Local figure
Lucille Caldwell
Lucille Caldwell became the first paid director of Chapel Hill's Negro Community Center, now the Hargraves Community Center, in February 1951 and served twelve years, resigning in 1963. She was the first African American professional recreation administrator in North Carolina.
Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Lucille Caldwell. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Lucille Caldwell’s life and work. If you know a useful source, tell us.
Life and Orange County connections
Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 1 dated event in the chronology →
- Lucille Caldwell becomes the Negro Community Center's first paid director Lucille Caldwell was hired in February 1951 as the first paid director of Chapel Hill's Negro Community Center on Roberson Street, now the Hargraves Center. A town history calls her North Carolina's first Black professional recreation administrator. She led the center for twelve years and resigned in 1963.In the index: Hargraves Community Center (Chapel Hill, N.C.) · Open Orange: Hargraves Community Center / Roberson Street Center / Negro Community Center
Places in this person’s story
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.
- Hargraves Community Center Community centers and organizations · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
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Books about Lucille Caldwell
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- Chapel Hill Public Library (opens in a new tab) Public library in Chapel Hill
- Durham County Library (opens in a new tab) Public library next door in Durham
- UNC Libraries (opens in a new tab) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Duke Libraries (opens in a new tab) Duke University, Durham
- NC Cardinal (opens in a new tab) The State Library of North Carolina and public libraries across the state
Photographs, papers, and newspapers
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Research sources
Additional research sources
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- Background context: Open Orange: Hargraves Community Center / Negro Community Center Open Orange Related to the chronology entry “Lucille Caldwell Becomes the Negro Community Center's First Paid Director” (February 1951).
- Read contemporary evidence: DigitalNC newspapers: 154 Orange County pages naming Lucille Caldwell DigitalNC Searchable pages from historic Orange County newspapers
- Read contemporary evidence: UNC Digital Collections: History of Hargraves Center compiled by Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation UNC-Chapel Hill Related to the chronology entry “Lucille Caldwell Becomes the Negro Community Center's First Paid Director” (February 1951).
- Search beyond the index: NC LIVE: prepared search for Lucille Caldwell NC LIVE An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
- Ask locally: Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection (OCPL) The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
- Ask locally: Local History Help Hours and request form OCPL Local History Liaison The library’s Local History Liaison helps in person most Mondays, 12 to 3, at the Main Library, or by the online request form
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