DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) — He walks with a cane and proudly acknowledges his age — 83.

But the Rev. Gil Caldwell, best known as “a foot soldier” in the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s army, is not about to retire his lifelong fight for racial justice.

When Duke Divinity School invited him to speak Wednesday (Oct. 18) during morning chapel services, he saw an opportunity to ask whether Duke was willing to confront its past.

More than 60 years ago, the divinity school denied him admission because he is black. Speaking at a service in Goodson Chapel, he asked: “What is it that God would have Duke Divinity School do in light of that history? For if one is not honest about that history, one can’t be fully present.”