Operation Breakthrough (Durham, North Carolina)

Operation Breakthrough, an anti-poverty movement, was established in Durham, North Carolina in August 1964. It played a prominent and influential role in the expansion of the Civil Rights movement in Durham. Terry Sanford, its founder, managed to develop that through the help and involvement of the North Carolina Fund. A Member of the Democratic Party, Sanford was the former governor of North Carolina and was highly respected for his intervention in the improvement of public education. Indeed, in the 1960s, the education system in place in North Carolina was very poor as one quarter of the adults above 25 years old had received an education inferior to sixth grade, making most of them illiterate.² Because of the high success of the program, the concept developed through the North Carolina Fund was mimicked throughout the nation, transforming what initially was a state wide program to a national program. Throughout this movement, activism played a fundamental role as the main aim of the program consisted in changing the economic situation of a state through the use of political and social power.

In the mid-20th century, Durham’s economic situation was not as idyllic as people might have thought. Indeed, Durham was a very unequal town and huge disparities among the citizens existed. Equality and civil rights had been promised to the United States after a decade of intense activism⁴ , but all of this without success. According to the data (Exhibit A) compiled by the Action for Durham Development, by the 1960s there were 5,215 families out of 18,690 that had an overall income of less than $3000 per year—approximately 28% of the families in Durham were in poverty. This represented a considerable number of families that were impoverished. Furthermore, many of citizens of Durham, both rich and poor, began to leave the city to seek better job opportunities and to escape from poverty: “In the [1960’s], the number [of citizens out-migrating] fell to 30,000… continuing loss… of 6-10 percent of young adults between the ages of twenty and thirty-five.” Consequently the constant loss of youths from Durham—and from North Carolina—resulted in a decreasing economy due to “costs of lost productivity, of lost purchasing power, and of the relief rolls.”

Much of Durham's economic decline was due to the rapid industrialization of the tobacco and textile industries following World War II. While these industries had once supplied plentiful jobs to Durham, new advances in mechanized production resulted in the cutting of significant numbers of jobs after the 1940s.

Durham was going through economic instability due to the rapid industrialization that was occurring. Although industrialization made production easier and quicker, jobs were lost as they were replaced with machines. Soon, these economic issues gave birth to variety of new issues that further affected the welfare of the citizens of Durham.

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