The history of Durham’s
Hayti community and the impact of urban renewal screams on the pages of The
Carolina Times.
When presented with the
proposal to build a freeway through the heart of Durham’s Hayti community,
Black leaders promoted an opportunity to advance economic development.
“Not only are we in
favor of the urban renewal part of the measure, but we are in favor of the bond
issue in its entirety,” Louis Alston, publisher and editor of The Carolina
Times, wrote on Sept. 22, 1962. “To be against it would place us in the
position of limiting progress which is entirely out of line with the role this
newspaper has endeavored to play during its approximately 40 years of
experience.”
Alston conveys concern
regarding white voters’ opposition to Durham urban renewal.
“If the bond issue is
passed in its entirety, it will have to be passed by a solid Negro vote plus
that of the few progressive and fair-minded white voters who are noble enough
to rise above the level of prejudice and narrowness in supporting it,” Alston
writes. “Frankly, we see no need of Negroes kidding themselves about the
inevitable position the race holds in Durham.”
In the Sept. 15, 1962,
issue of The Carolina Times, Alston warned Black voters of the possible defeat
of the Urban Renewal Bond.
“As badly as the urban
renewal project is needed for the future development of Durham as a whole, the
mere fact that the anticipated improvements will be devoted for the most part
to a Negro section is a kiss of death,” Alston writes. “The mass of white voters
of this city will not respond favorably to any movement that means the betterment
of the Negro’s lot. This has been proved again and again and there is no
prospect that the condition will take a turn for the better on October 6 or
soon thereafter.”
Ninety percent of Durham’s
Black residents voted in support of the bond that displaced 600 Black residents
and106 Black-owned businesses. Voters believed urban renewal would trigger massive
economic progress in a community suffering due to a decline in population.
“The time has come when
progressive white and Negro citizens here must rise above the program of race
hatred, prejudice, bigotry, envy and jealousy that is now being advanced by
Durham’s usual busy bodies when measures of progress are proposed,” Alston
writes in his Sept. 22 editorial. “They must stand together, or Durham is
certain to continue the state of stagnation and small pace progress it has
experienced during the past 25 years which has seen it drop from the state’s
fourth city in size to the fifth in position.”
Support for the urban
renewal project dwindled after members of the White Rock Baptist Church scrambled
to find a new location for their church edifice after the ravaging of their
historical edifice.
“With many of Durham’s
leading business and professional men and women, occupying positions on its roster
of officers, the members of White Rock awakened one morning to find themselves
out of doors, so far as having a place of their own in which to worship,” The
Carolina Times reports on May 23, 1970. “Thus, they were forced to resort to the
use of facilities at North Carolina Central University and a sister church, during
the interim of the raising of their old House of Worship and the erection of a
new edifice at another location.”
The Carolina Times challenged
the members of St. Joseph AME Church to consider legal action in preparation
for their forced relocation.
“Because of the
critical situation experienced by White Rock, we feel it our bounden duty to
sound a note of warning to the minister, officers and members of St. Joseph’s to
get about their Father’s business, at once, and set their House of Worship in
order, to determine whether surrounding circumstances of the present structure
will eventually demand that they seek an outright new location as well as the
erection of a new church edifice or be allowed to remain at its present site,” The
Carolina Times states on May 23, 1970. “In the case of St. Joseph’s which has on
its membership roll nine or more lawyers, as well as a member of the Urban
Renewal, we would recommend that every legal angle be explored to determine
whether the church has any chance of holding the Urban Renewal organization to
its original proposal, which would have provided the church with sufficient
area for parking at the present location, or whatever growth or development it
may desire in the future.”
The May 23, 1970,
article in The Carolina Times serves as a reminder of both the power and
limitations of two of Durham’s most influential institutions – St. Jospeh AME
Church and White Rock Baptist Church. The strain of urban renewal impacts the entirety
of Durham’s Black community. The challenge to the members of St. Joseph “to get
about their Father’s business” recognizes the massive power within the
congregation.
Urban renewal transcendent
the burden among poor Black residents devoid of the resources to battle the
consequence of displacement. The demolition of White Rock’s historical edifice
radically shifted the conversation. The Carolina Times, the leadership of the
Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and Black residents recognized
the smell in the air. They inhaled the aroma of a decaying community.
The Black community
felt the pain of being hoodwinked.
Vivian Edmonds assumed
control of The Carolina Times after her father, Louis Alston, died in 1971. The
tone in editorials shifted from approval to extreme disdain.
“If ever an injustice
and dastardly scheme was perpetrated on black folk in Durham, it seems to have
been the so-called Urban Renewal Program,” The Carolina Times reports in the
June 18, 1977, edition. “Outside of a few affluent families who seem to remain
non-committal, the rest of the black folk who have been and are being affected,
have renamed the fiasco “Black Removal” and tell some wicked stories of
treatment.”
Stories of unfair treatment
and dismal payments pack the pages of the Black-owned newspaper. Edmonds offers The Carolina Times as an
example of negligence in relocating businesses.
