. Duke, and soon earned a degree in art history from Duke University. Her family had instilled in her a passion for the arts, and throughout her life she directed much of her energy and philanthropy toward arts and cultural programs. Through a series of foundations, she supported artists, art shows, and even helped start the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the Duke University Museum of Art (now known as the Nasher Museum). Her community involvement was not limited to the arts, however. For nearly 30 years, she served on the board of Lincoln Community Hospital, which her family had helped found in 1901. In 1951, advocating black voter registration, she ran for City Council alongside Katherine Everett— both of them were elected, and became the first two women ever to serve. From 1953-55, Semans served as Durham’s mayor pro tempore—again, the first woman to do so. Having been born into great privilege, Semans had an extraordinary ability to see and address the needs of others. As she put it, “My feeling is that we are all here for each other.” She died in 2012. Environment & Health R. Kelly Bryant, Jr. (1917-2015) Robert Kelly Bryant Jr. was Durham’s griot, serving his beloved community as its historian and advocate. Bryant kept meticulous record of people, places, and events relevant to the black experience. He was often called on as the “expert” on Durham’s Black Business history. Educated at Hampton University, Bryant came to Durham in 1941 to work for Mutual Savings and Loan Association before a 37-year career at North Carolina Mutual. Bryant assumed responsibility for every aspect in community life, holding leadership positions in corporate, political, civic, educational, recreational and masonic organizations. Bryant was active with Goodwill 26 Industries of Durham, Durham Outboard Boating Club and the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina, and a life-long member of the NAACP and Durham Business and Professional Chain. Born in Rocky Mount NC, Bryant came to Durham often as a child to visit his grandmother Margaret Foucette, founder of White Rock Baptist Church. With deep roots in Durham, Bryant protested the destruction of Geer cemetery, an African American cemetery where many of his family members who helped to build Durham were buried. Bryant’s long memory coupled with his activism made him relentless about the preservation and celebration of African American accomplishments. Bryant advocated to celebrate the civil rights achievement of the Royal Ice Cream Seven with a historic marker, and years earlier Bryant himself participated in the 1963 economic boycott which eventually forced white-owned downtown businesses to hire black employees. Bryant was as passionate about Durham’s green spaces as he was about its history. He loved the outdoors and volunteered as Scoutmaster for the Boys Scouts for over 3 decades. In 2010, the R. Kelly Bryant, Jr. Pedestrian Bridge was dedicated in recognition of his work with the Durham Urban Trails and Greenway Commission. Along with numerous other honors, R. Kelly Bryant Jr. received the Spectacular Magazine 2015 “Men of the Year” Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Sharon Elliott-Bynum (1957-2016) Dr. Sharon Elliott-Bynum was born in 1957 in Durham and was a nurse, educator, consultant and community advocate for the healthcare of all. Dr. Elliott-Bynum graduated from Northern High School. While there, she started her nursing career at the age of 16, working at the Lincoln Community Health Center as part of Durham’s Neighborhood Youth Corps. She received post-secondary education in Nursing, Counseling and Theology, including degrees in nursing from Durham Technical Institute, Watts School of Nursing, and North Carolina Central University. She also received a Master of Arts degree in Counseling and a PhD degree in Theology from Victory International College. In 1995, Dr. Elliott-Bynum and her sister, the late Pat Amaechi, co-founded Healing with CAARE, Inc. a community organization on Broadway Street that began as a place to provide support, education, and empowerment to individuals living with HIV/AIDS and their affected families, but now offers medical care and resources for a broad range of services. It includes a medical clinic, dental clinic, a community kitchen, a food pantry, substance-abuse treatment, HIV/AIDS testing and case management, benefits counseling, financial literacy classes and jobreadiness programs and more. CAARE, Inc. currently serves more than more than 1,100 individuals every month. Many can speak to Dr. Elliott-Bynum’s enormous generosity of spirit. She was known as someone you could call on at any hour. If she could, she would find out what she could do to help anyone in need. In addition to her work with CAARE, Dr. Elliott-Bynum was also a REC scholar, TraCS CAB member, and TraCS Pilot grantee, and a William