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UNC Student Organizations To Honor Wilson Caldwell

Phyllis Coley @phyllis_coley

Chapel Hill, NC –The UNC NAACP chapter will honor Wilson Caldwell in a three-part ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 25 from 3 to 6 pm in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. In addition to local officials,

Wilson Caldwell
The Class of 1891 placed this monument on Wilson Caldwell’s grave in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery and rededicated it to three other slaves who worked for the University with a marble stone placed at its base. It stands in the section reserved for African Americans in honor of Wilson Caldwell (whom university president David Swain owned), his father November Caldwell (whom Joseph Caldwell owned), and two other men, all longtime servants of the university. It was rededicated in 1904. (submitted)

Caldwell’s family will join UNC’s Black Student Movement (BSM), Black Caucus and Black Congress for a celebration of Caldwell’s contributions to both the university and community.

Wilson Caldwell
Wilson Caldwell

Caldwell was born in 1847 and was a slave to former UNC-CH President David Swain during the Civil War. In April of 1865, Caldwell accompanied UNC-CH representatives to surrender Chapel Hill and the university to Union forces, and after emancipation, Caldwell remained in Chapel Hill and worked as a waiter in the dormitories, labs and lecture halls.

In 1868, Governor William Woods Holden appointed Caldwell as a justice of the peace, making him the first African-American man to hold such a position in the state.

Caldwell’s achievements extended beyond the UNC-CH campus. Caldwell opened a school for free African-Americans in Chapel Hill in 1869 and served as the first principal and teacher at the school.

“Wilson Caldwell’s commitment and dedication paved the way for many students of color on this campus,” says Kristen Marion, the co-president of the UNC NAACP chapter. “I’m so ecstatic that we have this opportunity to honor him in this way.”

Shortly after the ceremony, student organizations like UNC NAACP, BSM and Black Congress aim to bridge the gap between the Chapel Hill community and university by hosting a community service open house, as well as holding a panel discussing race relations on-and off-campus.

The UNC National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter seeks to promote political activism, advance social and economic justice and foster a sense of cultural pride and campus ownership amongst minority students on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and surrounding communities.

For more information, contact Kristen Marion at (336) 989-1892 or kteresa@live.unc.edu.