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David Caldwell Jr. - On Landfill Exploitation (clip)

Interviewed by Blanche Brown on April 24, 2012

David Caldwell Jr. - On Landfill Exploitation (clip)

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Oral history interview of Caldwell Jr., David conducted by Brown, Blanche on April 24, 2012 at Eubanks Community Center, Chapel Hill, NC.

Citation: Marian Cheek Jackson Center, “David Caldwell Jr. - On Landfill Exploitation (clip),” From the Rock Wall, accessed September 13, 2026, https://fromtherockwall.org/oral-histories/david-caldwell-jr-on-landfill-exploitation.

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In this Oral History

David Caldwell, Jr.

A Chapel Hill native, David Caldwell is the Project Director and Community Organizer for the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association located in northern Chapel Hill, North Carolina. As part of his position, he collaborates with UNC in research and works with PORCH and summer enrichment programs to…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On his career, community, and the Rogers-Eubanks neighborhood

"...and the thing about it was that you got to know there were very few activists that really knew what was going on with the enforcement and the same thing very few enforcers know what’s going on with the activists so it just made everyone—all of us more knowledgeable when people were talking we…

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 David Caldwell, Jr. - On his career, community, and the Rogers-Eubanks neighborhood

"...and the thing about it was that you got to know there were very few activists that really knew what was going on with the enforcement and the same thing very few enforcers know what’s going on with the activists so it just made everyone—all of us more knowledgeable when people were talking we…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On the integration of Lincoln High School, family, and civil rights

In this interview, the second of two 2017 interviews conducted by Andrea Wuerth, David Caldwell, Jr., discusses his experiences in the newly-integrated Chapel Hill High School. He remembers the difficult early years, describing his accidental role in the riots that took place in Fall 1971, his…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On his parents, civil rights, and law enforcement

In this interview, David Caldwell, Jr., begins by discussing past generations of Caldwells that came from Chatham County and lived first on Merritt Mill Road, then Durham, then Northside. His family moved to Rogers Road in 1963 when land became available to African-Americans. A major topic is the…

 David Caldwell - On the history of environmental racism in the Rogers Road community

“That’s one reason we’re trying so hard to document everything. Because if you lose your identity, you lose your community…You lose your community, whether it’s from development or people buying it, you lose your identity also. So either way, if you lose either one, you’ve lost completely.” - David…

 David Caldwell - On the difficulties between the local government and Rogers-Eubank community concerning the landfill

This interview is part of an SOHP project called Rural South: Backways: Understanding Segregation in the Rural South. The interviews, 2014-, were conducted in the rural piedmont region and eastern North Carolina about the often hidden forces of structural and institutional discrimination that have…

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 David Caldwell, Jr. - On his education, sports experience, and family's involvement in law enforcement and the military

"That's what I try to instill, doing what’s right when no one is looking." - David Caldwell, Jr. David Caldwell is a native of Chapel Hill and long time community organizer and activist in the Rogers Road community. Mr. Caldwell brought materials to be scanned during the interview, and large…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On his career and community

“You made a mistake, but learn from it. Matter of fact, if you learn from it, it’s not a mistake." - David Caldwell, Jr. David Caldwell Jr. gives an overview of his life in Chapel Hill and his experiences in the US Army and his other occupations. He begins by talking about his family and what his…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On the Civil Rights Movement and his family

 David Caldwell, Jr. - Going to town (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr.: Because when we moved out here, I was in the third grade, so it was the [19]60s, and there was not a lot of houses. There was not a lot of things going on that you could do, so we spent a lot of our time in the woods. There were maybe thirteen kids out here at the time on the…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On the Rogers Road neighborhood (clip)

Darius Scott (DS): What brought you guys from Merritt Mill to Rogers Road when you were in the third grade? David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): Oh! Like most of the people out here, we had the opportunity to buy a home. DS: Um-hmm. DC: There was only about thirteen houses out here when we moved out here, and…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On the initial promises about the landfill (clip)

Darius Scott (DS): Okay. And you mentioned the landfill a bit a moment ago. Could you describe the moments leading up to the landfill coming to Rogers Road? David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): Oh, gosh! We had, basically, it was, like I said, we were a little country neighborhood. They came into my father s…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On the landfill's environmental impact (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): This was a dirt road, red, dusty, clay. All of this was cornfields, like I said, and a few houses, things, mostly a farming community. And when they did it, the road was so bad that it was tearing up the city s trucks, so they had to pave it sooner than they wanted to. So,…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On activism (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): We brought up the fact that they were not keeping the promises that were made. We would go to meetings to voice our protest and, I mean, we were met with disgust and disdain and, “Why are you guys back here again?” [Sound of train passing, whistle blowing] We were bringing…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On RENA (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): Right now I m the project director and the community organizer. And what I do is special projects that come up, I pretty much organize and get them going and get the community organized into participating. We do a Backpack Back-to-School Bash, where we give our goal is…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On race as a factor in environmental justice (clip)

