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Duke in Pictures: Durham History at a Pop-Up Museum

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Duke student Christian Conway says he came to Thompson Writing Program Professor Joshua Clark Davis' "History of Durham" class knowing little about the topic. On Thursday evening, however, he was among a group of Duke students telling their own stories about that history.

"I never guessed the Civil War was such a key moment in Durham history," said Conway, pictured here with Durham resident Christin Lampkowski at Thursday's Pop-Up exhibit at the Museum of Durham History. "Before the war, Durham was just a stop on the train line, but after the war, it became a major center.  The war was the point at which that history turned."

Conway and more than a dozen other first-year students in Davis’ writing class presented posters on Durham's Black Wall Street and the Hayti African-American community, the growth of the American Tobacco Company, Jewish-African American relations and other topics.

Their exhibit attracted community members looking to support the nascent museum and learn more about unknown aspects of Durham's history.  "I've learned more about Durham's history just in the last several years," said Durham resident Jon Ward, who attended with his wife Dawn, a Duke alumna.  "I wanted to come here and find out more."

The Pop-Up Museum was the latest in a series of events designed to engage the community in growing the museum, said its executive director, Katie Spencer. The museum exists virtually online and through community events at its History Hub located downtown in the former bus depot at 500 West Main Street, near the Durham Art Guild.

This past December, Duke and N.C. Central University students came together to present mini-exhibits at the hub.

Below, student Caitlin Koehler discusses her poster on Hayti with Durham resident Jon Ward.  Photos by Geoffrey Mock

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