On June 16, 2024, Hendersonville lost a beloved community activist, Crystal Cauley. At only 44 years old, Ms. Cauley made many positive changes to her community, improving the quality of life for the citizens of Henderson County.
Her son described her as a “titan” in what she stood for. A single, working mother of two children, Cauley managed to accomplish so much in her short time on this Earth.
Cauley was a business entrepreneur and social justice leader. In 2016, she founded the Black Business Network of WNC. The mission of this group is to promote and support businesses in 13 counties across Western North Carolina. Currently, the group has 1,395 members.
When Cauley saw a need in her community, she found a way to address it. She founded the Black History Collective in 2019 to educate and inspire members of her community. For Martin Luther King Day, she set up displays in banks, The Boys, and Girls Club, and the main Hendersonville library. Cauley spearheaded the first Arts and Crafts Exhibition, receiving a grant from the Waymakers Collective, which supports Appalachian arts and culture. That year was the first year Hendersonville celebrated Juneteenth; Cauley was responsible for the planning of that celebration.
Within the Green Meadows community, Cauley advocated for the beautification of her community, a historic, Black neighborhood. She arranged for cleanup days. Additionally, Cauley volunteered at Brooklyn Garden, a community garden established by the City of Hendersonville in partnership with members of the neighborhood. She also established a bird sanctuary in Sullivan’s Park and started the Black Birdwatchers youth group to encourage young people to appreciate the natural world around them. At her church, Cauley worked as a Sunday school teacher.
Cauley was an advocate for many people in our community. She served on the board of Safelight, a non-profit helping survivors of interpersonal violence and domestic abuse. Concerned about bullying and racial bias in the school system, Cauley also founded the African American Parent Alliance. As a representative of the group, she attended school board meetings to voice concerns raised by parents of school children in Henderson County. She decided to run for school board that year.
Cauley’s reason for running was “to be the change the people desire to see“I have been showing up at school board meetings to advocate for the African American Parent Alliance group and to ask to teach Henderson County history in our schools, but I am equally focused on revising and addressing bullying policies and building a stronger literacy program as well as supporting creative arts for all our schools.”
Among Cualey’s many talents, creative writing was one of them. She won two Wilma Dykeman awards in 2021 for writers of color for her article, “The Talking Walls,” in the 2019 edition of the Urban News, as well as an article about her mother in the 2021 issue.
Ms. Crystal Cauley had many, many gifts, and she used them fearlessly to make the world a better place. Just 44 years old when she died, Ms. Cauley left quite a legacy. She continues to be an inspiration to many in this mountain community.
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