C. Friday Fellow. Satana Deberry, then Executive Director of the N.C. Housing Coalition and now District Attorney for the City of Durham, was quoted as saying: “Sharon’s vision was one of love. That everyone should have access to health care, to have a place to live.” 27 The reputation of her work at CAARE was also recognized at the highest level of federal public health. In 2014, after a visit tour of CAARE, then U.S. Acting Surgeon General Boris Lushniak wrote in an official public health report that CAARE’s work is an example of “not only the power of personal conviction and hard work to affect societal change but also of the power of community.” Dr. Aaron McDuffie Moore (1863-1923) Dr. Aaron McDuffie Moore was born during the Civil War, in Elkton (Columbus County) to free parents and was educated in the local schools of Columbus County. He entered Whiten Normal School in Lumberton for advanced studies. He also entered the Fayetteville Normal School, and, in 1885, enrolled at Shaw University in Raleigh. He completed his studies at Shaw's Leonard Medical College in three years and was declared a medical doctor at the age of 25. Moore achieved the second-highest score on the North Carolina medical examination out of 40 applicants. In 1888, Dr. Moore came to Durham, where he became the first African American physician to practice. He also became a preeminent civic and philanthropic leader in the city. In 1895, he organized the Durham Drug Company in order to offer to the African American population a badly needed drug store, but also to train young pharmacists in the profession. In 1898, he co-founded what would become the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company and served as its second president from 1919 until his death in 1923. He also co-founded the Mechanics and Farmers Bank and present day North Carolina Central University. In 1901, with the financial support of the Duke family, Moore founded the Lincoln Hospital to serve the healthcare needs of African American citizens in Durham and to train black doctors and nurses for a life of service in the profession. He served as the first superintendent of Lincoln Hospital from 1901 to 1923. In 1913, the African American population had no library. Moore founded with his own personal funds a Sunday School Library at White Rock Baptist Church. This library evolved into the present-day Stanford L. Warren Branch Library. He is interred in Beechwood Cemetery. The Merrick-Moore Elementary School is so named in his honor. Hildegarde Ryals (1931-2012) Hildegarde Scheffey Ryals dedicated her life to protecting Durham’s natural and cultural resources. She moved to Durham in 1972 and focused on preserving historic sites, defending the local watershed, and controlling the spread of suburban sprawl. Through her work in historic preservation, Ryals was instrumental in developing the first Durham County Historic Architecture Inventory in 1982. The inventory identified 420 historically significant sites across the county for research and city planning. 28 In environmental conservation, she pushed for the establishment of Leigh Farm and Little River Regional Parks. Leigh Farm Park is an 83 acre property in Southwest Durham, which includes the 19th century Leigh Farm listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ryals founded the New Hope Creek Corridor Advisory Committee to protect New Hope Creek. The creek and its tributaries flow through Chapel Hill, Duke University, commercial areas like South Square, and into the city’s drinking water at Jordan Lake. She was a philanthropist and benefactor of the arts across the country. Her donations to her alma mater Mount Holyoke College created the Hildegarde Scheffey Ryals Environmental Studies fund to support interdisciplinary activities focusing on environmental studies. Her and her husband Clyde’s collection of 18th and 19th century paintings helped establish the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. In Durham, Ryals was involved in a long list of community organizations, including Durham Planning and Zoning Commission, the Durham City-County Planning Commission, the Durham County Open Space Commission, the Eno River Association, the Triangle Land Conservancy, the Friends of the New Hope Creek, the League of Women Voters, the Durham Arts Council, the Durham Art Guild and St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. She died in Durham in 2012. Dick Westcott (1924-2004) Richard George Millard 'Dick' Wescott, III, was born in Essex, England, in 1924. At the age of 17, he joined the Royal Navy and served as a radio operator through most of World War II. There he met his wife who was in the US Army Nursing Corps. Dick came to the United States an became a volunteer at the Durham Children's Museum in the mid-60's. He soon became the curator, and by 1970, the Executive Director and changed the name to the NC Museum of Life and Science. The grew into a complex of several buildings housing a wide range of collections, artifacts, permanent exhibits. Wescott developed local support and forged new relationships that helped the museum grow. One of Wescott’s lasting legacies is the Dinosaur Trail, which features twenty life-size models along the banks of Ellerbee Creek, which have endured as a Durham landmark. Dick Westcott passed away on December 29, 2004. Through his leadership and ingenuity, the museum evolved from a small room of random displays to a world class museum that has educated countless of children and adults through its unique learning experiences. 