NCCU loop

On Thursday, I extended an errand by adding on a visit to NC Central University, a UNC-system HBCU near downtown Durham. 

Near Loaf, downtown. I left it for someone else to find.

This mural memorializing the history of Black Wall Street and Hayti was painted in 1998. Alas, it needs some maintenance. See what it used to look like, and read about the challenges of maintaining murals here. A fabulous database of Durham's murals is maintained at muraldurham.com, which emerged as part of a project by Duke students. Later, a collaboration between Duke's Nasher Art Museum, Preservation Durham, the Museum of Durham History, and Bike Durham led to the creation of monthly bike tours of Durham murals.

Mural detail: Associated Cab. A 2013 article in the NCCU Campus Echo says "the cab driver represents the people who gave suggestions and constructive criticism to the artists and volunteers."

One of the many entrances to NCCU:

James Edward Shepard, 1875-1947, founder and president, North Carolina College at Durham, 1910-1947. Behind the statue is the James E. Shepard Administration Building, renamed in 2019, following student activism to change the name. The building was previously named for former NC governor, Clyde Hoey, who was a white segregationist. (Buildings at App State and Western Carolina University were also renamed, following the 2020 protests against the murder of George Floyd.)

The steps leading down to the athletic fields are steep enough to make folks with acrophobia teeter a tad...

Protecting the (NCCU Eagles') Nest at the Phys Ed and Recreation Complex:

NCCU's Centennial Garden:

NCCU's Centennial Chapel dates to 1939, and was relocated to Fayetteville St. from Alston Ave. in 2010. 

Bees and building reflections at the NCCU Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise. It's quite the building!

My cell phone camera doesn't show looming hills very well, but as I looped back toward downtown on S. Roxboro Road, I was surprised to see that the building looming high above these apartments is the new Durham County Courthouse. (Eighty of the 132 units are reserved for income-restricted residents.)

Here, this photo shows the looming-ness better...

Crosswalk signal buttons. Priorities...

The renovated downtown Durham County Library building is gorgeous, with lots of space available for sitting outside in the sun and/or shade once the library re-opens for hanging out post-pandemic.