The Hayti Community in Durham, North Carolina
The Hayti community, once the economic and cultural lifeblood of Black Durham, is linked to the newly-constructed Durham Freeway, which upended businesses and livelihoods. After the Civil War ended, freedman settled in Durham, N.C. to work in the tobacco warehouses. They settled in the vicinity of Fayetteville Rd. on land owned by White merchants until they were fully self-sufficient.
The growing neighborhood was named after Haiti—the first free, independent black republic in the Western Hemisphere. By the early 1900s, Hayti built Lincoln Hospital, staffed by black doctors and nurses, as well as a theater, a library, hotels and over 200 businesses. North Carolina Central University was founded in Hayti in 1910 and became the first state-supported liberal arts college in 1925.
Additionally, James E. Shepard, Aaron McDuffie Moore, John Merrick and Charles Clinton Spaulding founded North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co., which became the wealthiest Back-owned company during that time. The group also started a land-development company that built many of the homes and businesses in the area.