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What Was Decided, and When

A bronze Confederate soldier stood on the northern edge of McCorkle Place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1913 until the evening of August 20, 2018, when protesters pulled it from its pedestal during a demonstration.

What Was Decided, and When
The pedestal, after the monument was pulled down in August 2018. The pedestal itself came out in January 2019.Photo: Silent Sam pedestal without statue · Wikimedia Commons

The institutional record of Silent Sam on McCorkle Place

The statue, known as Silent Sam, had been donated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and dedicated at a ceremony attended by university officials and state dignitaries.

The pedestal remained on the lawn after the statue fell. In January 2019, the university removed the pedestal as well, clearing the site entirely.

A High Point furniture showroom floor during market, furniture in rows, adults working the aisles
A showroom floor during market, when the city's working population roughly doubles for the week.Photo: High Point banner Furniture · Wikimedia Commons

In November 2018, the UNC Board of Governors voted to bar the statue's return to its original location but directed the university to find an alternative site on campus. The following year, in July 2019, the Board of Governors adopted a resolution establishing a process to determine that site. UNC Chapel Hill's Board of Trustees then developed a proposal to house the statue and associated materials in a new on-campus facility, which would have been funded in part by a $2.5 million allocation. That plan drew objections from the Faculty Council and other university bodies.

In November 2019, the Board of Governors set aside the trustees' proposal and instead transferred custody of the statue to the Sons of Confederate Veterans under a legal agreement. The transfer was subsequently challenged in court. A North Carolina Superior Court judge voided the transfer agreement in February 2020, ruling that the board had acted outside its statutory authority.

A bowl of shrimp and grits square on a worn wooden table, natural light, no props
Shrimp over stone-ground grits with bacon, mushrooms and scallions — the dish as it was served at 610 West Franklin Street.Photo: Nadin Sh / Pexels

As of the date of that ruling, the statue remained in university storage. No further board decision changing its disposition had been reported at that time.

The site on McCorkle Place, at the northern edge near Franklin Street, has stood empty since the pedestal's removal. No replacement structure has been formally approved.

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