My last ride with “Skeepie” was before urban sprawl gobbled up all the free space in downtown Durham.
It was before the county jail replaced the building that marked the legacy of his family’s business. It was a common ride after I performed the eulogy of a beloved member of the church I served in East Durham. More than 20 years have passed since that day I rode to the grave with J.C. “Skeepie” Scarborough III to say, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
Every ride was a history lesson of life in a city known for Black pride and economic mobility. “Skeepie was Durham’s local guru – a man chosen to relate the meaning of stories to those willing to pass them on to the next generation. The III behind his name was the message of the day. I sensed a burden of personal consequences as “Skeepie” talked about why the first J.C. Scarborough opened a funeral home in Durham, NC.
“Skeepie’s’ grandfather met J.C Hargett, a former grocer who sponsored his education at Kittrell Business College and seeded money to open the funeral home, in 1905. Granddaddy wanted a place where Black people could be buried with dignity. He was sent to the Reounard Training School for Embalmers in New York City. Scarborough was the only Black student enrolled. There weren’t many Black owned funeral homes at the time. The one he opened in Durham was the fifth in the nation.
There was talk about the city using imminent domain to purchase his building. “Skeepie” talked more about a growing trend. He had been offered big money to sale his funeral home to white people. “Skeepie” spoke wisdom like his grandfather was speaking through him. The teachings of his father and grandfather was part of his family inheritance. I felt consumed by a pride willing to forfeit all of life's possessions before bowing to the temptation.
“Skeepie” talked about white people taking what we build after years of being asked to drink at water fountains marked “Colored” next to others marked “White Only”. I felt the ancestors beckoning me to hold on to the old landmarks.
The drive to the grave next to the White Rock Baptist Church helped stir thoughts of Hayti before gentrification defined Durham’s dismay. I imagined life before the Durham Freeway wiped away the dreams of more than 100 business owners. The work of Black men and women who pulled themselves up from their bootstraps vanished in a mere blinking of an eye after white people named sacred Black space blight.
Would it happen again?
“Skeepie” died on Saturday, November 7. He was 83. He became the head of the funeral home in 1961. He buried the men and women of numerous movements. He remembered the names of the people connected to the people. Each person mattered. It was the promise of his grandfather. Everyone deserves to be buried with dignity.
My last ride with “Skeepie” was a holy moment. Was he a prophet preparing us for coming days? His funeral home was replaced with the county jail – symbolic of another type of death. In the same way the Durham Freeway destroyed the once vital Hayti business district, a jail was built in the place that marked granddaddy’s legacy.
Not far away from the old Scarborough & Harget Funeral Home is a towering building. The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Building is Black Durham’s logo – a statement to the world regarding the imagination of a people bent on rising above the limits of slavery. The Prophet “Skeepie” challenged me never to forget how important it is never to let it go.
One last ride to the cemetery with “Skeepie”.
The vanishing of Black businesses are speaking.
