Each Fall, Duke Service-Learning hosts Context and Connections, an "engaged" bus tour of Durham for new Duke faculty and those interested in deepening their own knowledge of and connections to the Durham community and in exploring connections with their teaching, research, and service.
In this photo, tour participants gather around Mayme Webb-Bledsoe (Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership) as she shares the stories behind the documentary photo exhibit “Meet Me at Lyon Park: Snapshots of our History”. For Webb-Bledsoe, these stories are personal—she grew up in Durham’s West End Neighborhood, went to school at Lyon Park Elementary School, and was nurtured and formed in the loving hands of this community. Her ties to the school and neighborhood remain strong, as does her commitment to bringing the voices of those most marginalized in the primarily African-American neighborhoods of Durham into the conversation and decision-making of the community. To learn more about the history of Lyon Park, we highly recommend going to visit the historical photo exhibit at 1309 Halley St., Durham, NC 27707.
Excerpt from the exhibit:
“Families from the historically African American neighborhoods of the West End and Lyon Park would gather here for baseball games, school plays, meetings, and family reunions. The newly arrived residents built homes, churches, parks, and a school for their children. Families worked hard to get ahead, but they also pulled together, creating a close and caring network. Children were especially valued, and the whole community contributed to their education and upbringing.”
