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Key local figure

Barbara Foushee

Foushee is mayor of Carrboro, the first Black woman in the office and the second Black person to hold it. She was elected to the town council in 2017 and won a second term as mayor in November 2025. She works as a senior technologist in a molecular oncology laboratory.

Source: Town of Carrboro: Mayor Barbara Foushee

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  1. 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…Search the index · INDY Week: Barbara Foushee, Carrboro Town Council candidate questionnaire
  2. 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. Sh…Search the index · Town of Carrboro: Mayor Barbara Foushee
  3. Carrboro Town Council adopts a nondiscrimination ordinance covering sexual orientation and gender identity Six weeks after the state's moratorium on local employment and public accommodation ordinances expired on December 1, 2020, the Council unanimously adopted Ord… People: Lydia Lavelle, Jacquelyn Gist, Randee Haven-O'Donnell, Sammy Slade, Barbara FousheeTown of Carrboro: Town Council minutes, January 12, 2021
  4. 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 i… People: Barbara FousheeChapelboro: Carrboro Swears In Mayor Foushee, 2 New Council Members; Sets Special Election for Open Seat (December 7, 2023)
  5. Carrboro Town Council reaffirms support for immigrant communities and its 4th Amendment status The Town Council passed a resolution by council members Eliazar Posada-Orozco and Cristóbal Palmer condemning discriminatory actions by U.S. Customs and Border… People: Barbara FousheeTown of Carrboro: Carrboro This Week, Nov. 20, 2025

Background reading at OCPL

Held in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection. Selected because their titles or catalog subjects provide wider historical context for this person; they may not discuss the Orange County person directly.

  • Background reading · Rebecca Wall Collection North Carolinians in the Era of the Civil War and Reconstruction 2008 Subjects in the Library of Congress catalog record: Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877) -- North Carolina; African Americans -- North Carolina -- Social conditions -- 19th century; African Americans -- Segregation -- North Carolina -- History -- 19th century
  • Background reading · Rebecca Wall Collection Race and Politics in North Carolina, 1872-1901: The Black Second Anderson, Eric · 1981 Subjects in the Library of Congress catalog record: African Americans -- North Carolina -- Politics and government; North Carolina -- Politics and government -- 1865-1950; North Carolina -- Race relations -- Political aspects

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