Public Swings

Historically important period in American history post reconstruction when Durham provided a model of a vibrant and thriving middle class for black residents. Both WEB DuBois and Booker T Washington visited Durham to highlight its social and economic successes as a model for other cities seeking to successfully navigate race relations while participating in and helping to shape the local and regional economy. In The Upbuilding of Black Durham, DuBois wrote, “There is in this small city a group of five thousand… whose social and economic development is perhaps more striking than that of any similar group in the nation.” From this base of economic stability Durham residents such as founding member and president of the black owned M&F Bank, RIchard B Fitzgerald, opened Coleman Manufacturing Company, the first cotton mill in the United States to be owned and operated by blacks. RB Fitzgerald also owned the brick business that provided bricks for construction projects throughout Durham and North Carolina. His niece was Pauli Murray who grew up in Durham during this period. Murray would go on to become one of the most important legal scholars in 20th century American constitutional law, and the architect behind landmark Supreme Court decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education and Reed v. Reed.

Close your eyes and take a minute to sway back and forth in the spring sunshine. Enjoy this moment, watch the flowered branches sway gently in the breeze and enjoy the beauty of life in silence.

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