From Stephen to C.B.
Legacies of Exploitation, Sport, and Community
We sought to examine and re-narrate the historical relationship between tobacco, race, and the Duke University Men’s Basketball program.
This project began with Stephen Slade, the enslaved Black man who discovered the “Brightleaf” curing method of tobacco...
Image: Old American Tobacco Factory from 1900. The Duke family earned a fortune off of the sale of Brightleaf Tobacco, which was rolled, processed, and often grown by Black laborers. "W. Duke, Sons & Co., branch of American Tobacco Co. ca. 1900." Durham County Library
...and with Claudius Claiborne, Duke University’s first Black Men’s Basketball player.
How have Stephen Slade and Claudius Claiborne’s stories been told? What do these narratives reveal, and what do they hide?
Image: The 1967-1968 Duke Men's Basketball Team. Claudius is sitting on the far right and is the only Black player. Repository: Duke University Archives. Durham, North Carolina, USA. library.duke.edu/uarchives
Stephen Slade
In the 19th century, a man named Stephen was enslaved in Caswell County, NC by Abisha Slade.
Abisha Slade became famous for a successful method of Brightleaf tobacco curing, a discovery later attributed to an accident Stephen made while sleeping.
This story was originally published in a white farmer's magazine in 1886, and has been largely taken as fact since.
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What narratives about Black inventions does the myth of Stephen Slade contribute to? How can we separate fact from fiction and tell an accurate, nuanced story?
Claudius "C.B" Claiborne
"What is the role of people who initiate something, people who plant the seeds...what should the recognition be for tilling the soil?"
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-C.B.
Claudius Claiborne, born in Danville, Virginia, was the first Black student-athlete in Duke's history, playing from 1965 to 1969.
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As a student-athlete, he participated actively in protests and demonstrations, most notably in the Allen Building Takeover at Duke in 1969.
Danville
Danville was the place where Abisha Slade first sold Brightleaf tobacco, where Claudius' great grandfather (Joseph Farmer) moved for a better opportunity in tobacco, and where as a child Claudius saw tobacco auctions before the tobacco was transported to be processed. The Danville community helped Claudius grow to be the student, athlete, and activist that he is.
Photographic view looking northwest on Craghead Street, Imperial Tobacco Co. building on left, Danville, Virginia. Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
Durham
Durham was where the Dukes made their tobacco wealth through the labor of Black workers, and eventually bought Duke University. It is the same place where a worldwide famous basketball program would soon arise, but not before Claudius Claiborne fought against racist institutions and people during his career as a Black student-athlete.
Tear gas outside the Allen Building on February 13, 1969. Allen Building Takeover. Source: Duke Online Exhibits