The statue known as Silent Sam stood at the north entrance to the Chapel Hill campus for more than 100 years. What meaning did it have for the men and women who placed it there? Why does its story matter today, as Americans confront deep-seated problems of racial inequity and injustice? We explore these questions in the digital exhibit linked below.

We created the exhibit to help people learn about the history of UNC’s Confederate monument, and that of Confederate memorialization more generally. It is grounded in a conviction that knowing the past is a necessary first step toward reckoning, reconciliation, and repair.

James L. Leloudis, Professor of History

Cecelia Moore, Ph.D.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill