TO THE EDITOR:
It is interesting to see different letter-writers argue about the merits of Robert E. Lee and others who fought for the South in the Civil War. But it’s important not to miss the real question about the Silent Sam statue, which is not “Who was good or evil in the 1860s?” but “Why was this statue erected in 1913?”
The statue purports to honor the sacrifice of those who answered what they saw as a call to duty, and no doubt that was part of why it was put up. But the historical context makes clear that this statue and the hundreds like it throughout the South were erected as part of the unambiguously evil white-power movement of the heinous Jim Crow era.
The clearest evidence is in the dedication speech of Julian Carr, easily accessible online at Davis Library, which has been quoted and discussed in The Daily Tar Heel numerous times.
Just as Saunders Hall had to be renamed not merely because of what Saunders did in the 19th century, but because of what was said about his KKK work by the Board of Trustees in the 1920s, so too the problem with this statue is a 20th-century problem.
UNC has work ahead of it in deciding how to “contextualize” the statue, perhaps with a plaque. It’s important that any plaque not be just about the 19th century, but present unambiguous information about the 20th.
It can’t be a bland “Oh, by the way, we all regret slavery,” arrived at after a long debate about the Civil War, but should be at least include something like “This statue was erected in 1913 by racists as part of the white-power movement of the Jim Crow era, as is shown by Julian Carr’s speech at its dedication.”
Prof. James O’Hara
