Setting the Scene: A new Edgemont (1960s)
The End of an Era
It wasn't until 1962 that the first Black family moved into Edgemont. Mrs. Margaret Weatherby and her five children effectively turned Edgemont into a "bi-racial community." We don't know why Mrs. Weatherby herself moved, but some Black people displaced by Urban Renewal in Durham sought low rent in Edgemont. A notable instance of this was the disruption of Hayti District by the contruction of NC Highway 147.
For the Whites who could afford it, white flight ensued. By 1968, Edgemont was about 60% Black and 40% White.
This population change exacerbated Edgemont's problems. In 1964, Edgemont was ranked:
- 1st in the city for juvenile delinquency
- 2nd in low education level
- 3rd in "blighted" housing
- and overall the 3rd most "blighted" area of Durham
But now there were issues of racial tension, too.
The Community Center as Middle Ground
The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the coinciding "accidental" (as described by the Director of the Center; no further info was found) death of a neighborhood boy in Edgemont deepened racial animus. In a 1968 report, the Center's director documents "charges and threats from the whites and fear and anxiety among the blacks."
Through this, the Center's stated policy was to listen to both sides. Seeing Edgemont as an unstable, tense community, the Center aimed to provide regular programming and neutral personnel. Dispelling rumors of threats to bomb, burn, and kill was Center protocol. The Center's closeness to the police (to report agitators and rumors) is documented positively. But given the history of police violence against Black communities, we should question how neutral the Duke-affiliated Center was.
This is the Edgemont in which the Living-Learning Experiment took place.