Hilliard Caldwell, a longtime civil rights activist in the greater Chapel Hill community and former Carrboro elected official, died recently at 88 years old. A member of Caldwell’s family alerted Chapelboro to his passing on Monday.
Known for his advocacy and work during Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools’ integration in the 1960s and for organizing civil disobedience protests against racial discrimination, Caldwell often found himself as a mediator to generations of Black Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents — working to inform older and younger people on the reasoning behind different approaches to race relations. He played a hand in advising the nine Lincoln High School students who held a sit-in at Colonial Drug on Franklin Street in 1960, later being nicknamed the Chapel Hill Nine and credited for kickstarting protest efforts in support of the Civil Rights Movement.
Caldwell served four terms on the Carrboro Board of Alderman, from 1981 to 1997. He also worked as a UNC employee and served in his free time as president of the NC Association of School Social Services Personnel, a member of the former Chapel-Hill Carrboro Committee for Racial Equality, a member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA’s Board of Directors and a board member for the Inter-Faith Council.
The Carrboro government shared a release about Caldwell’s death on Tuesday, calling him a “pivotal figure” in local efforts during the Civil Rights Movement and recognizing his work as a public servant.
“The Town of Carrboro will remember Hilliard Caldwell for his service to the community, for his courage and dedication, and for laying the foundation for an inclusive community,” Mayor Barbara Foushee said in the release.
In interviews from the 1990s and 2000s, which have been preserved by the Marian Cheek Jackson Center’s oral history project “From The Rock Wall,” Caldwell recalled the reception and pushback of school integration efforts. Despite those, he described the process as “very smooth compared to other communities throughout the South.” He also detailed his work on the PTA of his son’s Carrboro elementary school and efforts to combine money from all the local PTA’s to create a fund to provide underprivileged students basic resources.
Caldwell’s interest and investment into the local school district began at an early age, as he attended Lincoln High School in the mid-1950s and served as the all-Black school’s student body president. From there, he attended NC Central University and received professional certifications from Durham Technical Institute and UNC.
A member of St. Joseph C.M.E Church in Chapel Hill, Caldwell’s family said service details will be shared in the coming days.
Featured image via “From The Rock Wall”/Marian Cheek Jackson Center.
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