Silent Sam Speaks

The Faculty of the Department of English and Comparative Literature pledge through our teaching, research, and public service to continue the hard work of rooting out racism and inequality and to replace them with “light and liberty,” the motto of our university. The toppling of the statue known as “Silent Sam” on August 20, 2018 is symbolically powerful and should remind us that our work is unfinished at our own institution of higher learning. We call upon the UNC administration and NC leaders to house the fallen statue elsewhere, as should have been done long ago, and to renew their commitment to creating a just and inclusive campus.

• Departmental Statement on Silent Sam Decision
• Departmental Statement on Silent Sam
• Statement of Malinda Maynor Lowery, Director of the Center for the Study of the American South
• “Silent Sam” illustrated history created by Professor Jim Leloudis and University Historian Cecelia Moore
• Wilson Library’s Guide to Researching Silent Sam 
• Julian Carr’s dedication speech, which is archived in Wilson Library, UNC – (Click on Scans 93-112)
• Transcription of the speech here
• Description of the Monument on DocSouth 
• UNC’s FAQ on Silent Sam and other then-current campus issues (September 13, 2017)

Photo Left to Right: Silent Sam, McCorkle Place, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1913. (Source: North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Author: Unknown); Silent Sam is located on McCorkle Place in Chapel Hill (Source: The Daily Tar Heel, Author: Ashley Cram 11/15/2017); Police surround Silent Sam on Aug. 20 after the Confederate monument was pulled down by demonstrators (Source: The Daily Tar Heel, Author: Taryn Revoir 8/20/2018); Empty Plinth (Sarah Boyd)