Efforts to build homes and reinvest in historic Durham Hayti District ‘add to legacy’ [Video]

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — Denise Weaver Hester calls herself a child of Hayti. She was born in 1952 and remembers when the desolate building standing in the 1200 block of Fayetteville Street was Weavers Cleaners, her uncle’s thriving small business.

“It’s actually home. I played here as a child. Used to swing on the bars and stuff,” she recalled. “It’s a family business. Very nostalgic, but very significant in the community.”

Her mother worked at North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Her father was a presser at Weavers. They were two of the many success stories that came out of the historically Black community.

There were plenty of businesses along the Fayetteville Street corridor.

“This was our main street. In it there were hundreds of businesses,” said Hester. “Spending money with Black people increases the economic pie and enables folks to grow, and their businesses to grow.”

Things changed in the 1950’s. The development …