Courtney Smith is a 27-year-old African American who’s lived most of her life in Durham.
She works evenings at Loaf Bakery in downtown Durham with Noah Kessler. He’s white and 32, a lifelong Durham guy. The two got to talking about race and their growing up years in Durham. Along with Noah, and with help from her sister, Courtney explores a loss of innocence - and the gravitational pull of the racial divide.
This story is a part of our special collaborative project, Storymakers: Durham. WUNC is one of 15 stations across the country chosen to be a part of the innovative public media project called Localore: Finding America. The project is being put together by the Association of Independents in Radio and is funded in large part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The project is produced by John Biewen, a producer with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and host of the Scene on Radio podcast. The project will explore the things that bring us together and divide us as a community, like race, class and faith.
Find out more and submit a written story of your own at storymakersdurham.org.