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Storyline

Carrboro’s Black political firsts

From Braxton Foushee, the first Black alderman in 1969, and Robert Drakeford, the first Black mayor in 1977, to the first Black town manager and police chief and Barbara Foushee, the first Black woman mayor, in 2023.

In briefBraxton Foushee became Carrboro’s first Black alderman in 1969 and Robert Drakeford its first Black mayor in 1977, followed by Richard Knight Jr. as town manager, Hilliard Caldwell and Joal Hall Broun on the board, and Walter Horton as police chief in 2013. Barbara Foushee was sworn in as the first Black woman mayor in 2023, and the town named the Drakeford Library Complex in 2024.

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The Carrboro Town Hall sign
The Carrboro Town Hall sign

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 30 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Carrboro re-elects Mayor C. T. Ellington in a record turnout Of 857 registered voters, 625 went to the polls and gave Ellington 471 votes to 107 for former police chief J. Alvin Williams, with two other challengers far behind. Hughes Lloyd, Bryant Hackney and incumbent Ralph Morgan won the three commissioner seats, and Mrs. Lattice Vickers, whom the News called the town's first Black candidate, ran among 11 board candidates. Place: Town Hall, Carrboro · Also named: C. T. Ellington, Hughes Lloyd, Bryant Hackney, Ralph Morgan, Lattice Vickers, J. Alvin WilliamsThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 9, 1963, p. 10
  2. 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. People: Braxton Foushee Place: CarrboroTown of Carrboro: Braxton Foushee to Receive the Order of the Long Leaf Pine (November 14, 2025)
  3. Carrboro voters return Braxton Foushee at the head of the aldermen's race and elect UNC student George Beswick Braxton Foushee, the only Black candidate and the board's only four-year incumbent, led the race for three Carrboro aldermen's seats with 773 votes, followed by UNC law student George Beswick with 669 and appointed Alderman John Boone with 632; Mayor Robert Wells was re-elected without opposition. Foushee and Beswick had backed another referendum on the bus system that Carrboro voters turned down in May. People: Braxton Foushee Place: Carrboro · Also named: George Beswick, John Boone, Robert WellsThe Daily Tar Heel, November 7, 1973, p. 1
  4. 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. Place: Carrboro · Also named: Richard Knight Jr.Town of Carrboro: Robert "Bob" Drakeford · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, April 10, 1980, p. 2
  5. 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. Place: Carrboro · Also named: Robert Bob Drakeford, John BooneThe Daily Tar Heel, November 9, 1977, p. 1
  6. Braxton Foushee leads the voting for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen Braxton Foushee of the Carrboro Community Coalition won a seat on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen with 1,052 votes, 36 more than the next winner, Doug Sharer, on the night Bob Drakeford became the town's first Black mayor. Foushee said voters wanted the bus system expanded. People: Braxton Foushee Place: Carrboro · Also named: Bob Drakeford, Doug SharerBlack Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), November 22, 1977, p. 2
  7. Carrboro Mayor Robert Drakeford is elected president of the North Carolina Conference of Black Mayors Carrboro Mayor Robert Drakeford was elected president of the North Carolina Conference of Black Mayors, a nonpartisan group giving technical and management help to the state's 15 Black mayors. In a Daily Tar Heel profile he called Carrboro the second-fastest-growing town in the state and said students were among the main constituencies that had elected him. Place: Carrboro · Also named: Robert DrakefordThe Daily Tar Heel, April 24, 1978, p. 8
  8. The National Conference of Black Mayors' board meets in Carrboro The governing board of the National Conference of Black Mayors, which represented 176 Black mayors, held its quarterly meeting at Carrboro Town Hall, hosted by Carrboro Mayor Bob Drakeford, president of the North Carolina Conference of Black Mayors. At a press conference in Carrboro on August 26 the national president, Mayor Jay Cooper of Prichard, Alabama, accused the FBI of watching and wiretapping the group's officers and other Black leaders, which federal officials denied, and board members faulted federal aid policy toward small Black towns. Place: Carrboro Town Hall · Also named: Bob Drakeford, Jay CooperSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, August 28, 1978, p. 1
  9. Carrboro Mayor Robert Drakeford announces he will seek a second term Robert Drakeford, mayor of Carrboro since 1977 and an alderman before that, announced he would run for re-election, saying he wanted to finish recruiting clean industry for the town's small tax base, restore mill houses and expand the bus system he had helped start. He was also president of the North Carolina Conference of Black Mayors. Place: Carrboro · Also named: Robert DrakefordThe Daily Tar Heel, September 12, 1979, p. 1
