In its 103-year history, the Carolina Country Club in Raleigh, NC had never had one black member. The club has now accepted its first two black members, a married couple: Hilda Pinnix-Ragland and husband Alvin Ragland.
Pinnix-Ragland from Hillsborough, NC is vice president of corporate public affairs for Duke Energy. Her husband Alvin is a human resources specialist. Pinnix-Ragland is a graduate of N.C. A&T State University with an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. The couple reside in Cary, NC.
While a representative from the Carolina Country Club would not respond to press inquiries, current and longtime member of the club, Frank Daniels Jr. told the News & Observer in North Carolina that the club members have wanted to diversity for some time, but that the lack of black membership [may] have been in part because it’s “a matter of not knowing anybody.” Daniels also says “The black people I’ve talked to just didn’t want to belong,” in reference to being the only blacks at the organization.
To join the Carolina Country Club, members have to be invited and pay the fee of $40,000 and dues of more than $600 per month. This is not the first history made by Hilda Pinnix-Ragland. She was also the first black woman to make the rank of vice president at Duke Energy.
Little Known Black History Fact: The Carolina Country Club was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
