Donation broadens access to Durham group's history

DURHAM -- Seventy-three years' worth of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People's records passed into the care of the state of North Carolina on Tuesday.

Lavonia Allison, the Committee's chairwoman since 1997, made the donation to the state archives in a ceremony at N.C. Central University.

"This is a major, major acquisition," said state archivist Dick Langford. "This is going to be a core foundation for us to branch out in African-American history."

Terms of the gift call for the state to microfilm the material and provide copies to NCCU at no charge. The records will also be available at the state library in Raleigh and online.

"I'm so pleased," Allison said. "We are really, really going to have a very excellent opportunity for young folks to study history ... right at their fingertips."

The state is getting more than 25 cartons and archival boxes of meeting minutes, voter registration lists, newspaper clippings and other items dating from the committee's founding in 1935.

"Dr. Allison has shown great vision," said archives and history director Jeff Crow.

Durham, he said, was once described as "capital of the black middle class" and Allison's papers offer "greater information and more depth about the importance of the black community in Durham and what it's accomplished."

NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms pointed out that the university's founder, James Shepard, was one of the committee's founding members.

Allison praised state Cultural Resources Secretary Lisbeth C. Evans, who "brought this to fruition even though I worried her to death."

Allison described the committee as "a civic-based organization working ... to improve the quality of life for people who, over the years, have been the least among us in terms of the American Dream."

Langford called the acquisition "terrific" and added, "We have things that touch on African-American history, but this is probably the most substantive body of material that we've brought in."

Allison grew up in Durham but left town to attend what was then called Hampton Institute in Hampton, Va., and New York University.

After earning a doctorate in education at NYU, she returned to Durham and taught at NCCU from 1960 to 1974. She is a former trustee of the university and director of the N.C. Health Careers Access Program.

Before becoming the Durham Committee's first chairwoman, she headed the group's education and political subcommittees.