Darius Scott (DS): By thinking about the environmental issues that have been faced by Rogers Road, how do you think race factors into those? David Caldwell, Jr.: Well, [laughs] you are in the South! I mean, that’s… that is the South. That’s what, to me, what the South was based on, was race. That’s…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On the history of the Rogers Road community (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): For Rogers Road we were looking at a mitigation committee that we are working with. One thing they did agree is that, yeah, we’ve got sidewalks and streetlights, but its twenty years down the road. So do you really feel like you’ve done what you were supposed to do, even in…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On methane and the landfill (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On Greene Tract Development (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On landfill employees (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On growing up on Rogers Road (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On Youth Involvement in the Rogers-Eubanks Landfill Removal (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On Rogers Road's Roots and History (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On the landfill problems (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On successful strategies sourcing local support to solve community issues (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On the fifty-year landfill struggle (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On the book on the Rogers-Eubanks Landfill (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On growing up in the Rogers community (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On who suffers because of landfills (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On the Fight for Clean Water (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On Recruiting Experts' Help to Prove the Existence of the Landfill Problems (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - Advice to the current generation (clip)

 David Caldwell, Jr. - On visitors from China touring the Rogers-Eubanks community (clip)

 David Caldwell Jr. - Truancy (clip)

 David Caldwell Jr. - The Chapel Hill Riot (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): So, are there any further questions you have for me or things I didn’t ask you that you wanted me to ask or stories you want to share. David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): No, I mean could go on for days and days. When you get a larger group of everybody from that time together and they…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On the Importance of Community History (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): I’ve got that story somewhere. Blanche Brown (BB): Where did you hear about that? How did you hear about that? DC: I found it in writing. I’ve heard some of the old people talking about it and didn’t know it and I got with Reverend Campbell about it and he said, “Yeah” and…

 David Caldwell, Jr. - Introductions (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): I just want to test the sound levels real quick, so if you wouldn’t mind just saying something, anything. David Caldwell Jr. (DC): Five four three two one, one two three four five. BB: [laughter] Alright. DC: [laughter] BB: Okay. That should be good. Okay. So my name is Blanche…

 David Caldwell Jr. - on Childhood Community Development (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): So, did you grow up in the Rogers Road area? David Caldwell Jr. (DC): Yes I did, since the third grade. BB: Since the third grade? DC: Been here since the mid-sixties. BB: Okay. Where were you before the third grade? DC: Before that it was Merritt Mill Road in Chapel Hill. From…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Childhood Community Dynamic (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): And during the summertime we’d leave out in the mornings, at 6:30, and we wouldn’t have to be back home until dark. Blanche Brown (BB): Wow. DC: And nobody worried. There was about, oh, maybe 12 others, from teenage down to two, three, four years old. [We were] taking care…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Law Enforcement (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): So, did you have any brothers and sisters? David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): Three brothers. BB: Three brothers, all boys? DC: All boys, yes. BB: Okay, and I really–I know that your father was a police officer, right? DC: Yes, he was a police officer in Chapel Hill. We’ve all retired out…

 David Caldwell Jr. - Discrimination in Integrated Schools (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): Now, you were going to school where, for the majority of the time? Like did you go to Lincoln, or did you-? David Caldwell Jr. (DC): No, I went to Chapel Hill High School. BB: Chapel Hill High School, okay. Because you were about, like thirteen when integration was fully phased…

 David Caldwell Jr. - 7th Grade (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): So you only spent about a year in Phillips? David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): Last three years. BB: Three years, so that was all of middle school, basically? DC: Mhm. BB: Okay, where was that? Is it still– is it still a school? DC: It’s still up Estes drive. BB: Okay, up Estes, okay,…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Basketball (clip)

David Caldwell Jr. (DC): And in the eighth grade I tried out for basketball, made the team. Blanche Brown (BB): Yeah, I mean you seem like a big guy. I feel like you would be good at sports. DC: Oh, not at all. BB: [Laughter] DC: And I made the team, made the eighth grade team. As a matter of fact I…

 David Caldwell Jr. - NCCU Basketball Scholarship (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): So finished that, went on through the eighth grade, ninth grade, student council vice president my senior year. Blanche Brown (BB): Oh wow. DC: Finished up, I think my senior yearm I had no intentions of college. My senior year I got called to the office after the…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Military (clip)

David Caldwell: The Army, our father was in the military, did about 26 years, first sergeant, field artillery. What else did he do… so anyway after that, I went in. My brother already had gone in, he graduated high school early, went into the Marine Corps. It was some unique stuff, we were playing…

