Chronology

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1. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

2. 1969
   Appointment, election or service · Carrboro Braxton Foushee becomes Carrboro’s first Black alderman

   Braxton Foushee was elected to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen in 1969, the first Black member of the town's governing board, and served until 1981. He pressed for paved roads and sidewalks in Black neighborhoods and counted bringing bus service to Carrboro as his proudest achievement.

3. Recent decades · 1976–2026

4. 1976–1980
   Appointment, election or service · Carrboro Richard Knight Jr. becomes Carrboro's first Black town manager

   Carrboro hired Richard Knight Jr. as its first Black town manager, and he served from 1976 to 1980. He left to become deputy city manager of Gainesville, Florida, and later became the first Black city manager of Dallas.

5. November 8, 1977
   Appointment, election or service · Carrboro Bob Drakeford is elected mayor of Carrboro

   Robert "Bob" Drakeford, a Carrboro alderman since 1975 and a Carrboro Community Coalition candidate, won the mayor's race on November 8, 1977, with 57 percent of the vote over John Boone. He was the town's first Black mayor and served until 1983.

6. 1981–1997
   Appointment, election or service · Carrboro Hilliard Caldwell is elected to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen

   Hilliard Caldwell, who had advised the students of the 1960 Colonial Drug sit-in in Chapel Hill, was first elected to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen in 1981. He served four terms, through 1997.

7. 1999–2011
   Appointment, election or service · Carrboro Joal Hall Broun joins the Carrboro Board of Aldermen

   In early 1999 Joal Hall Broun, an assistant public defender, was appointed to fill out the term of the late Alderman Hank Anderson, and she won election to the board that fall. She served on the board until 2011.

8. 2006–2007
   Appointment, election or service · Carrboro Joal Hall Broun serves as Carrboro's mayor pro tem

   Town budget documents for fiscal years 2006-07 and 2007-08 list Alderman Joal Hall Broun as mayor pro tempore, serving under Mayor Mark Chilton.

9. 2013
   Appointment, election or service · Carrboro Walter Horton becomes Carrboro's first African American police chief

   Town Manager David Andrews named Captain Walter Horton, a Carrboro native who joined the department in 1993, to succeed retiring Chief Carolyn Hutchison. Horton led the department until he retired in early 2021.

10. 2017
    Award or honor · Chapel Hill Barbara Foushee receives the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP's Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award

    The branch gave Foushee its Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award for work promoting diversity and social justice. She was then the branch's secretary.

11. November 2017
    Appointment, election or service · Carrboro Barbara Foushee is elected to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen

    Foushee, who announced her candidacy in March 2017 saying she wanted a seat at the table where changes were made, won a seat in the 2017 municipal election. She served on the town's governing board for six years before being elected mayor.

12. December 7, 2021
    Appointment, election or service · Carrboro Carrboro honors Lydia Lavelle as Damon Seils is sworn in as mayor

    At the council's meeting the town honored Lavelle for her four terms as mayor, and state senator Valerie Foushee administered the oath of office to her successor, Damon Seils. Randee Haven-O'Donnell, Barbara Foushee and Danny Nowell began council terms at the same meeting.

13. December 5, 2023
    Appointment, election or service · Carrboro Barbara Foushee is sworn in as Carrboro's first Black woman mayor

    Barbara Foushee, a council member since 2017, won the November 2023 mayoral election unopposed and took office as the first Black woman mayor of Carrboro and its second Black mayor after Robert Drakeford. She was re-elected in November 2025.

14. October 15–November 7, 2024
    Naming or commemoration · Carrboro Carrboro and Orange County name the Drakeford Library Complex

    The Carrboro Town Council on October 15 and the Orange County commissioners on November 7, 2024 approved naming the building under construction at 203 South Greensboro Street for Robert "Bob" Drakeford, Carrboro's first Black mayor. A naming committee of two council members, two commissioners and two Friends of the Library members recommended the name on September 24 after a community survey drew more than 200 responses.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.