  10. Mayor Robert Drakeford accepts a federal energy grant for the N.C. Conference of Black Mayors At a presentation in Carrboro, Mayor Robert Drakeford, president of the North Carolina Conference of Black Mayors, accepted a $65,652 U.S. Department of Energy grant for a study of the energy needs of 15 small North Carolina towns, Carrboro among them, to serve as a model for conservation programs nationwide. The grant also paid for a computer that would let Carrboro residents figure their energy costs at town hall. Place: Carrboro · Also named: Robert DrakefordThe Daily Tar Heel, October 15, 1979, p. 3
  11. Robert Drakeford is re-elected mayor of Carrboro Carrboro Mayor Robert Drakeford won a second term, 997 votes to 199 for Larry Carroll, a dishwasher with no political experience who said he ran to see what it would be like. Drakeford estimated about 1,300 Carrboro voters turned out, against about 2,000 in 1977. Place: Carrboro · Also named: Robert Drakeford, Larry CarrollThe Daily Tar Heel, November 7, 1979, p. 1
  12. Carrboro Mayor Bob Drakeford speaks at a symposium of Black planning students Carrboro Mayor Bob Drakeford told a symposium sponsored by Black city planning students that traditional planning could not serve the Black community well and brought harms such as displacement. A visiting professor from Morgan State University's built environment program warned of inflation's effect on poor Black city dwellers. Place: University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Bob DrakefordBlack Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), February 7, 1980, p. 1
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  1. Carrboro Town Manager Richard Knight resigns to take a post in Gainesville, Florida Mayor Robert Drakeford read Richard Knight's letter of resignation to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, and the board recessed for five minutes as members reacted. Knight, town manager since July 1976, had accepted the post of deputy manager of operations for Gainesville, Florida, starting May 5, and was to present the town's 1981 budget before he left. Place: Board of Aldermen meeting, Carrboro · Also named: Richard Knight, Robert DrakefordThe Daily Tar Heel, April 10, 1980, p. 2
  2. The South Orange Black Caucus endorses candidates for the Chapel Hill and Carrboro elections By October 28, 1981, the South Orange Black Caucus had endorsed Joe Herzenberg, Bill Thorpe and Lightning Brown for the Chapel Hill Town Council, Mayor Robert Drakeford and aldermen candidates Hilliard Caldwell, Braxton Foushee, Doug Sharer and Nancy White in Carrboro, and Ted Parrish, Wallace Hill and Ron Strom for the school board. After the election, Foushee blamed the caucus's backing of Caldwell, four candidates for three seats, for the Coalition's losses. People: Bill Thorpe, Hilliard Caldwell, Braxton Foushee Place: Chapel Hill and Carrboro · Also named: Joe Herzenberg, Lightning Brown, Robert Drakeford, Doug Sharer, Nancy White, Ted ParrishThe Daily Tar Heel, October 28, 1981, p. 3
  3. Carrboro re-elects Mayor Drakeford but seats the ABC slate over three Coalition aldermen Carrboro voters on November 3, 1981, re-elected Robert Drakeford to a third term as mayor, 912 votes to 667 for Roger Messer and 296 for Bill Pressley, but unseated three Carrboro Community Coalition aldermen. Hilliard Caldwell (1,090), Joyce Garrett (1,007) and Jim White (879), backed by the Association for a Better Carrboro formed that August, defeated Doug Sharer (854), Braxton Foushee (841) and Nancy White (782), on a 37 percent turnout. People: Hilliard Caldwell, Braxton Foushee Place: Carrboro · Also named: Robert Drakeford, Joyce Garrett, Jim White, Roger Messer, Bill Pressley, Doug Sharer, Nancy WhiteThe Daily Tar Heel, November 4, 1981, p. 1
  4. 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 on November 3, 1981, leading the field with 1,090 votes on the Association for a Better Carrboro ticket. He served four terms, through 1997. People: Hilliard Caldwell Place: CarrboroTown of Carrboro: Town of Carrboro Remembers Former Alderman Hilliard Caldwell (September 9, 2025) · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, November 4, 1981, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, November 18, 1981, p. 2; The Daily Tar Heel, October 7, 1985, p. 2
  5. Carrboro officials count eight Black members among 87 appointees to town boards In April 1983 Carrboro Mayor Robert Drakeford and Alderman Hilliard Caldwell said Black residents were underrepresented on the town's boards and committees, where eight of 87 appointees were Black against a town population about 17 percent Black; Caldwell set a goal of 30 percent before his term ended, and Drakeford said the town did too little business with Black-owned firms. Chapel Hill council member R.D. Smith counted six to eight Black members on Chapel Hill's boards. People: Hilliard Caldwell, R. D. Smith Place: Carrboro · Also named: Robert DrakefordSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, April 28, 1983, p. 2
