(GALLERY) Durham Committee Celebrates 89th Annual Founders’ Day

DURHAM, NC—The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People (DCABP) held its 89th annual Founders’ Day Banquet on August 17th at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel. Over 600 attendees heard a powerful message from the keynote speaker, the Honorable James E. Clyburn (D-SC 6th District).

DCABP was formed by a group of visionary leaders in 1935 to improve the lives of African-American citizens in Durham. In 1939, the Durham Committee adopted a creed to register voters and run and support candidates they indicated would benefit the Black community. This creed also vowed to improve several initiatives, including education, health, housing, and economic power. For decades, the DCABP has been and still is a profound advocate for the relentless pursuit of social justice and economic empowerment.

Honorable James E. Clyburn is the U.S. Congressman representing South Carolina’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives and Chairman of the Democratic Faith Working Group. When he came to Congress in 1993, Congressman Clyburn was elected co-president of his freshman class. He was subsequently elected chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and served as vice chair and chair of the House Democratic Caucus. From 2011 to 2018 and 2023 to March 2024, he served as Assistant Democratic Leader. He served as House Majority Whip from 2019 to 2022 and 2007 to 2010, making him the first African American to serve multiple terms as Majority Whip. A native son of South Carolina, Clyburn has represented the state’s Sixth Congressional District since 1993.

Rep. Clyburn has been credited with playing a critical role in helping former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden get to the White House. In 2020, his endorsement boosted President Biden to win the Black vote in South Carolina. His renewed endorsement of the current Vice President and candidate for President, Kamala Harris, at the Founders’ Day Banquet and beyond could be significant once more.

Each year, the DCABP celebrates two individuals during the Founders’ Day Banquet who have made exceptional contributions to the Durham community. The 2024 honorees are Minnie Forte-Brown and Dr. Bruce Bridges.

Minnie Forte-Brown is a Durham native and graduate of Hillside High School. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in speech and English from Saint Augustine’s University and a master’s in speech pathology and audiology from North Carolina Central University (NCCU). Forte-Brown is a retired communications specialist and master teacher in the Department of Mass Communications at NCCU. Having always shown a strong commitment to education, she served as a Durham Public Schools Board of Education member for 16 years, from 2004 until 2020. She demonstrated leadership during her tenure with the Board, serving as the Board’s chair from 2006 until 2012. She then served another three years as Vice-Chair from 2012 to 2015. In April 2021, the Durham Public Schools Board of Education unanimously voted to rename the district staff development center in her honor. Forte-Brown is the co-founder of the East Durham Children’s Initiative (now Durham Children’s Initiative) and the former chair of the Homeless Services Advisory Committee.

Professor, Author, Speaker, and Diversity Lecturer Dr. Bruce Bridges is a native of Durham, where he and his six siblings lived in the McDougal Terrace community. He developed a love for reading while an elementary student at Burton. He attended Whitted Junior High School; however, due to integration, he was sent to and graduated from Durham High School. As a participant in the newly developed Operation Breakthrough student job program, he met community organizer Howard Fuller. Fuller helped Bridges get a job but also exposed him to the contradictions of capitalism and racism in America. With the help of another mentor, Ben Ruffin, Bridges enrolled in NCCU. While a student at NCCU, Bridges was invited to the local Muslim Mosque, organizing fellow students to attend. After obtaining his master’s from the University of Cincinnati, Bridges became a faculty member at NCCU, creating a lecture series on cultural awareness. The ‘Cultural Awareness Seminar’ became so popular and relevant that WDUR agreed to make the series its first live program on location. Many of these programs are being transcribed to become another book for Bridges.

In addition to recognizing these honorees, the DCABP acknowledges impressive youth in this community and presents scholarships to recent high school graduates.

The 2024 Founders’ Banquet Scholarship Awards & Youth Honorees are:

Sarahy Mora Calderon – Graduate (Valedictorian) of Lakeview School; plans to attend NCCU to become a nurse;
Taniah Perry, a Lakeview School graduate (Salutatorian), is the first in her family to graduate from high school. She will attend Durham Technical Community College and plans to transfer to NCCU in two years to become a therapist or social worker.
Eric Ameer Spain – Junior at Durham School of Technology; currently creating his t-shirt line.

Amilya K. Williams is the Dr. Lavonia Allison Award winner. She completed City of Medicine High School a semester early and obtained a GMP and SOP, BioWork 3.0 certification from Durham Technical Community College. With a deep passion for chemistry and its application in the medical field, Amilya plans to attend NCCU to explore the intersection of chemistry and healthcare.

Walter Jackson chairs the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People. Angelique Stallings chairs the Civic Committee, which organizes the Founders’ Day Banquet, and Rosa Anderson serves as Vice-Chair.