Oral Histories

This interview is part of an oral history project called Southern Communities: Listening for a Change: Mighty Tigers--Oral HIstories of Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School. The interviewes were conducted from 2000-2001, by Bob Gilgor, with former teachers, staff, and students from Chapel Hill, N.C.'s…

"I was for all kids, not just Black kids. My philosophy was if it's good enough for white kids, it ought to be good enough for Black kids." - Edwin Caldwell, Jr. Edwin Caldwell, Jr. talks about his time working at a biomedical lab and eventually becoming in charge of the lab after excelling in his…

This interview is part of a group of interviews conducted by Susan Simone exploring the lives and struggle of various members of the Northside community: a historically black and primarily residential neighborhood located immediately northwest of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and…

“I try to live the best I can and do the best I can in church and my community and try to be a good citizen the best I know how and sometimes that’s hard to do.” - Edwin Caldwell, Sr. This interview is a part of an oral history project starting in 1982 in which Kathryn Wall interviews key people…

This interview is centered around Ms. Belinda Caldwell. She begins by describing her family history then goes into detail about her personal history to Northside. She mentions that there is a significant difference between how her kids grew up and how she grew up. Belinda had only good things to say…

In this interview, Cleo Caldwell, 53, discusses growing up in the Northside neighborhood surrounded by extended family and, in particular, her cousins who became policemen and civil rights activists. Cleo’s mother and sisters were known for their musical talents—her mother played piano and her…

In the interview, Caldwell touches on the following points: his early family life on Rogers Road, which was underdeveloped and exploited; his experiences of discrimination and inequality at Phillips Middle School and Chapel Hill High; attending NCCU on a basketball scholarship; time in the air…

“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…

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…

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…

“We wanted integration, so we could have the same opportunities." - Ed Caldwell, Jr. During this oral history, Ed Caldwell, Jr. recounts his youth and adult career in Chapel Hill. Main focuses were the discussion of African American education, differences between areas and groups in the town, and a…

I was president of my student body at Lincoln High from 1955-56. That was the first time that I'd ever ran for an office where people voted for you based on what you stood for. Having experienced that in an all Black high school was the driving point in getting me to want to run for public office…

“As R.D. Smith would tell you, I had a chip on my shoulder. I thought everybody was against me because… I didn’t have the finer things in life. But R.D. saw that chip and he told me, 'One day I’m going to knock that chip off,' and he did. And as a result, I ended up in 1955 getting elected president…

“It was hard times, but it was good times. It was hard times, but it was fair times. It was hard times, but we appreciated what was there. We appreciated our parents, we appreciated the school structure, the community structure, the church structure. All of these were important components of growing…

"I was about 23, and I was married, and even my mom said, 'you ought not to be doing that,' and I said, 'Well, I’m sorry mom, but we have to.'" - Hilliard Caldwell Hilliard Caldwell, a Black activist in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area during the Civil Rights movement, explains his role in the…

"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…

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…

“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.: 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…

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…