After the death of Kenneth Edmonds, the publisher of The Carolina Times, the 93-year-old weekly newspaper ceased its publication and closed its doors in 2020. The organization was one of two legacy, Black-owned and operated newspapers in Durham, bringing the list of still-operating legacy Black publications in N.C. down to 10 (according to Wiki).
The scarcity of Black-owned legacy and new publications isn’t just a quirk of North Carolina, unfortunately. According to the Black Media Initiative, there are currently less than 450 media outlets nationwide that primarily serve Black communities. In 2019, the Nieman Lab reported a little over 200 legacy Black press publications, but many have been slow to embrace digital platforms, forcing some to cease their publications altogether.
Cary Wheelous is doing his part to solve that problem by founding Durham-based Hayti, an all-in-one news and podcasts app delivering content from Black publishers and podcasters that aims to bring Black media into the digital age.
Like many others, Wheelous gets his news from mobile and online applications. But because of the lack of Black publications, he became disappointed with the lack of content from not just Black newspapers, but also from digital media, radio and podcasts.
When he spoke to Black publishers about this problem, some confirmed that most news apps’ algorithms prevent showing their content on users’ feeds in order to make room for more mainstream news.
Recognizing the problem that this lack of representation causes for Black communities, Wheelous decided to develop an app that would uplift Black publishers—major and minor—and their stories in one easy-to-use hub. Thus, Hayti was born and launched into beta in 2021. The startup was named a recipient of one of NC IDEA’s $10K MICRO grants in October.
Hayti is the first Black-owned app for news, videos and podcasts highlighting Black culture and news from Black publishers and podcasters around the world, covering everything from entertainment to current events. Its simple-to-use interface allows users to not only receive news more efficiently and quickly, but also to personalize their feeds with specific topics, publishers and podcasts and to easily share and save the content. The app makes money via ads.
The app also includes a daily-updated history blurb at the top of the interface so that users can learn more about specific moments in Black history.
“When I was growing up, I realized that Black history and culture was often hard to find,” Wheelous said. “Our history is vast and so broad, covering so many different spectrums, topics and categories. With so much information out there, I wanted to make sure that every single day I learned something new and that I would be able to share that information with all of our users so that they can be able to learn something that they never knew that existed.”
Hayti currently curates news from over 200 publishers (which includes online and print publications and magazines) and podcasts from over 2,000 Black podcasters. Wheelous wanted Hayti to ensure that underrepresented journalists get the exposure they need and that their voices are heard by everyone.
“I created this app for not just the Black community,” Wheelous said. “I created it for all mobile users—for the first time—to be able to go to one location and access news and information and all the culture coming out of our community.”
If the name Hayti seems familiar, that’s because the app is named after the historic African-American community that is part of Durham. The community of Hayti was the first Black community to become fully self-sufficient in America, Wheelous says. Its flourishing years from between the 1880s to the 1940s gave it the title of “The Black Capital of the South.”
The original “Black Wall Street” was located on Parrish Street in downtown Durham and the historic Hayti neighborhood sat in the heart of Durham’s Black Wall Street. Wheelous named his app after the community Hayti in recognition of Black Wall Street, where Black businesses once thrived.
That’s why Wheelous eventually wants to expand Hayti’s platform to include and uplift Black-owned retail businesses, hopefully evolving the app into a “digital Black Wall Street.” By doing so, he hopes to create an accessible hub for anyone to access that can support and uplift Black communities.