29 Appendix C: Full List of Honorees Judge Mamie Dowd Walker George and Mary Pyne Karen Barker Floyd Fletcher John D Loudermilk Rev. and Mrs. Ruben L (Janie Griffin) Speaks Rev. Dr. S. P. Perry Sarah Womble Marsh Hugh Leonard Mangum Marion Dennis Thorpe Sr. George Watts Nello Teer Sr M. Hugh Thompson Benjamin S. Ruffin George W. Hill Sr. John Sprunt Hill James B. Duke Washington Duke Bartlett Durham Randy Scott Mangum The Whitted Family Peyton H. Smith Asa T. Spaulding, Sr., and Elna B. Spaulding Ralph K. Frasier and Leroy B. Frasier Jr. Colonel John C. Michie Becky Heron Ken Coulter Willie Lovett Clarence Korstian Sarah McCotta Dancy Moore “Miss Cottie” Irwin Richard Holmes Sr. Fr. William F. O'Brien Dr. Mary Dunn Siedow Chester L. Jenkins Umar Muhammad Cynthia Brown Rev. Edian (Edion) D. Markham and Mrs. Molly (Millie) Markham Lyda Moore Merrick Dr. Charles D. Watts, Sr. & Constance Nerrick Watts Kathy Travers Ron Antonevitch Patricia Bullock Taborn John S. "Shag" Stewart Doris Lyons Atty. Floyd B. McKissick, Sr and Mrs. Evelyn W. McKissick 30 Margaret Nygard Kathy Holman-Parker Peggy Tapp John C. Scarborough, Sr. Ms. Martha Steele Ms. Atwater Rev. Grady Davis Attorney William A. Marsh Jr. The Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Miles Mark Fisher John McLendon Mechanics and Farmers Banker John Hervey Wheeler Mrs Daisy Suber Gunn Durham College Sam Reed Dr. Ray Gavins Mama Nayo Watkins Jeanes Teachers James A. Whitted W.G. Pearson Nathan Newbold Bessie Alberta Johnson Whitted Mary Pauline Dame Fitzgerald Dr. Helen Edmonds Margaret Ruffin Faucette Enoe Will George Wall Sally Ann Fitzgerald Yusef Salim Clyde McPhatter Dewey Pigmeat Markham Joyce Thorpe R.N. Harris Royal Ice Cream Seven Mayor Emmanuel “Mutt” Evans Ruby Gattis Katherine Robertson Everett Minnie S. Pearson Conrad Pearson William A. Marsh, Jr. R. McCants Andrews Howard Clement Paul Luebke Jerry Markham William T. Blackwell J.L. Page E.N. Toole Theodore Speight John O’Daniel 31 Julia Latta Queen Mother Frances Pierce Armando Carbajal Julia Davis Pollard James Sumner Lee Herbert Eugene Tatum, Jr. F.K. Watkins E.K. Powe William Erwin Louis Berrini Abe and Jacob Goldstein Moses Gladstein Frank Howard Alston F.V. Pete Allison, Jr. Dr. Stanford L. Warren John & Frances McDonald Francis Vega 32 Appendix D: Template for Community Outreach Members of the Commission used this form in their outreach to individuals and groups in the community. A version of the template was also available on the website at https://www.durhamhonors.org/nomination-form. Durham turns 150 in 2019. To recognize and celebrate our city’s incredible history, we are looking to identify people from our past who should be recognized and honored. We want to hear from you! Nominees should no longer be living, but don’t have to be famous, or to have spent their whole lives in Durham, or even be specific individuals. Who do you think should be honored? Why should this person be honored? What makes this person special? (max 300 words) How should this person be honored? What would be a good way to recognize them? (max 300 words) Your name and contact information, and any connection to the nominee: We would like to have your suggestions by the end of February. Thank you! The Sesquicentennial Honors Commission Joseph Blocher, Ernest Dollar, Michelle Gonzales Green, Andre Vann, John Schelp, Aya Shabu and Frances Starn DurhamHonors@gmail.com 33 Appendix E: Criteria Main Requirements Overall Considerations Delta (what might change) Positive End Result Balance of Impact Era of Action Socio-economic demographics considered Examine what’s missing at end Represents priorities of where Durham is headed Had a sense of “risk” and “grit” At least 3 people per category Meets “mission statement” (vibrant public spaces, etc.) Impacted a significant UnSung heroes considered as number of people either local, well regional, national or international “Honor” Defined as the following: “To honor someone is to regard them with great respect - to admire, think highly of, or hold in high esteem. That is our charge. We're not just recognizing persons who were famous or infamous, we're honoring those individuals we admire for what they did for the community, for Durham.’ 34