What is our Mission?

A Message from the Chair
We will have to endure some valleys before we reach the pinnacle of the glory days.
As we rebuild the infrastructure of this historic organization things will change. Throughout this evolution, we will have to endure some valleys before we reach the pinnacle of the glory days.
Some of the changes we are dealing with is reintroducing the Durham Committee to the 90,000 Black residents in Durham. With your contributions we will be able to get the work done that is needed in our community. We are grateful that you have decided to share the load with leadership.
As we move forward in my term as Chairman, I hope that we will soon fully engage our community on the important issues that peak their interest. Our standing committees are already beginning to have a much stronger presence in the community and we only intend to intensify that impact.
Our once a month General Body Meetings is on the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. Stop by and "Like" our Facebook page. Join us! Help us get our community back in order!!!
With much love and respect,
Omar S. Beasley
Chairman
Our History
A beacon of economic power in the Black community
On August 15, 1935 a group of men gathered at a Durham Tennis Club to discuss black affairs and creating a new civic organization in Durham, North Carolina. On that day, The Durham Committee on Negro Affairs was formed. These founders, Charles Clinton Spaulding, James E. Shepard, Rencher N. Harris, W.D. Hill, R.L. McDougald, J.T. Taylor and L.E. Austin were referred to as “a committee of influential Negroes”.
In 1939, the Durham Committee adopted a creed drafted by R. N. Harris. Its emphasis was to register voters, run and support candidates that they indicated would most benefit our race. This creed also vowed to work for the betterment of several initiatives in the black community which included education, health, housing and economic power.
The name of the organization was later changed to the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People.