How Raleigh became the technology center in the United States

Rally A portrait of Martin Luther King is hanging at the entrance. The black priest and anti-apartheid pioneer in the United States appears satisfied with the work of Johnny Hackett. Hackett opened an incubator in an old factory building called the Black Dollar. Its purpose is to make it easier for black and other non-white entrepreneurs to take a step towards self-employment.

The Black Dollar isn’t supposed to be “Black WeWork,” not a version of the office rental startup popular with hipsters in California and New York: “Our people need more than the internet,” Hackett says. “You need space for ideas.”

Black Dollar offers space, lamination and T-shirt and mug printing machines, a photo studio and a convenience store downtown. In the 1970s, the neighborhood, in which mostly black people lived, was still considered a “red line” area: banks refused home loans there. Now IT startups, cafes and fashion stores are booming.