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African Americans in Durham

The John Hope Franklin Research Center contains many materials pertaining to African American life in Durham, North Carolina in the twentieth century. Researchers interested in African American life in Durham should see the following collections:

Manuscript Collections

Helen G. Edmonds Papers: African-American educator and historian; professor of history at N.C. Central University, Durham, N.C. Collection contains primarily correspondence and printed materials, including speeches, clippings, and photocopies. Two large sections of materials concern her interests and activities as a member of the Republican Party and her work as an alternate delegate to the U.N. General Assembly, 1970. Some materials relate to her work with the National Peace Corps Advisory Council, to educational exchange, consultations in Europe and Israel, and other work experiences in an international context. Papers representing her duties as a college professor are limited.
Rencher Nicholas Harris Papers: African American businessman and civic leader of Durham, N.C. The Rencher Nicholas Harris Papers span the years from 1851 to 1980, with the bulk dating from 1926 to 1965. The collection consists mainly of clippings, correspondence, legal papers, photographs, printed materials, and reports relating to Harris' work in political and educational affairs in Durham, North Carolina in the 1950s and early 1960s as a member of the City Council and the School board, his business career in banking, insurance, and real estate, as an official of the Bankers' Fire Insurance Company, and his civic activities. Some biographical materials and correspondence also relate to his wife, Plassie Williams Harris.
Chris D. Howard Papers: Duke University (Durham, N.C.) undergraduate. Collection contains Howard's research material for an honors thesis. There are fifteen envelopes of research notes, chronologically arranged, covering the years 1854-1965. The notes concern the early history of Durham, and events related to the struggle for racial equality in Durham, N.C. There are notes and outlines of interviews (cassette tapes and telephone conversations) and a list of persons interviewed by Howard, including Mary Trent Semans, Floyd McKissick, and other persons who participated in, or witnessed this struggle. Also included are copies of two papers, written by other Duke students in 1972 and 1978, about the Civil Rights movement in Durham, N.C., during the early 1960s.
Benjamin Muse Papers. Memoranda Series: Politician and author, of Reston, Va. Correspondence, writings, addresses, memoranda, printed material, and clippings, documenting Muse's career as a soldier in World War I; secretary in the diplomatic services (1920-1934); Virginia state senator (1936); activist in the Republican Party; officer in World War II; and director of the Leadership Project, Southern Regional Council (1959-1964). Includes drafts and research notes for his books, Tarheel Tommy Atkins (1963); Ten years of prelude: the story of integration since the Supreme Court's 1954 decision (1964); and The American Negro revolution: from nonviolence to Black Power, 1963-1967 (1968); and memoranda (1959-1964) for the Southern Regional Council on his travels through the South and talks with Southern leaders on race relations.
Gwendolyn M. Parker Papers: The papers of Gwendolyn M. Parker, which primarily document her writing career, span the years 1967-1998 with the majority of the papers dating from 1986-1997. They consist primarily of diaries, correspondence, clippings, writings, and other miscellaneous printed and manuscript materials. Parker's writings are well documented by several manuscript versions of her 1994 novel, These Same Long Bones, and her 1997 memoir, Trespassing: My Sojourn in the Halls of Privilege. The latter work documents her struggles as an African-American woman in a corporate environment. Parker's correspondence is chiefly professional and related to her efforts to publish her work, but a small amount of personal correspondence is held in the collection. The clippings are primarily reviews of her books or published interviews. The personal observations, story ideas, and writing exercises recorded in Parker's diaries provide some documentation of her life and artistic career, chiefly after 1986.
William Gaston Pearson Papers: Durham, N.C. African-American businessman, educator, philanthropist, and civic leader. Scrapbook of clippings and printed material which reflects the business accomplishments and life of William Pearson, who founded the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co., the Mechanics and Farmers Bank, the Durham Drug Co., and other businesses in Durham, N.C., primarily in banking, credit, and insurance.
Sam Reed papers: The Sam Reed Papers span the years 1986-2001, and pertain to the political activism of Sam Reed of Durham, North Carolina, particularly in connection with the civil rights movement and subsequent race and labor relations issues in the South. The collection consists of the records of the Durham organization founded by Reed, Trumpet of Conscience, and a run of the newsletter of the same name, 1987-2000. Other papers include correspondence to Reed; biographical information, interviews, speeches, and articles by and about Sam Reed; and awards honoring Reed and the organization he founded.
Fannie B. Rosser Papers: Correspondence, legal and financial papers, and photographs document the personal relationships and professional activities of Rosser, a successful single African-American businesswoman. Correspondence, 1920s-1940s, pertains to Rosser's business ventures in regard to the management of her rental property in Lynchburg, Va., and Durham, N.C.; personal loans made to family and friends during the Depression; and her investments in government stocks and bonds. Later correspondence centers around her relationships with her foster daughter and her niece. Family photographs date back to ca. 1860s and include snapshots of Rosser and her friends in the 1920s and her daughter's family in Fresno, Calif., in the 1960s.
