This section allows us to engage with election data from both the 1951 and 1953 elections, two important polling periods that significantly expanded which identities were represented on Durham's city council. First, you will be able to compare how each candidate faired against their opponent(s) in all of the precincts that existed during these years through our reconstructed table using data published the day after the elections from The Durham Herald Sun . We have made this information user-friendly by including the election votes of our featured candidates in green. This will allow us to see how each precinct viewed these candidates representing new identities in a progressing Durham.

Scrolling down to the bottom allows the user of this digital project to engage with a visual map relating this precinct data. While having raw data is important, we believe that contextualizing this data with understanding where these precincts are in relation to the city of Durham as a whole will add an extra layer of depth and interpretation to what we analyze about the data. Which demographics are normally voting for representatives who identify with marginalized characteristics? Which precincts ensured that new identities could be elected into political positions of power? You as the viewer will be able to find information on key voting precincts while clicking on each of the precincts in our map feature. We have incorporated both of these data visualization techniques to allow us to begin to answer these fundamental questions to understanding the shifting culture of Durham in the early 1950s.

1951 Election

Club Boulevard Edgemont School Cash's Store Pearson School Carr Junior High School E.K. Powe School Holloway Street School Lakewood School Morehead School Durham High School East Durham Southside North Durham School East Durham Northside West Durham Southside Watts Street School Northgate Fuller School Forest Hills Hillside High School Totals
Mayor
Evans 253 174 106 833 212 420 386 288 238 277 382 271 209 254 428 314 302 373 1241 6961
Patton 490 280 307 29 265 323 237 200 167 591 288 513 318 175 397 432 396 444 64 5916
Second Ward
Everett 276 186 126 479 283 360 250 230 147 334 295 282 161 232 398 303 305 263 897 5727
Harris 440 245 272 55 243 302 254 210 160 524 286 482 351 149 375 404 345 472 89 5658
At Large
Barfield 380 348 253 340 263 479 274 296 172 456 399 497 384 240 452 538 465 442 514 7192
Fowler 613 222 320 33 287 334 236 226 175 743 337 597 370 167 502 534 380 515 53 6644
Strawbridge 231 241 134 280 291 541 230 193 109 247 320 282 241 237 321 245 257 221 459 5080
Taylor 80 47 34 921 102 87 268 146 189 92 220 87 30 145 248 83 184 234 1316 4507
Trent 539 234 261 130 325 302 225 304 198 627 260 476 277 245 512 482 336 552 240 6525
Whitefield 325 176 166 24 151 285 185 158 91 338 198 323 225 151 323 290 210 246 34 3899

 

1953 Election

Club Boulevard Edgemont School Cash's Store Pearson School Carr Junior High School E.K. Powe School Holloway Street School Lakewood School Morehead School Durham High School East Durham Southside North Durham School East Durham Northside West Durham Southside Watts Street School Northgate Fuller School Forest Hills Hillside High School Totals
Mayor
Evans 360 150 159 573 139 314 221 168 172 380 295 314 244 192 355 331 281 444 883 5902
Third Ward
Harris 140 23 40 775 94 67 218 161 154 141 273 96 38 131 279 103 145 263 1062 4203
Mangum 274 277 188 3 91 316 147 100 78 336 219 316 392 96 268 294 209 279 12 3701

​The above map details voting data for the 1951 and 1953 Durham elections by precinct. Important precincts to consider when observing the demographic shift in minority representation in the Durham political scene include those with polling locations at Pearson School, West Durham Southside, Lakewood School, Hillside High School, and Watts Street School.

The most extreme example to consider is the Pearson School precinct. Evans, Everett, and Harris each won by a landslide in their respective elections. Trent, on the other hand, had the fourth most votes out of six candidates in the At Large category. The landslide victories for Evans, Everett, and Harris in the Pearson precinct can likely be attributed to the majority presence of black residents within the district. Trent, as a wealthier white woman, might not have appealed to this demographic.

Take a look at West Durham Southside, Lakewood School, Hillside High School, and Watts Street School to observe the precinct-wide victories of our selected individuals and interpret the data for yourself.
We were able to interpret such valuable and tangible data through the following primary sources:
Precinct Data 1951: The Durham Morning Herald (Durham, NC). "Vote for Candidates." May 9, 1951.
Precinct Data 1953: The Durham Morning Herald (Durham, NC). "Precinct Tabulations in Yesterday’s Election." May 6, 1953.
Precinct Map 1959: Meyer, Sigmund. Precinct Map - City of Durham. Map. Durham, NC: Durham County Board of Elections, 1959. Box 9, Folder 2: Maps, 1953-1963 and undated. Rencher Nicholas Harris Papers, 1851-1980 and undated, bulk 1926-1965. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Durham, NC.
* While we recognize that the precincts changed between the first election result in 1951 and the publication of the precinct map in 1959, we believe that the difference is negligible when looking at trends for how different communities voted in these diverse elections.