A North Carolina State Historic Marker identifying Parrish Street as the Black Wall Street was unveiled in downtown Durham on June 17, 2004. The unveiling was attended by several dozen people, including descendants of the business pioneers who made Parrish Street famous. Said Mayor Bill Bell during the unveiling ceremony, "Today, we pay homage to the street's past and pay homage to its future." Plans have been proposed to renovate buildings on Parrish Street and install displays to explain the area's historic significance.

The new marker reads, "In the early decades of the 1900's Durham acquired national reputation for entrepreneurship. Businesses owned by African Americans lined Parrish Street. Among them were N. C. Mutual Life Insurance Co. (moved to Parrish, 1906), lead by John Merrick, Dr. Aaron Moore, and C. C. Spaulding and Mechanics and Farmers Bank (1907) led by R. B. Fitzgerald and W. G. Pearson."