Street renamed in honor of former Guilford Commissioner Carolyn Coleman

A Greensboro intersection now bears the name of two civil rights pioneers following the city's move to rename part of a street to honor former County Commissioner Carolyn Q. Coleman.

A portion of Bragg Street that intersects with Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Greensboro is now dubbed Carolyn Coleman Way.

Coleman died in January, leaving a legacy that included serving as Guilford County's first Black chairwoman.

City Councilwoman Sharon Hightower, Coleman's longtime friend, says it's fitting that the street now named for her directly connects to the street named for Dr. King.

“Her life was civil rights,” Hightower says. “And she lived that until the end.”

A ceremony for the renaming was held Saturday at Coleman's church, New Zion Missionary Baptist Church, on what would have been her 80th birthday.

Coleman was a native of Savannah and was arrested during the sit-ins there in the 1960s. She later received a Master of Science degree from North Carolina A&T State University.