In a city where change seems constant, The Chicken Hut stands as an anchor to Durham’s past, serving up fried chicken and soul food the same way it has for nearly seven decades.
Claiborne Tapp III, nicknamed “Tre,” not only inherited a restaurant from his parents but also a legacy dating back to 1957, when his father opened the original Chicken Box in the heart of Black Wall Street, Durham’s vibrant African American business district.
“My father just developed a recipe and started roasting fried chicken, and it just took off from there,” Tre said. “People loved it!”
That area was once bustled with Black-owned restaurants, hotels, dry cleaners, and other businesses — a community where people came together. However, the construction of the Durham Freeway destroyed much of that commercial hub, scattering businesses and reshaping the landscape of Black entrepreneurship in Durham…