Happy 80th Birthday to Caroline Hunter.

RES 2026-123 FIRST IN COUNCIL September 14, 2026 City of Cambridge COUNCILLOR SIMMONS WHEREAS: It has come to the attention of the City Council that former School Committee Vice Chair Caroline Hunter recently celebrated a milestone birthday; and WHEREAS: Caroline Hunter was born on September 5, 1946, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and she was raised during the era of legal segregation, which led her to develop an early awareness of injustice that would blossom into a lifelong commitment to social change; and WHEREAS: Caroline graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and subsequently moved to Massachusetts, where she began her career as a research chemist at the Polaroid Corporation in Cambridge; and WHEREAS: While at Polaroid, Caroline and her late husband, Ken Williams, discovered that Polaroid technology was being used to produce identification documents supporting South Africa’s apartheid system, prompting them to co-found the Polaroid Revolutionary Workers Movement in 1970; and WHEREAS: Through that groundbreaking campaign, Caroline and Ken called upon Polaroid to end its business dealings in apartheid South Africa, brought their advocacy before communities across the nation and the United Nations Special Committee on Apartheid, and became pioneering American voices in the international anti-apartheid movement; and WHEREAS: Caroline later devoted thirty-four years to the Cambridge Public Schools, serving Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in numerous capacities, including as a mathematics and AVID teacher, student advisor, Student Service Center leader, and Assistant Principal; and WHEREAS: Throughout her career, Caroline championed educational equity, high expectations for all students, greater diversity among educators, and greater attention to racial disparities in academic outcomes, and she was among the parents, educators, and community leaders who founded the Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School; and WHEREAS: Caroline furthered her own education by earning graduate degrees from Antioch College and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she was a recipient of the Conant Fellowship, and her commitment to civil rights and education has earned her honors including the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s Louise Gaskins Lifetime Civil Rights Award and the National Education Association’s Rosa Parks Memorial Award; and

WHEREAS: In December 2022, Caroline brought her decades of experience as an educator, parent, mentor, and advocate to elected public service as a member of the Cambridge School Committee, later serving as Vice Chair and continuing her advocacy on behalf of Cambridge students and families; and WHEREAS: Across more than half a century of activism, education, mentorship, and public service, Caroline Hunter has demonstrated extraordinary courage, conviction, and an enduring commitment to building a more just and equitable community; and WHEREAS: As Caroline Hunter celebrates her 80th birthday, she marks eight decades of a life devoted to education, civil rights, public service, and the betterment of others; now therefore be it RESOLVED: That the City Council go on record wishing Caroline Hunter a healthy and joyous 80th birthday, with many such birthdays yet to come; and be it further RESOLVED: That the City Clerk be and hereby is requested to prepare a suitably engrossed copy of this resolution to Caroline Hunter on behalf of the entire City Council. A true copy; ATTEST:- Paula M. Crane, Interim City Clerk

City of Cambridge Happy 80th Birthday to Caroline Hunter.