When Booker T. Washington visited Durham NC, Duke University and toured the state of North Carolina

When Booker T. Washington visited Durham NC, Duke University and toured the state of North Carolina

Booker T. Washington visited the 1896 Durham County Colored Fair and later visited North Carolina in 1910.

In 1896, Trinity College suspended classes for half a day so its students could attend the Fair to hear the renowned American leader Booker T. Washington.

Washington was later invited to speak at the Chapel exercises on the Trinity College campus while he was in Durham. This made Duke University the first all white southern college to invite Booker T. Washington to be a guest speaker.

The institution now known as Duke University was founded in Randolph County, NC, in 1838, as Brown’s Schoolhouse. By 1859, it had been renamed Trinity College. Trinity College moved to Durham, North Carolina, and what is now East Campus in 1892.

In 1924, Trinity College changed its name after James B. Duke established the Duke Endowment. Trinity College then became the undergraduate college for men. In 1930, the Woman’s College for undergraduate women opened on East Campus and the men’s college (Trinity College) moved to the new Gothic architectural styled West Campus. In 1972, Trinity College and the Woman’s College merged into the coeducational Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. Source: Duke University

It was thought that neither the local nor the state press reported on the speech on campus. In fact, this is not the case. See the following historical articles below.

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1896

1910