North Carolina Had a Black Wall Street Before Tulsa Did

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]Most people know about Black Wall Street in Durham, but few realize it was thriving before Black Wall Street became famous. In the early 1900s, Durham's Hayti District was one of the most successful black business communities in America. At the center was John Merrick and Charles Clinton Spaulding. Their company, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, became the largest black-owned business in the United States. Banks, doctors, lawyers, barber shops, and theaters lined Fayetteville Street.

[00:00:28]Then urban renewal bulldozed much of it in the 1960s. Durham built black wealth decades before Tulsa, and much of it was erased. Follow for more North Carolina history they never taught you in school.

[00:00:43]Civil rights.