Remembering Hayti

Durham’s Black Business District

The businesses of Black Wall Street and Hayti prospered because of their connection to their community.

Across the railroad tracks from Black Wall Street, Hayti was home to thousands of people and hundreds of smaller black businesses. Hayti’s businesses were part of a thriving neighborhood. Shopping at a black-owned grocery or supporting a black-owned funeral home meant investing in your neighbors. 

Hayti’s businesses succeeded because black Durhamites spent their paychecks there. They offered goods and services that were often denied to African Americans elsewhere. Many residents felt that they had everything they needed in Hayti, away from the indignities of Jim Crow.

She came down here because she knew it was a thriving community.

Sarah B. Frazier, daughter of Jacqueline DeShazor, founder of DeShazor Beauty System, Inc.