Civil rights leader Gil Caldwell calls on Duke Divinity to confront its past
More than 60 years ago, the divinity school denied Caldwell admission because he is black.
Gilbert Caldwell. RNS photo by Yonat Shimron.
Gilbert Caldwell, an 83-year-old retired United Methodist elder, was “a foot soldier” in Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent army. When Duke Divinity School invited him to speak at Goodson Chapel recently, he asked whether the school was willing to confront its past.
Caldwell recounted how he had applied to Duke Divinity in 1955 and received a rejection letter that said the trustees had a policy of racial segregation.
“What is it that God would have Duke Divinity School do in light of that history?” he asked. “For if one is not honest about that history, one can’t be fully present.”