“Ours happens to be one
of the last of three businesses left to be ‘relocated’, out of approximately
106 that made up the once flourishing Hayti section of Durham, which were
affected by the so-called ‘urban renewal’ programs,” the June 18, 1977, editorial
claims. “If our experience is typical, then God forbid what has happened to
others.”
The Carolina Times called
for the launching of an investigation into the entire urban renewal program.
“If it is found that
people have been cheated – no matter how far back in this program -they ought
to be paid,” the editorial states. “If black folks have been sold down the
river by their own, then they, and the world, ought to know it. If they have
not, then such an investigation would put a stop to the heinous stories that
abound.”
On Sept. 11, 1982, 20
years after the start of Durham’s Urban Renewal project, The Carolina Times
reported negotiations between Durham city planners and eight Black business
owners seeking relocation.
Paul Norby, former
director of Durham’s planning department, contracted with the Durham Black Business and Professional Chain to plan how to fit these
businesses into a Hayti redevelopment proposal.
Ervin Allen, Jr.,
executive director of the Black Business and Professional Chain, related
disappointment with city officials because the eight businesses weren’t
involved in the contract planning process. Allen said the process lacked foresight
making it impossible to fulfill the terms of the contract within six months “because
it would take that long to get the businesses into discussions.”
“The businesses refused
to let the Chain see their financial books,” The Carolina Times reports. “These
same businesses had consistently refused to let city planners see their books
as a requirement for relocation.”
The businesses are: The
Carolina Times, Imperial Barber Shop, Dreamland Shoe Shine, Thorpe’s Barber Shop,
Green Candle Restaurant, E.N. Toole Electrical Contractors, Service Printing
Company and Midway Sport Shop.
On Dec. 5, 1981, The
Carolina Times reports five businesses remain housed in a temporary facility
known as “Tin City”, built in 1969 with a goal of lasting 18 months while
preparing to relocate displaced businesses.
“To resolve this last
barrier to the redevelopment of NCR-54, the city has taken two important steps.
First, it has rewritten the Urban Renewal plan for the area in such a way that
renewal of the area no longer will have to be restored comparable to its early
composition or even to provide needed services for the community,” The Carolina
Times reports. “Secondly, the city’s plan calls for a $40,000 contract with the
Durham Business and Professional Chain to ‘assist’ the relocatees to move into
the commercial development east of Fayetteville Street. It appears that the
city is willing to ‘assist’ with construction of a building, only if it is located
in this area.”
The eight businesses
involved questioned the Black Business and Professional Chain awareness of the original
urban renewal concept and believed that plan to be completely compromised by
the city’s revised plan.
“This plan offered very
little time for community input and the plan was not publicized at all,” The
Carolina Times reports. “A full discussion of its implications would have been
almost impossible.”
The Hayti Development Corporation
(HDC) was formed based on the suggestion of the Economic Development
Sub-Committee of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People. HDC
proposed a plan making Hayti an extension of downtown.
The plan proposed
converting the old Service Printing Company building into a museum, bookstore,
restaurant and office space surrounded by a park. HDC proposed a hotel-restaurant
complex, a large grocery store, a variety store, specialty store, barber/beauty
shops, pharmacy, hardware store and a retail clothing store south of the
expressway.
After reviewing HDC’s
proposal, city planners proposed hiring a consultant to consider the
recommendations. Nat White, Jr., executive director of HDC, expressed concern that
city planners asked the wrong questions.
“We’re looking at
implementation,” White said in the Sept. 18, 1982, edition of the Carolina
Times. “The study should say how a particular development can be made to work rather
than simply saying it won’t work.”
The Carolina Times accused
city planners of having their sight on 54 acres of prized land in the Hayti
district with easy access to the Research Triangle Park.
“This is a battle of
power and money. The stakes are high. To city planners, the area compliments
plan to rebuild downtown. In their judgment, the old Hayti is fertile ground
for planning houses to give the revitalized downtown people a 24-hour life.”
Aftermath of faded
dreams
A decade after the
formation of Hayti Development Corporation, White endured a scandal forcing him
out as Executive Director, ending the dreams of Black leaders.
On January 14, 1979,
the building that Housed The Carolina Times burned to the ground. Not much
survived the fire. The entire back stock of papers vanished in the flames along
with all those dreams. Authorities suspect arson, a sad ending to a long legacy
of reporting in Durham’s Hayti community.
Edmonds didn’t stop working.
A new issue showed up on the Thursday after the fire. Hayti residents didn’t
give up. They keep working to rebuild and rekindle the community’s hopes and
dreams.
Henry McKoy, a faculty
member and director of entrepreneurship at North Carolina Central University,
leads the charge in renewing those dreams. He calls it a rebirth – like the
words of the prophet, Maya Angelou – “you may trod me in the very dirt. But
still, like dust. I’ll rise.”
What does renewal look
like for Black people? Is it the gift of new public housing? No.
It’s the gift of being
heard.
“All of this is to say
that city council and city planners have always been reluctant to let blacks
have a say in how their former black community should be rebuilt,” The Carolina
Times reports on Sept. 18, 1982.
Listen to the prophets
speak.
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