Project Background The highway road through Durham destroyed well-established black communities such as Hayti and Brookstown. Hayti, sandwiched between Fayetteville Street and Durham Highway, began as a center for freed slaves to settle after emancipation. By the early 20th century, it had become so prosperous that W., E., B. Du Bois considered it a model of how black communities could thrive in the South by Jim Crow.
When ABC11 contacted the North Carolina Department of Transportation for information about plans to reconfigure the entrance and exit ramps of the Durham Highway on Fayetteville Street to create a more pedestrian-friendly path from Hayti to the city center, the DOT said the plans are on hold for now, suspended indefinitely.
