Joseph Caldwell Monument – 1847
The Joseph Caldwell Monument is a marble obelisk, made in 1847, with a shield carved with oak leaves, a train wheel, and engineer’s transit. The original Caldwell monument was created of Sandstone, shortly after Caldwell’s death in 1835, and moved to the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery.
Wilson Caldwell Memorial – 1891
Wilson Caldwell Memorial was made by UNC Alumni in 1891 to commemorate enslaved members of the university, owned by Joseph Caldwell. The form is that of an obelisk, a form seen in ancient Egypt that became Neo-Classical to the western world. The monument refers to the enslaved as a “faithful servant,” rather than a man. It was intended to appear as an honor to be recognized as a servant to the UNC campus. Though this monument suggests respect, it ignores them as prominent members of society (Art History 287 Lecture with John Bowles).
The Student Body – 1985
The statue titled “The Student Body,” by Julia Balk was a gift from the class of 1985. It was installed in front of Davis library in 1990 but upon installation became major controversy about stereotypes portrayed in the statue. Casted out of bronze, Balk created figures of the student body interpreted as stereotypes with an African American man spinning a basketball on his finger, an Asian woman holding a violin, an African American woman balancing a textbook on her head, and a white woman carrying an apple while leaning against a white male. Over 500 students signed a petition for its removal, it was relocated to be positioned between Hamilton and Manning hall. Soon after the African American basketball player and the Asian violinist were removed without any speculation or conversation.
Cited:
https://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/show/public-art/student-body
The Unsung Founders Memorial – 2002
The Unsung Founders Memorial by Do-Ho-Suh was created as a gift from the 2002 UNC class and installed in 2005. It is a memorial to the bond and free (laborers, servants, women, free black artisans) who helped create the campus we know today. The form is of a table and seats with the seats resembling headstones in the UNC cemetery. Those headstones are placed rocks to use as markers of buried slaves because they were not permitted to have adequate tombstones. This memorial uses generalization of 300 figures holding the 6 ft. stone table on their backs to reference the broader group of enslaved. It is supposed to be more prominent but the work had been placed to side of McCorkle place, and until recently juxtaposed to the confederate statue” Silent Sam.” It is meant to celebrate those who helped in the building of the university, though having the people placed towards the bottom suggests inferiority. This memorial is also meant to be interactive by using the space as an open invitation for conversation and as a functional table and chairs. It also gives the sense of privilege, having the privilege to eat at a table. There can be an argument made for its use being either more practical or commemorable.
Recently, the Unsung Founders Memorial has been the victim of white suppremist racial vandalisation. On March 31 around 1:30 a.m. the memorial was defaced with urine and racial slurs written in permanent marker. The University department of Safety is now working with students and faculty in creating creative solutions to the hate groups arriving on campus.
Cited: Art History 287 Lecture with John Bowles
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/us/unc-unsung-founders-memorial.html
Silent Sam – 1913
The Confederate statue “Silent Sam” was unveiled on the UNC Chapel Hill campus in 1913 by white supremist Jillian Carr by addressing its symbolism for “the welfare of the Anglo Saxon race.” The statue was funded by the Daughters of the Confederacy, a group formed in 1894 to organize the commemoration of Confederate soldiers by funding the erection of memorials in the South. The statue’s form is a bronze soldier holding a rifle aimed towards the sky, with his glance towards the student body. The body is a generalization of the UNC soldiers that fought in the Civil War. The inscription at the base of the monument reads:
“To the Sons of the University who entered the war of 1861-65 in answer to the call of their country and whose lives taught the lesson of their great commander that duty is the sublimest word in the English language.”
Protests against Silent Sam began prominently in the 1960s, during the Civil Rights movement, protesters on campus covered the statue in red paint after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Only to be wiped away the next day and covered with many little confederate flags. The call for Silent Sam’s removal has heighten through the years, especially over the past two years. In 2017, there was a student body protest the first week of class, tensions elevated and a few protesters were arrested. But the conversation continued to spread and demonstrations sparked across campus. In May of 2018, Maya Little defaced the statue with black paint and her own blood. She commented that her actions were to give “proper historical context.”
And on the first day of the Fall 2018 semester, over 300 student protestors surrounded and tore down Silent Sam from its pedestal on the McCorkle Place grounds. The statue remains on UNC grounds due to the 2015 law that “forbids universities and public entities from removing commemorative statues without the approval of the North Carolina legislature.” News to what will become of Silent Sam is uncertain as of today but before Chancellor Folt stepped down from her position in early 2019 she wrote the students that Silent Sam was not to be erected again.
Cited:
Video and article from the News And Observer regarding Silent Sam: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article168816697.html
http://time.com/5373001/silent-sam-confederate-statue-unc-racist-history/
Through the Lens of Time 