The Durham County Public Library's North Carolina Collection is hosting a special screening of the historic film "" in honor of Black History Month.
For newer generations, the historic film contains never-before-seen footage of Durham's rich Black history centered around the Hayti community in its heyday before much of it was destroyed to build the Durham Freeway in the name of "urban renewal."
The film was released in 1948 and was commissioned by the Durham Business and Professional Chain, according to the North Carolina Collection.
The film will be screened at the main auditorium of the Durham County Library at 300 N. Roxboro Street at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The 30-minute film is also available online at the .
The film's screening will be followed by a panel discussion with community stakeholders about the historic preservation of Hayti. The panelists will include Tom Whiteside, historian and instructor of Cinematic Arts at Duke University; Anita Scott Neville, the director of Hayti Reborn; Angela Lee, the executive and artistic director of the Hayti Heritage Center; Denise Hester of the Durham Business and Professional Chain; and Lauren Panny, the head of the North Carolina Collection at the Durham County Library.
The newly remastered 1948 film depicts the vibrant and bustling social and business life of Black Durham in the '40s: successful merchants and farmers, enterprising families, furniture stores, barber schools, and the early days of North Carolina Central University.
"Negro Durham Marches On" was directed by Don Parisher, a filmmaker who produced at least 30 movies documenting and promoting towns in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida between 1947 and 1965, according to of Wilkes County.
The library received funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation in 2021 to restore and preserve the film for the future, according to the North Carolina Collection.
