Black Wall Street (Durham, North Carolina)

Black Wall Street was the hub of African American businesses and financial services in Durham, North Carolina during the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is located on Parrish Street. It was home to Mechanics and Farmers Bank and North Carolina Mutual.

During a time period when disenfranchising blacks and openly violating their rights was common, the black populations of Durham were making strides in business that challenged the legitimacy of white supremacy. Black owned business in Durham can be traced back to the efforts of two African American entrepreneurs: John Merrick and Charles Spaulding. This duo provided the leadership and initiative necessary for the beginnings of Black Wall Street.

Though able to increase African American wealth, Black Wall Street did not distribute this new found wealth equally within Durham’s Black community, Hayti. The region also promoted basic social restructuring for blacks, but did not contribute to desegregation efforts.

The southern United States was left in tumult in the few decades of Reconstruction following the Civil War. During the late 1800s, most of these southern regions were rebuilding infrastructure damaged by war. Racial tensions were at an all-time high, due to the recent emancipation of all black slaves, and the new economic and social competition they represented in many whites’ eyes. But though these African Americans had been freed, their quality of life saw little improvement. Estimates from government officials say almost 85% of blacks were living below the poverty line during the late 1800s. Automatically placed at the bottom of the social ladder, blacks were denied virtually all rights afforded to whites.

The emergence of John Merrick changed the identity of black business men. Merrick was able to reach prominence in his community through his longstanding friendship with Washington Duke. Originally a barber by profession, Merrick gained enough money through income and loans to open North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance, which was later expanded with the efforts of Charles Spaulding.

Serving as the president of North Carolina Mutual starting in 1923, Spaulding enjoyed the reputation as America’s leading black businessman. In 1900, when Spaulding became general manager, NC Mutual was on the brink of failure. By 1910 the company was title as "the world's largest Negro business." Spaulding and two of the original founders, John Merrick and Dr. Aaron M. Moore (Spaulding's uncle), were heralded in the Afro-American community as the "Triumvirate," the epitome of Booker T. Washington's "black captains of industry." By channeling their success to providing employment for fellow African Americans, these pioneering figures of Black Wall Street stimulated its economic expansion.

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