Clydie Fullwood Scarborough Papers: Includes correspondence, financial papers, legal and administrative papers, clippings, writings, and printed material pertaining to the Scarborough Nursery School, Talladega College, the United Fund Agency and other non-profit organizations, and John C. Scarborough, Mrs. Scarborough's husband. The collection documents, in part, the work of Mrs. Scarborough to provide effective and healthy daycare for African-American children in Durham, N.C. Includes photographs of the Scarborough Nursery School, a 1946 report from the Education Planning Council for Durham, N.C. City Schools, Fullwood family genealogical papers, and documents from the North Carolina Daycare Association.
Asa and Elna Spaulding Papers: Asa T. Spaulding was an insurance executive in Durham, N.C. and an activist in civil rights, education, employment, and other work related to minorities' rights. He held various positions in the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company for almost thirty-five years, beginning as its actuary in 1933 and serving as its fifth president from 1958 through 1967. Elna Bridgeforth Spaulding was an activist in civil rights for minorities and women and involved in local politics in Durham, N.C, serving as a Durham County Commissioner for five terms, from 1974 through 1984. The Asa and Elna Spaulding Papers, 1909-1997 and undated, bulk 1935-1983, document an African American family's lifelong involvement in the business, political, educational, religious, and social life of Durham, N.C.
Charles C. Spaulding Papers: President of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, 1923-1952, located in Durham (Durham Co.), N.C. The company is the oldest African-American life insurance company. The collection (99-481)(19000 items) contains photos, miscellaneous business papers, programs, speeches, clippings related to C. C. Spaulding, black civil rights, and to African-American life more generally (organized by subject), in addition to payroll ledgers and various publications created by and related to North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. These papers document the growth of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, Spaulding's and the company's connection to the community, their pride in that community, and their involvement in African-American issues (local and beyond) and livelihood.
Earl E. Thorpe Papers: Clergyman, historian, and social activist. Primarily, materials in the collection address Thorpe's work at North Carolina Central University (formerly North Carolina College), and his stints as a visiting professor at Harvard and Duke universities. Thorpe's service as chair of the program committee for the 1979 meeting of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH), and his term as president of the ASALH in 1980 are also well represented. The bulk of the collection consists of the personal and professional correspondence of Thorpe. Personal correspondence with family and students, and material reflective of Thorpe's life in the ministry are scattered throughout.
Charles DeWitt Watts: Pioneering African American surgeon who was chief of surgery at Lincoln Hospital, clinical professor of surgery at Duke University, director of student health at North Carolina Central University, and vice president and medical director for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Spanning the period of 1917 to 2004, the Charles DeWitt Watts. Papers contain files related to Watts' education, family, community activities, centered in Durham, N.C., and his career as a surgeon, administrator, and trustee on several boards. There is material on the formation in 1901 of Lincoln Hospital, a medical care facility for African Americans in Durham, N.C.. and other items on the early 20th century history of Durham, but the bulk of the papers relate to the later half of the 20th century. Formats primarily consist of correspondence, reports, notes, speeches, photographs, and print materials.
North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company Archives: The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company Archives documents the development of N.C. Mutual in Durham, N.C., and contributes to the historic record on African American businesses and entrepreneurship in the South and in the United States. Dating from 1850 to 2008, with the majority of the items dating from 1898-2008, the material covers nearly every aspect of N.C. Mutual's operations, management, and milestones. Documents take the form of corporate office files, including the offices of five company presidents; annual statements; reports; surveys; memos; legal and financial papers; original life insurance policies; training material; programs; ephemera and artifacts; and a large number of historical photographs of staff and their families, offices, buildings, and Durham scenes.
Women-in-Action For Prevention of Violence and Its Causes, Inc. Durham Chapter Records: Non-profit, inter-racial organization founded in Durham, N.C. in September 1968. Elna Spaulding was founder and first president. Collection comprises correspondence, by-laws, meeting agendas and minutes, budgets, articles of incorporation, as well as information about the organization's relationship to the Women In Action Foundation of Durham, N.C. Documents the organization's involvement in the Durham community on a variety of issues, including easing racial tensions; smoothing the way for court ordered school integration in 1970; providing for the recreational and cultural needs of disadvantaged youth; and establishing a clearinghouse to offer information and referral services to Durham citizens for a variety of social problems.
Youth Document Durham and Durham Works Project Records: Youth Document Durham and Durham Works were programs sponsored by Duke University and the Center for Documentary Studies that brought together young people ages 12–16 from diverse Durham communities to document their lives, local history, and contemporary social issues through photography, oral history, and narrative writing.

