Silent Sam

In the chronology

Episodes in this history, earliest first. Each has its own page.

Other dated events here, earliest first. See these 15 dated events in the chronology →

1. May 10, 1905 The Leonidas Polk Chapter of the UDC holds Confederate memorial exercises On May 10, 1905, the Leonidas Polk Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy held memorial exercises in Gerrard Hall, reading the roll of students who had served in the Confederate army. Children and adults then carried flowers to decorate soldiers' graves in the village cemetery. People: Thomas HumeDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 826
2. 1908 UNC trustees approve the United Daughters of the Confederacy's request to build a Confederate monument on the campus The board of trustees approved a request from the North Carolina Division of the UDC for a monument on the campus. President Francis P. Venable took part in the planning and fund-raising and later committed university money when UDC and alumni contributions fell short. People: Francis Preston VenableUNC A to Z (UNC Press): Confederate Monument (Silent Sam)
3. March 14, 1911 Bettie Jackson London publishes the design for the campus monument and appeals for the $7,500 Writing from Pittsboro as chairman of the UDC monument committee, Mrs. Henry A. London described the monument designed by the sculptor John Wilson, a soldier above a bronze tablet of the State calling a student from his books, and warned that the chapters had not met their pledges and the unveiling at the semicentennial commencement was in doubt.DigitalNC: The News and Observer (Raleigh), March 14, 1911, page 1
4. April 1, 1911 The Tar Heel reports the monument's unveiling put off from the 1911 commencement for want of funds The paper reported that the UDC chapters had been unable to fulfill their pledges toward the $7,500, so the monument could not be unveiled at the June 1911 commencement, the fiftieth anniversary of the war's beginning, and would certainly be unveiled in 1912. It was in fact dedicated in June 1913.DigitalNC: The Tar Heel, April 1, 1911, page 1
5. June 2, 1913 UNC's Confederate Monument is dedicated On the second day of commencement Major H. A. London introduced Governor Craig; Mrs. London presented the monument to the trustees for the UDC, President Francis P. Venable accepted it for the university, and Julian S. Carr spoke for the students of 1861. Carr's speech, which praised the Confederate army and recounted his horsewhipping of a Black woman in the village in 1865, is the part now most remembered. People: Julian S. Carr, John A. Wilson, Locke CraigDigitalNC: The News and Observer (Raleigh), June 3, 1913, page 1
6. 1995–2001 Yonni Chapman founds the Freedom Legacy Project at UNC While a UNC history graduate student, Chapman founded and directed the Freedom Legacy Project, a student group that documented the history of racial justice struggles at the university and publicly questioned the Silent Sam statue and the naming of Saunders Hall.In the index: UNC-Chapel Hill Young Democrats · NCpedia: Chapman, John Kenyon (Yonni)
7. September 1, 2011 Demonstrators re-read Julian Carr's 1913 dedication speech at the monument and unveil a mock plaque A campus demonstration read Carr's dedication-day speech aloud at the statue and unveiled a new plaque of its own giving the monument's history. The Daily Tar Heel reported a further Real Silent Sam movement protest on the statue's history later that month.Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina: Confederate Monument, UNC (Chapel Hill)
8. 2015 Saunders Hall is renamed Carolina Hall UNC trustees approved the name change in May 2015; the building received its new name that August.Search the index · UNC A to Z — Carolina Hall
9. August 20, 2018 Silent Sam is toppled On the evening of August 20, 2018, the eve of fall classes, about 250 protesters pulled UNC's Confederate monument in McCorkle Place from its pedestal at around 9:20 p.m. The toppling followed a year of campaigning for removal after the 2017 Charlottesville rally, and campus authorities took the statue to an undisclosed location.Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina: Confederate Monument, UNC (Chapel Hill)
10. August 28, 2018 The UNC Board of Governors gives Chapel Hill until November 15 to propose a 'lawful and lasting' plan for the monument Eight days after the toppling, the Board of Governors met for nearly two hours in closed session and adopted a resolution directing Chancellor Folt and the trustees to present by November 15 a plan offering 'a lawful and lasting path that protects public safety, preserves the monument and its history'. Thom Goolsby cast the lone no vote, and the board ordered an outside review of the University's handling of the August 20 protest. The trustees met the same day.WRAL: UNC-CH board has until November to devise plan for 'Silent Sam'
11. December 3, 2018 UNC trustees vote to house the monument in a new $5.3 million University History and Education Center At a special meeting the Board of Trustees approved a four-part plan for the Board of Governors: relocate the statue and tablets into a new free-standing building at the former Odum Village site on south campus, add a McCorkle Place gateway with plaques, and continue contextualizing campus history. The center was priced at $5.3 million with $800,000 a year to operate; Folt said police advised that the statue could not safely return to McCorkle Place.UNC-Chapel Hill: BOT recommends four-part plan on Confederate Monument, campus contextualization
12. December 14, 2018 The Board of Governors rejects the history center and appoints a task force with a March 15 deadline After a nearly three-hour closed session the Board of Governors declined the trustees' $5.3 million history center, citing cost and public safety, and named five of its members to work with Folt and the trustees on a new proposal by March 15, 2019. Folt said the plan 'hasn't satisfied anyone' and that the campus would now look at off-campus options. People: Margaret SpellingsWUNC: Board of Governors Rejects Plan To Build History Center To House Silent Sam
13. January 14 and 15, 2019 Folt orders the Silent Sam pedestal removed and announces she will step down Folt ordered the removal on the Monday and announced in a campuswide email that she would resign, saying the remaining parts of the monument threatened the safety of the community. The university said at 1 a.m. on Tuesday that removal had begun, and by 2:40 a.m. a crew had taken the last of the base from the quad.Search the index · NPR: On Her Way Out, UNC Chancellor Orders Removal Of Silent Sam Pedestal
14. November 27, 2019 The UNC System gives Silent Sam to the Sons of Confederate Veterans with a $2.5 million trust in a same-day consent judgment The North Carolina Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans sued the UNC System and Board of Governors over the monument and a consent judgment was entered the same day in Orange County Superior Court. The System handed over the statue, to be kept outside the fourteen counties with a System campus, and endowed a $2.5 million charitable trust from non-state funds for its care and display. Board chair Randy Ramsey said the deal let the University 'move forward'.WRAL: UNC System, Sons of Confederate Veterans reach settlement on Silent Sam
15. February 12, 2020 Judge Allen Baddour voids the Silent Sam settlement in Hillsborough for lack of standing At a hearing in Hillsborough, Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled that the Sons of Confederate Veterans had no standing to bring the suit and set aside the consent judgment and the $2.5 million trust. Five UNC students and a faculty member represented by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law had sought to intervene; their motion was denied but the judge took up the standing question they raised.NPR (via WESA): Judge Voids UNC's Controversial Settlement Over Confederate Statue 'Silent Sam'