  6. Carrboro Mayor Robert Drakeford decides not to seek a fourth term By September 20, 1983, Carrboro Mayor Robert Drakeford, aligned with the Carrboro Community Coalition, had announced that he would not run again after three terms, and Alderman Jim White, endorsed by the Association for a Better Carrboro, entered the race to succeed him. Place: Carrboro · Also named: Robert Drakeford, Jim WhiteThe Daily Tar Heel, September 20, 1983, p. 3
  7. Carrboro aldermen table a staff plan that would cut the post of the town's only Black department head Alderman James White's reorganization would have abolished the personnel director's job, held by the only Black head of a major town department, and an administrative assistant's job; after residents charged the board with unfair employment practices, it tabled the plan. The Rev. B. Willis Wilson II said it seemed odd to remove the last Black department head after the town's Black mayor and Black town manager had left, and White said the plan was about the budget and not racially motivated. Place: Carrboro Town Hall, Carrboro · Also named: James White, B. Willis Wilson IISearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, March 30, 1984, p. 3
  8. Carrboro aldermen abolish two staff posts, including that of the town's only Black department head To cut $48,716 from the next budget, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted 4-2 to reorganize the town staff and abolish the posts of personnel director and administrative assistant, both held by women. Personnel director Edith Hubbard was the only Black head of a major town department; Alderman Hilliard Caldwell, who voted no with Douglas Anderson, said he would appeal to the federal government on the ground that the action was discriminatory. Former Mayor Robert Drakeford, Verla Insko of the Orange County Commission for Women and others had asked the board to wait for a new town manager. People: Hilliard Caldwell Place: Carrboro · Also named: Edith Hubbard, Douglas Anderson, Robert Drakeford, Verla InskoSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, April 13, 1984, p. 3
  9. Black residents hold about 11 percent of Chapel Hill and Carrboro advisory board seats The Daily Tar Heel counted 8 Black residents among the 73 people Carrboro's Board of Aldermen had named to advisory boards and 9 among Chapel Hill's 84 appointees; Carrboro's planning board and downtown development board had no Black members, while three of 10 on Chapel Hill's Board of Adjustment were Black. Carrboro Alderman Hilliard Caldwell, the only Black member of that board, and Chapel Hill council member R.D. Smith said more Black residents needed to apply. People: Hilliard Caldwell, R. D. Smith Place: Chapel Hill and CarrboroSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, December 3, 1985, p. 1
  10. Carrboro gives town employees the first federal King holiday Black Ink reported that in Carrboro some town and state employees had January 20, 1986 off under legislation originated by Hilliard Caldwell, while twelve-month employees had to take a personal holiday. Caldwell said the cost of closing drew some opposition but the public reacted well. People: Hilliard Caldwell Place: CarrboroBlack Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), January 28, 1986, p. 6
  11. 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. People: Joal Hall Broun, Hank Anderson Place: CarrboroThe Carrboro Citizen: Broun, Phelps to challenge Jacobs in Dem primary (March 4, 2010)
  12. 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. People: Mark Chilton, Joal Hall Broun Place: CarrboroTown of Carrboro: Recommended Budget, Fiscal Year 2006-07
  13. 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. Place: Carrboro · Also named: Walter Horton, David Andrews, Carolyn HutchisonThe Local Reporter: Hail to the Chief: Walter "Bucky" Horton (January 30, 2021)
  14. 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. People: Barbara Foushee Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · INDY Week: Barbara Foushee, Carrboro Town Council candidate questionnaire
  15. 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. People: Barbara Foushee Place: CarrboroSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Mayor Barbara Foushee
  16. 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. People: Lydia Lavelle, Valerie Foushee, Randee Haven-O'Donnell, Barbara Foushee, Damon Seils Place: Carrboro · Also named: Danny NowellSearch the index · Chapelboro: Carrboro Town Council Swears In New Mayor, Council Members
  17. 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. People: Barbara Foushee Place: Carrboro · Also named: Robert DrakefordChapelboro: Carrboro Swears In Mayor Foushee, 2 New Council Members; Sets Special Election for Open Seat (December 7, 2023)
  18. 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. People: Sally Greene Place: Carrboro · Also named: Robert DrakefordTown of Carrboro news: Civic Building named Drakeford Library Complex by Orange County and Town of Carrboro (November 7, 2024)

Places in this history

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

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Reading on the places and people in this storyline

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About Orange County Public Library · named in one of this story’s entries

A Survey of Orange County Public Library Computer Users

Brzozowski, Bonnie S. · 2007

Bonnie S. Brzozowski's 2007 survey of people using the public computers at Orange County Public Library. The study examines internet use and the digital divide in the county's libraries.

UNC

After Ten Years: A Portrait of a Joint School/Public Library: The Carrboro Branch Library & the McDougle Schools' Media Center

2005

A 2005 look at the joint library shared by the Carrboro Branch Library and the McDougle Schools media center, written ten years after the two operations were combined. It examines a shared public library and school facility in North Carolina.

UNC

Local Government and the Public Library: A Case Study of the Creation of the Carrboro Cybrary

Weiss, Emily M. · 2005

Emily M. Weiss's 2005 case study of how the Carrboro Cybrary came to be, following the part local government played in creating it. Topics include library and community relations in North Carolina and the dealings of public libraries with local government. Carrboro and its library service are the single setting, which makes the paper a local administrative history.

UNC

A library services study of Orange County (NC) citizens

1999

A 1999 study of library service in Orange County, built on a survey of county residents. Subjects include the Orange County Public Library together with public libraries and community relations in North Carolina. What it records is how the county library system was used and viewed at the end of the 1990s.

UNC
Wider background: Politics & Government · the most widely held histories of the theme this story belongs to; they may not discuss it

William Friday

Link, William A. · 1995

Biography of William C. Friday, president of the University of North Carolina system, by historian William A. Link, published by UNC Press in 1995 with the subtitle power, purpose, and American higher education. It covers Friday's career and the history of the university at Chapel Hill and statewide. Part of the Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC BIO FRIDAY LIN NC Cardinal UNC Duke Durham Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress Methodist Wingate UNCSA CH Historical Society

The Story of the Institute of Government, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Coates, Albert McKinley · 1981

Albert Coates's own account of the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina, which he founded, subtitled 'out of a classroom in Chapel Hill' and published in 1981. The 303 pages trace the institute's history and its role in educating North Carolina's public officials.

NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State NCCU Durham Library of Congress UNCSA CH Historical Society

Communists on Campus

Billingsley, William J. · 1999 · University of Georgia Press

William J. Billingsley's history of the Speaker Ban Law, the 1963 North Carolina statute that barred known Communists from speaking on state campuses, and the fight over it at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The subtitle sets the scope: race, politics and the public university in sixties North Carolina. It treats academic freedom, anti-communist movements and free speech in the state. University of Georgia Press, 1999, 308 pages with eight pages of plates.

Reviewed in Academe (2000), The American Historical Review (2001), The Journal of Southern History (2001), Journal of American History (2001), The Journal of Politics (2001).