Oral History Collections

American Communities Oral History Collection: American Communities: An Oral History Approach was a course associated with the oral history project Behind the Veil at Duke's Center for Documentary Studies. The course was taught by Paul Ortiz at Duke University in 1996-1997. Collection (00-183) includes a course syllabus, interviews of African-American North Carolinians on cassette tapes, some student self-evaluations, contracts, indices, and transcript excerpts. The area most represented is Durham, N.C. Students were to aim for insight into how African-Americans built communities during an age of racial oppression. The interviews include much information about family history and social and community issues.
Behind the Veil: Documenting African American Life in the Jim Crow South: The Behind the Veil Oral History Project was undertaken by Duke University's Lyndhurst Center for Documentary Studies in 1990. It seeks to record and preserve the living memory of African-American life during the age of legal segregation in the American South, from the 1890s to the 1950.
Duke University Oral History Program Collection: Collection containing 238 oral history interviews conducted by project participants in the years 1973-1978 and 1992. Most interviews deal with the civil rights movement in North Carolina, especially Durham, Chapel Hill, and Greensboro. Thirteen interviews deal with the Tulsa Race Riots, and fourteen cover miscellaneous North Carolina topics. Collection also includes transcripts and research files related to the civil rights movement in North Carolina.
Eva J. Salber Papers: Physician and professor of community and family medicine. Contains correspondence; financial papers; writings and speeches; clippings; photographs, many by Dominic D'Eustachio; reports; minutes; scrapbooks; training manuals; student papers; printed material; audiovisual materials; and lecture notes chiefly relating to Salber's publications, teaching career, and work as a community health physician. Publications highlighted include CARING AND CURING (New York, N.Y. 1975); DON'T SEND ME FLOWERS WHEN I'M DEAD (Durham, N.C. 1983), containing interviews with the rural elderly in Durham County, N.C.; and THE MIND IS NOT THE HEART (Durham, N.C. 1989). Her work in the community health field is documented primarily in her writings, the papers about the Martha M. Eliot Family Health Center, and the Health Facilitator Program, which was administered through the Duke University Medical Center Department of Community and Family Medicine.