 David Caldwell Jr - On the Beginnings of Community Organization (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): By then I was with the sheriff’s department, and worked with them in ‘85, and stayed until 2008, my retirement. Blanche Brown (BB): Wow, you’ve been busy [laughs]. DC: Yeah, and while I was there, I got my second degree from Mount Olive College in Criminal Justice. I got…

 David Caldwell Jr. - Being the Son of a Black Cop (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): So sort of backtracking a little bit, your father is featured in the Courage In The Moment book. Have you seen the book? David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): Yes. BB: What was your first impression? DC: Very impressed. Well you remember the picture, the cover of the book? BB: Hilliard…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Neighborhood Disappearance (clip)

David Caldwell Jr. (DC): And see back then, there were lots of entrepreneurs in Chapel Hill. I mean Merritt Mill Road, Franklin, Graham, Roberson, I mean there were movies and shoe stores, restaurants, barber shops, pool halls, stores that all these people owned and ran, and there were motels in the…

 David Caldwell Jr. - Environmental Racism (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): I could say for us, what’s happened is that… It’s nothing, you know with bad water and buzzards and stinky air, you know, what do you tell your kids? “This is going to all be yours someday? You’re going to inherit all of this, this will be yours!” It’s like, “No thank you.…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Generational History (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): Now, when you were younger, did you ever participate in the marches? David Caldwell Jr. (DC): No we didn’t. He kept us away from all of that. We knew. In the book, as a matter of fact, there’s a picture of one of my mom’s youngest sisters that's in the march that we ran across,…

 David Caldwell Jr. - Rogers Road Battles (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): So, what do you see as the next steps as far as trying to work with the companies who are sort of threatening the Rogers Road community? David Caldwell Jr. (DC): Oh gosh, we got so many battles going on. For Rogers Road, we’re looking at a mitigation. There’s a mitigation…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Neighborhood Archives (clip)

David Caldwell Jr. (DC): Well it’s not just that, its in doing the history of the house, and we’ve traced it through Mr. Hogan, and it is so neat that April, no July 4th like 1845? 1855? the slaves were gathered around outside because Mr. Hogan was sick and everybody else was going uptown to Chapel…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Persisting Racism (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): So, you know we’ve made our contributions. My brothers and I, we’ve put in, my father, we’ve put in way over a hundred years in law enforcement and close to forty years in the military. So, how much more can a family give? That’s what we’ve done and that’s not counting my…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On HBCUs (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): That’s why I think that these young people that we have now is – how old is children are our future? Forever, [laughs] you know, it’s been around for a long time. And we got to start listening to it, you know, we got to save them. We got to bring them out, let them know…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Environmental Advocacy (clip)

Blanche Brown: So, as far as the struggle that the Rogers Road community is facing, are there any comparisons or similarities between the Civil Rights Movement in Chapel Hill, do you think? Or just any thoughts? David Caldwell Jr.: I think the weapons have changed, but the battle still goes on. We…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Community Resourcefulness (clip)

David Caldwell, Jr (DC).: …so that’s the difference in the fight. Blanche Brown (BB): And it’s interesting, because you were talking about how your family has given so many years of service, but it’s almost like you’re still doing it. Because this is very much…very important type of service. DC: So…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Youth Work Experience (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): Is there anything else you’d like to–we can keep talking but I know you didn’t–I didn’t know if you had something to do or anywhere to be? I just wanted to check in with you. Where you’re at? David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): I am good ‘til about three so if you need more… BB: Oh, okay.…

 David Caldwell Jr. - Impacts of Segregation (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): So growing up during the Civil Rights Movement and during such a time of transition, what do you see are the, what are the main differences that you experienced through that transition if any? David Caldwell Jr. (DC): Oh gosh, I guess you're talking about the transition through…

 David Caldwell Jr. - "All About the Money" (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): And how do you think that is like today? David Caldwell, Jr. (DC): I think it’s changed, more independent. More people that own businesses, their own identities, a lot of respect and a lot of courage–and that’s respect for themselves and a lot of courage and don’t forget that…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Landfill Exploitation 2 (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): So do you feel like, that even, I guess it kind of, it would have to affect it, because it’s the same sort of thing with the money that the people who own landfill and that sort of thing. David Caldwell Jr. (DC): Yes, today that’s a money maker. BB: Yeah, yeah. DC: Yes, that is a…

 David Caldwell Jr. - On Community Ties (clip)

Blanche Brown (BB): Did you ever, did you ever skip school? David Caldwell Jr. (DC): No. No, no, no. That was, I don’t think we ever got into any trouble. BB: I mean how could you (laughs) DC: Exactly, no we never really got into any trouble it was, you know, the minute you was-- and not just us,…
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