GENERAL RESOURCES:
Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau (DCVB): Official visitor and newcomers site including Durham history, maps, and events.
WALKING TOURS:
HISTORY:
Preservation Durham is made up of folks who believe that place is important and that our past helps to shape our future. We want Durham to embrace growth and change but also to protect its sense of place – its unique identity in the Triangle – and to remain open and available to all in our community. Everyone's story has a place.
Durham County Library North Carolina Collection: Photographic archives, civil rights history, the history of soul music in Durham, Urban Renewal records, historic postcards, and much, much more. Museum of Durham History: Growing collection of information, images and personal accounts that bring Durham's dynamic past to life. The History Hub, at 500 West Main Street, is their physical space.
Digital Durham: Primary source materials related to the economic, social, cultural, and political history of Durham.
Durham’s “Black Wall Street”: In the early 20th century, Parrish Street was dubbed “Black Wall Street” due to the success of black-owned businesses such as North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company and Mechanics and Farmers Bank.
Open Durham: A highly interlinked archive/inventory of information about people, places, and history in Durham, NC.
Pauli Murray Project: Lifting up the vision and legacy of activist, scholar, feminist, poet, and priest Pauli Murray in order to tackle enduring inequities and injustice in our community.
Durham Civil and Human Rights Map: The Pauli Murray Project's interactive map documenting civil and human rights activism.
Our Community Stories: Durham is a place of diverse cultures, experiences, and perspectives. In our rich history, some stories have been inaccurate, hidden, or forgotten. The Our Community Stories series is a dedicated space for sharing histories from Durham's marginalized and underrepresented communities.
Civil Rights Collection: From the neighborhood that was Hayti to the businesses on Parrish Street —"Black Wall Street," to the Durham blues, from the first African-American female Episcopal priest to the founders of the first black-owned insurance company in the U.S., Durham has many stories to tell.
Documenting the American South: A digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture
Duke history, and the history of Trinity College
Activating History for Justice at Duke: Activism is often looked upon as an event outside of the normal flow of history. This is not true. Activism is a part of history. Time and time again, people have fought for fair treatment and equal access. These efforts all culminate into the liberties and resources that we enjoy today. Duke has a rich history of activism that contributes to the University's current diversity and prestige -- a history that is inseparable from its institutional legacy. This report recommends that Duke University expand efforts to acknowledge, engage with and activate its past, and include ties to slavery, white supremacy and segregation; unfair and discriminatory labor practices; benefits from a lethal product, tobacco; and discrimination against women, LGBTQ and disabled people and people of color. Duke should also seek to identify and celebrate our diverse forbears, among them those who integrated the university and pressed for justice, advocated for fair labor treatment and worked to better society.
CURRENT ISSUES:
Durham150, Durham’s sesquicentennial, is a yearlong celebration of the City of Durham’s 150th anniversary of incorporation in 2019, encourages Durhamites and visitors to explore themes of history and education, innovation and entrepreneurship, social equity and robust democracy, as well as arts and leisure.
The mission of Bull City 150 is to invite Durhamites to reckon with the racial and economic injustices of the past 150 years and commit to building a more equitable future. We believe that history is a powerful tool of meaning-making, and that the stories we tell each other impact the policies we create and the ways we come together to address the challenges in our community today.
ARTS & CULTURE:
Durham Arts Council: Private nonprofit dedicated to supporting the arts.
Hayti Heritage Center: Cultural enrichment and arts education facility that promotes cultural understanding through diverse events, activities and programs that preserve the heritage and embrace the experiences of Americans of African descent.
The Scrap Exchange is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to promote creativity, environmental awareness, and community through reuse.
The Carrack is an artist-centered, zero-commission community art space in Durham, North Carolina.
EDUCATION:
Durham Public Schools: In collaboration with our community and parents, the mission of Durham Public Schools is to provide all students with an outstanding education that motivates them to reach their full potential and enables them to discover their interests and talents, pursue their goals and dreams, and succeed in college, in the workforce and as engaged citizens.
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES AT DUKE:
Duke Office of Civic Engagement (DOCE): Incubates, coordinates and amplifies the various ways that students, faculty and staff work to make a difference in the civic life of our communities. Serves as the hub for civic engagement activities across campus.
Duke Service-Learning: Connects civic engagement to the curriculum by supporting faculty, staff, students, and community partners involved in service-learning courses; broadening and deepening faculty and student involvement in service-learning and other community-based pedagogies; deepening our understanding of the outcomes of service-learning, and participating in and contributing to the service-learning and civic engagement communities on and beyond our campus.
Duke office of Durham and Community Affairs: Home to the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership and the Community Service Center. Builds and sustains partnerships and programming that advance community goals, with a special focus on local youth, K-12 education and economic development.
Forum for Scholars and Publics: A place where scholars and various publics – local, national, and global – can interact and intersect to generate greater exchange between the university and the broader world. Serves as advocates for the role of knowledge in society by organizing programs at Duke and in Durham, curating a dynamic digital space for sharing research and commentary, and hosting working groups and residencies.
Directors of Academic Engagement: Directors of Academic Engagement work with students through one-on-one advising to help students incorporate global and civic opportunities into their academic plan.