N.C. A&T Alumni Times

On Nov. 30, 1957, Rev. Gilbert Caldwell ’55 and Grace Caldwell were married in Greensboro, North Carolina, then drove eight hours to The Mount Airy Resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. With an expectation to enjoy their honeymoon, the couple was turned away because of the color of their skin.

“The hotel clerk pretended as if we didn’t have a reservation, then when I showed proof, they informed my wife and I that their guest would not be happy with us staying at the resort, said Gilbert Caldwell.

Angry and humiliated, the Caldwells called a local Methodist minister for help, who later convinced them to stay at a bear hunting lodge for the evening. The experience was uncomfortable for the couple because hunters were walking around with rifles in the middle of the night.

“The very next day we decided to travel to Manhattan, New York to finish our honeymoon because we knew that we would be accepted in the city for our race,” said Caldwell.

After this experience, Mr. Caldwell immersed himself in the civil rights movement and worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who he met at Boston University School of Theology when they were pursuing graduate degrees.

“I assisted Dr. King at all of his major marches such as the March on Washington in 1963, Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964 and Selma to Montgomery March in 1965, said Caldwell. “After Dr. King’s assassination, I assisted with the planning of the Poor People Campaign in 1968.”

After the civil rights movement, Mr. Caldwell started speaking at schools across the country about his life, segregation and equal rights for all people. In 2017, he spoke to a fifth grade class and shared his honeymoon story at Bear Tavern Elementary in Titusville, New Jersey. The students were so moved about hearing what happened to the couple that they decided to take matters into their own hands and wrote letters to The Mount Airy Resort. In the letters, the children requested an all-expense paid honeymoon redo and to their surprise, the resort granted the request.

“Just thinking about what the students did for us, it still makes me emotional to know that our story made such an impact,” said Caldwell. “The children are the real heroes of this story because they stood up for equality.”

The Caldwells enjoyed their honeymoon redo in January and their story hit national headlines on CBS News and The Steve Harvey Show. In addition, the couple filmed a segment on OWN’s Black Love in February; the release date has not been announced.

Mr. Caldwell is a retired Methodist minister and an adjunct professor in African American Studies at the University of Massachusetts. In 1955, he received his bachelor’s degree in sociology from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Mrs. Caldwell is a retired public school teacher and received her bachelor’s degree in English literature from Bennett College in 1957.