INC NEWS - Walking tour tells story of Durham's past (Herald-Sun)

[John Schelp]

Walking tour tells story of Durham's past
By Carolyn Rickard, Herald-Sun, 19 August 2007

It's hard to imagine that the corner of Main and North
Mangum streets in downtown Durham -- now empty, but
for a patch of grass, some benches, a trash can and
pay phone -- once housed a Walgreens five-and-dime
shop. 

And along the same block, Kress and Woolworth stores
also sat, the site of lunch counter sit-ins that were
the center of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. 

"It's kind of amazing that the stores were all on the
same block, doing the same thing," said John
Tallmadge, a volunteer with Preservation Durham [and
Old West Durham NA board member]. "It's a testament to
how downtown Durham was thriving at the time." 

The five-and-dime stores and other sites notable
during the 1950s, '60s and '70s were showcased
Saturday morning during a tour hosted by Preservation
Durham. 

The tour took walkers to such places as Black Wall
Street, the historic Carolina Theatre and the Durham
Arts Council, which used to be City Hall and, before
that, Durham High School -- where only white students
could attend. 

Tom Huizenga brought his wife and two daughters on the
tour to learn a little local history. 

"We know a lot of state history, but we thought it
would be interesting to know some local history," said
Huizenga, of Cary. "We used to live in Durham." 

Protesters, Tallmadge said, used to march silently
from North Carolina College, now N.C. Central
University, to the old City Hall. When it was the
whites-only Durham High School, black students went to
Hillside High School, using used books and supplies
that the white students had discarded. 

Tallmadge had one of the participants in the tour read
the words of someone speaking about the used supplies.


"It was all broken-up stuff, all used," the reader
said. "They thought they were doing us a favor." 

Down the street, the Carolina Theatre's main entrance,
now flanked by a plaza, used to have a street in front
of it. Its majestic main entrance was reserved only
for whites. Blacks had to go in the side door and up a
narrow staircase to sit in the highest balcony, called
the "Buzzards' Roost." 

Tallmadge said in 1961, students picketed the theater
every day for a year, protesting the segregation. They
stood in line, taking turns walking to the ticket
window asking for seats in the whites-only section. 

In 1960, Martin Luther King Jr. visited Durham,
stopping by Woolworth's and drawing a huge crowd when
he spoke at White Rock Baptist Church. He praised the
work of the black protesters in Durham. 

"You can see the links between the Durham Civil Rights
Movement and the National Civil Rights Movement,"
Tallmadge said. "You can see the connection between
the Durham leaders and the national leaders."