 Seen as the quintessential southern business men, the Dukes were a highly revered family that made a fortune from establishing Durham as the tobacco capital of the world.Often cited as one of the key advantages for Durham’s black business sphere, the positive relationship between this white elite family and black entrepreneurs allowed direct capital to flow from the white economic sphere to the African American sphere.This openly positive attitude towards the black community, stemmed from Washington Duke’s original opposition to slavery during the Civil War.