Duke NC State NC Cardinal Durham Chapel Hill PL NCCU UNC Library of Congress

Frank Porter Graham and the 1950 Senate Race in North Carolina

Pleasants, Julian M.; Burns, Augustus M., III · 1990 · UNC Press

Julian M. Pleasants and Augustus M. Burns III on the 1950 Democratic Senate primary in North Carolina, in which Frank Porter Graham, the former president of the University of North Carolina, lost to Willis Smith after a campaign marked by race-baiting. Primaries, elections and race relations in the state are its subjects. Published by UNC Press in 1990, 356 pages with illustrations.

Reviewed in Choice Reviews Online (1991), The American Historical Review (1991), Journal of American History (1991), The Journal of Southern History (1992).

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 324.975 PLE Duke NC State NC Cardinal Durham Chapel Hill PL NCCU CH Historical Society

The Age of Orange: Political and Intellectual Leadership in North Carolina, 1752-1861

Blackwelder, Ruth · 1961

Ruth Blackwelder's study of political and intellectual leadership in Orange County and North Carolina from 1752 to 1861, published in Charlotte by W. Loftin in 1961. Topics include state politics and government, intellectual life before the Civil War, and county genealogy. It runs 216 pages with illustrations and a bibliography. Part of the Wall Local History Collection.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 975.656 BLACKWEL UNC Durham Library of Congress Davidson DPLA CH Historical Society NC Cardinal
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The Good Government Man

Covington, Jr., Howard E. · 2010

Howard E. Covington Jr.'s biography of Albert Coates (1896-1989), the law professor who founded the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina and led it through its early years. Topics include Coates as a law teacher and the institute's history as a center for the study of public administration in Chapel Hill. Published in 2010 by the University Library at Chapel Hill, 322 pages with 32 pages of plates.

Read free online · UNC Libraries NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State Durham Crossref Library of Congress

Orange County, 1752-1952

Lefler, Hugh Talmage; Wager, Paul W. · 1953

Hugh Talmage Lefler and Paul W. Wager's history of Orange County across its first two centuries, 1752 to 1952, prepared for the county's bicentennial. It covers government and politics, biography and the county's families, and doubles as a genealogical reference. Published in Chapel Hill by the Orange Printshop in 1953, 389 pages with illustrations and an index; this copy is a later reprint.

Reviewed in The Journal of Southern History (1954).

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 975.656 ORA NC Cardinal UNC Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress Davidson CH Historical Society

A Traitor and a Scoundrel: Benjamin Hedrick and the Cost of Dissent

Smith, Michael Thomas · 2003 · University of Delaware Press ; London : Associated University Presses

Michael Thomas Smith's biography of Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, the University of North Carolina chemistry professor dismissed in 1856 after he declared support for the antislavery presidential candidate John C. Fremont. Published by University of Delaware Press in 2003, 216 pages with illustrations. Topics include abolitionists and dissenters in North Carolina, the antislavery movement in the state, and the university's biography before 1962.

Reviewed in The Journal of Southern History (2005).

Duke NC State NC Cardinal Durham UNC Library of Congress

The Papers Of Willie Person Mangum

Mangum, Willie Person · 1950 · State Dept. of Archives and History

The papers of Willie Person Mangum, 1792 to 1861, a lawyer, judge and United States senator from the part of Orange County that later became Durham County. Five volumes of correspondence published by the State Department of Archives and History beginning in 1950, arranged by date from 1807 to 1894, with illustrations, portraits and folding maps. A source for antebellum North Carolina and national politics, the Whig Party and the Mangum family.

Reviewed in The Journal of Southern History (1951), Journal of American History (1951), The Journal of Southern History (1953), Journal of American History (1953), The Journal of Southern History (1954), The Journal of Southern History (1955), The Journal of Southern History (1957), Journal of American History (1957), The American Historical Review (1957).

✓ Held at OCPL · NC BIO MANGUM SHA NC Cardinal Durham Library of Congress

An Historical Address Delivered in Saint Matthew's Church, Hillsboro, N.C., on Sunday, August 24, 1924

Cheshire, Joseph Blount · 1925

Address by Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire at St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough on 24 August 1924, marking the parish's hundredth anniversary. Printed in Durham in 1925 at the vestry's order, with a foreword by the rector. Cheshire discusses George Micklejohn, William Mercer Green and Moses Ashley Curtis.

UNC Duke Durham DPLA

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