BLK South

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BLK South Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from BLK South, Nonprofit Organization, 600 Park Offices Drive Suite 300, Durham, NC.

BLK South seeks the development, vibrancy, and well-being of underserved, underdeveloped historic African American neighborhoods in the South through community development projects.

10/01/2026

What does it mean to “daylight” courage?

In his latest reflection for BLK South board member, Dr. Chris Townley brings Howard Thurman’s image of an “underground river” into conversation with the practice of uncovering buried streams. A walk beside a recovering creek leads him to ask how we can bring the courage within us into the light—and let it flow into action for justice, mercy, and care for our communities.

Read Daylighting Courage Creek using the đź”— in comments.

What happens when access begins to look like liberation?In our newest reflection, “When Access Looks Like Liberation,” D...
09/17/2026

What happens when access begins to look like liberation?

In our newest reflection, “When Access Looks Like Liberation,” Dr. Carl W. Kenney II revisits Audre Lorde’s warning that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”

Through the cultural and political landscape of 1984, Dr. Kenney challenges us to consider the difference between individual achievement and collective freedom—and whether gaining access to existing systems is enough to transform them.

Dr. Kenney is a professor at UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media and managing editor of The Durham Voice.

Read the full reflection at the link in our bio.

09/16/2026

Born in Harlem to parents whose roots reached back to Georgia, Toni Cade Bambara carried a Southern inheritance into a life of writing, filmmaking, teaching, and organizing. Those roots helped produce a cultural worker who understood that art belonged to the people—and that storytelling could be a tool for building community, strengthening movements, and practicing liberation.

Bambara eventually returned South, making Atlanta home and helping cultivate a generation of Black artists and organizers committed to collective freedom. Her life reminds us that the Great Migration did not sever Black people from the South. We carried its stories, rhythms, wisdom, and organizing traditions wherever we went—and some found their way back home.

For our Boston-area community, the Boston Ujima Project and ICA/Boston are hosting a special screening of TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing. The film explores Bambara’s life through a series of lessons on cultural organizing shared by her friends, colleagues, and students.

Filmmaker Louis Massiah will join the audience for a post-screening conversation.

🎬 Friday, October 9, 2026, at 7 PM
🎟️ RSVP: www.ujimaboston.com/events
Media Repost:

09/16/2026

Born in Harlem to parents whose roots reached back to Georgia, Toni Cade Bambara carried a Southern inheritance into a life of writing, filmmaking, teaching, and organizing. Those roots helped produce a cultural worker who understood that art belonged to the people—and that storytelling could be a tool for building community, strengthening movements, and practicing liberation.

Bambara eventually returned South, making Atlanta home and helping cultivate a generation of Black artists and organizers committed to collective freedom. Her life reminds us that the Great Migration did not sever Black people from the South. We carried its stories, rhythms, wisdom, and organizing traditions wherever we went—and some found their way back home.

For our Boston-area community, the Boston Ujima Project and ICA/Boston are hosting a special screening of TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing. The film explores Bambara’s life through a series of lessons on cultural organizing shared by her friends, colleagues, and students.

Filmmaker Louis Massiah will join the audience for a post-screening conversation.

🎬 Friday, October 9, 2026, at 7 PM
🎟️ RSVP: www.ujimaboston.com/events
Media Repost: Boston Ujima Project

BlackWriters TheWayBackHome BLKSouth

Help us give a warm BLK South welcome to our new field education intern, Michandra Washington! 👋🏾🎉Michandra is joining u...
09/15/2026

Help us give a warm BLK South welcome to our new field education intern, Michandra Washington! 👋🏾🎉

Michandra is joining us this school year as a student from Duke Divinity School. Field education gives students the opportunity to connect what they are learning in the classroom with hands-on ministry, community engagement, theological reflection, and vocational formation.

Throughout the year, Michandra will serve alongside BLK South's Hyper-Local work as we build out an after-school program for children and families in our neighborhood in partnership with Grant Street Community, Russell Memorial CME Church, and Monument of Faith Church.

We are honored to have Michandra with us and look forward to a meaningful and formative year of learning, service, and building together.

Drop a warm hello for Michandra in the comments! 👋🏾

DurhamNC CommunityDevelopment AfterSchoolProgram BlackChurch NeighborhoodMinistry

09/10/2026

BLK South co-founder Erin Dooley introduces our newest reflection, “Two Caged Birds”—a play on Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Watch to hear why Erin wrote the piece, then visit our website to read the full reflection and subscribe to the BLK South newsletter.

Link in bio.

09/03/2026

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

In When History Rhymes, BLK South co-founder Kendall Dooley reflects on the courage required to recognize the patterns echoing from our past, name harmful rhythms in the present, and imagine new rhythms that can lead us toward healing.

This semester, our weekly reflections will explore aphorisms, quotations, and proverbs that have shaped and stayed with us. You’ll hear from BLK South board members and members of our broader community as they reflect on the words that inform their lives, faith, and work.

Subscribe to the BLK South newsletter so you don’t miss a reflection—and join us as we listen for the wisdom carried through words, history, and community.

đź”— Subscribe at blksouth.org or use the link in bio.

07/29/2026

This clip comes from Musical Holdouts (1975), a documentary that explores communities across the United States whose musical traditions endured despite the pressures of mass media and cultural assimilation.

One of the film's most powerful segments takes us to the South Carolina Sea Islands, where African American children carry on generations of songs, games, and oral traditions rooted in the Gullah-Geechee experience. The film reminds us that culture isn't only preserved in museums or archives—it lives in neighborhoods, on front porches, in churches, and in the everyday practices of ordinary people.

At BLK South, we believe these kinds of stories matter because they remind us that Southern Black communities have always possessed rich cultural knowledge and wisdom. Community development isn't just about building new things—it's also about protecting and nurturing the traditions that have sustained people for generations.

Thank you to Dime Store Radio for sharing this remarkable documentary. We encourage you to visit their page and watch the full film.

đź’¬ What traditions from your family or community do you hope future generations never lose?

03/14/2026

John Perkins taught a generation of leaders that real community change begins with living there -- people choosing to love a place and the people in it.

For decades, Perkins called folks to move toward neighborhoods that had been overlooked—to listen, to build relationships, and to invest in the flourishing of the community.

His vision helped shape what became the movement and continues to influence work happening in neighborhoods across the country.

At BLK South, we’re grateful for elders like Perkins who showed that faithful presence, local leadership, and long-term commitment can help communities grow stronger for generations.

02/17/2026

Rev. Jesse Jackson (1941-2026) was a Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and political leader who became a prominent national figure in the movement for racial and economic justice. A close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and later founded Operation PUSH and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, advocating for economic empowerment, voter registration, and equal opportunity.

His life and leadership helped reshape American political imagination, widening the table and insisting that those long pushed to the margins belonged at the center of the national story.

Address

600 Park Offices Drive Suite 300
Durham, NC
27709

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+14807798665

Website

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