Richard Burton Fitzgerald was born free (c.1843) in New Castle County, Delaware, to Thomas and Sarah (Burton) Fitzgerald.

His father Thomas was Mulatto of African and Irish ancestry, and manumitted from slavery by a White father and master. His mother was White and of English ancestry; she decided to raise her sons within the community of free people of color.

Growing up, Richard was described by his great-niece Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray as a "sturdy, rough and tumble fellow... who could work hard but cared more for good times" than he did for studying.

At night, his more studious brother Robert would teach Richard and his siblings what Robert had learned in school that day, as both Richard and their brother William ("Billy") worked in their father's brickyard rather than attend the local Quaker school.

In 1855, the Fitzgerald family moved to a farm near Hinsonville in Chester County, Pennsylvania. They wanted to reduce the risk to their children of being kidnapped by slave catchers under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

At the beginning of the American Civil War, Fitzgerald joined the Quartermaster Department as a civilian contractor in Philadelphia, as Blacks were not yet allowed to serve in the military.

In 1862, he was transferred to the Army of the Potomac's Washington supply base, Fitzgerald "went to sea" later in the war, likely as a merchant seaman.

On April 4, 1870, Richard married Sarah ("Sallie") Ann Williams at her parents' house. They had at least 12 children together; six boys and six girls. Sons Burke and Samuel followed their father into brick-making; Samuel continued the family business after his father's death.

In 1879, with his brother Robert, Fitzgerald moved his own family to Durham, NC based on potentially favorable financial prospects within the developing tobacco manufacturing economy.

"In Durham Richard Fitzgerald bought a large tract with a good vein of clay for brick here he began a brickyard and built an eighteen-room house shaded by a grove of maples and magnolias".

According to his grandniece Pauli Murray, "Within the next fifteen years Uncle Richard became Durham's leading brick maker. By 1884, he had a large brickyard on Chapel Hill Road and orders on hand for two million bricks".

Tobacco manufacturer William T. Blackwell told Fitzgerald that he would purchase all the bricks he made.

By 1910 Fitzgerald was producing 30,000 bricks a day from his $17,000 plant and owned 100 acres of land within the city limits and had $50,000 worth of real estate.

Thirty years of brickmaking (i.e. prior to 1913) had "netted Fitzgerald a big brickyard with a $6000 cement dryer, which makes it possible to turn out brick at all seasons; a yard whose capacity is 30,000 bricks per day, and whose value, including ten acres of land, is $17,000."

His holdings in 1913 were valued conservatively at $100,000. Besides brickmaking, Fitzgerald was involved in many other business ventures.

In 1885, he purchased newspaper printing equipment to start a newspaper for the Black community in Durham; no known editions survive, and it is not known if he published.

In 1895, Fitzgerald and four others started the Durham Drug Company, which was renamed the Fitzgerald Drug Company in 1901, and operated until 1910, when its name was changed.
Also, in 1901, Fitzgerald became the treasurer for Lincoln Hospital, founded for Blacks in Durham, NC.

In 1898, he became the first president of the Coleman Manufacturing Company in Concord, North Carolina. This was the first cotton mill in the United States to be built, owned and operated by Blacks.

Fitzgerald was president of the Durham Real Estate, Mercantile, and Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated in 1899. It was "formed under the laws of the State of North Carolina to promote manufacturing and mercantile interests" for Blacks.

He was among the original incorporators of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank, which received its charter from the State of North Carolina in 1907. It opened its office in 1908 in the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company Building on Parrish Street, which was known as the “Black Wall Street" of the city.

Richard Fitzgerald died on March 24, 1918. He is buried in what is known as the Fitzgerald section of the Maplewood Cemetery in Durham. This section was originally a private cemetery on the Fitzgerald family land around his large mansion. It was later annexed by the Maplewood Cemetery.

Some of the buildings that were built with Fitzgerald bricks.

Central Prison; Raleigh (1870–84)

Emmanuel AME Church; Kent Street, Durham (1888)

St. Joseph's AME Church (now Hayti Heritage Center); Fayetteville Street, Durham (1891)

Erwin Cotton Mills; West Main and Ninth streets, Durham (1892)

Fitzgerald Building; corner of Chapel Hill and Kent streets, Durham (1910)

Source: Wikipedia.
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Throughout the Bull City (& Raleigh), you’ll come across bricks with an intriguing design. These are Fitzgerald bricks.⁠⁠The bricks in this photo were called pavers. They were specifically made for walkways.

The company that made the mold with this particular design was out of Ohio, but the bricks were made right here in Durham.

By chance, the name for the paver mold design was "Bullseye."⁠⁠Richard Burton Fitzgerald was born free in Delaware in 1843.

After the Civil War ended & the same year Durham was officially incorporated, 1869, he moved to North Carolina & built a brick empire as Durham grew, brick by brick with his brother Robert.⁠⁠The building on the corner of Kent & West Chapel Hill Street is the Fitzgerald building.

Under that stucco lies Fitzgerald bricks. The land surrounding was once his brickyard.⁠⁠No one could compete with the craftsmanship of his bricks. They were the preferred bricks of both the Dukes & W.T. Blackwell. Yes, those Dukes.

Blackwell as in Blackwell Street, the Old Bull building & the business-crazed, hardass that steamrolled all other tobacco competitors to make Bull Durham tobacco a global household name.⁠⁠The Old Bull is the oldest standing building in Durham built in 1874 & the first all brick tobacco factory in the US.

Not just any bricks. Fitzgerald bricks.⁠⁠It is rumored that both the Duke family & Blackwell turned down White brick masons who thought that their skin color alone would warrant them a contract. The tobacco moguls stuck with Fitzgerald’s quality bricks.

At one point Blackwell offered to buy EVERY brick Fitzgerald made. ⁠⁠Fitzgerald went on to become one of the forefathers of Durham’s Black Wall Street as the first president of Black-own Mechanics & Farmers Bank, purchasing the equipment needed to start a local newspaper for the Black community, co-founder of Durham Drug Co. (renamed Fitzgerald Drug Co.), treasurer of Lincoln hospital, first president of Coleman Manufacturing Co., & an original incorporator of NC Mutual.

His list of accomplishments goes on, as does his legacy.⁠

He was also Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray’s great uncle.

Source: TheBullsofDurhamdotcom