View complete article and references at Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina at: https://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/168

Description: The monument is a rectangular granite marker approximately 30 inches high and 30 inches wide. The surface contains an inscription above a brass plaque. It resides near the spot where in March 1966 two controversial speakers, Frank Wilkinson and Herbert Aptheker, addressed students. The monument commemorates the 1966 student protests that overturned the N.C. Speaker Ban Law.

Inscription:
Carved: THE SPEAKER BAN / ALONG THIS WALL IN MARCH 1966, UNC STUDENTS / CHALLENGED A STATE LAW THAT REGULATED / WHO COULD SPEAK ON UNC CAMPUSES. / THE STUDENTS LISTED BELOW INVITED BANNED / SPEAKERS HERBERT APTHEKER, A RADICAL HISTORIAN / AND FRANK WILKINSON / A CIVIL LIBERTIES ACTIVIST / WHEN STUDENTS WERE PREVENTED FROM HOLDING / THESE EVENTS ON CAMPUS, THEY INITIATED A / LAWSUIT THAT OVERTURNED THE "SPEAKER BAN" / IN 1968.

On plaque: Paul Dickson III, Student Body President / George E. Nicholson III, Carolina Forum / Robert S. Powell Jr., Carolina Forum / James A. Medford, YMCA / Eunice H. Milton, YMCA / John E. Greenbacker Jr., Di-Phi / Eric E. Van Loon, Carolina Political Union / Ernest S. McCrary, The Daily Tar Heel / Gary E. Waller, Students for a Democratic Society / Stuart E. Matthews, Students for a Democratic Society / John D. McSween / Henry N. Patterson Jr.

Below: "I HOPE HISTORY WILL RECORD THAT THE STUDENT / BODY DID NOT SHY AWAY FROM THIS CHALLENGE, BUT / FIRMLY AND RESPONSIBLY MET IT HEAD ON." / PAUL DICKSON III -- FEBRUARY 1966
Image - Lower Inscription

Dedication date: 10/12/2011

Materials & Techniques: Granite, Bronze

Sponsor: Anne Dickson Fogleman, Robert Dickson

Unveiling & Dedication: A public unveiling ceremony was held at the marker's site at 3 p.m. on Oct. 12, University Day, followed by a reception in the Johnston Center. Remarks were made by Chancellor Holden Thorp, University of North Carolina President Tom Ross, Chair of the Board of Trustees Wade Hargrove, Student Body President Mary Cooper, and by Robert Dickson, Class of 1974. The audience included University leaders, faculty, students, and alumni, including ten former protesters. A video of the ceremony can be viewed here.

Subject notes: In 1963, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law prohibiting any individual who supported Communism or had invoked his or her Fifth Amendment right when questioned about Communist activities from speaking at public university campuses.

In March of 1966, leaders of the student body invited Frank Wilkinson and Herbert Aptheker to speak. As the men could not speak on University property, they stood just beyond the short stone wall of the campus boundary to address a student audience of over 1,000. Twelve students, named on the bronze plaque of this monument, filed a lawsuit that led to the law being overturned in 1968.

Location: The monument is just south of East Franklin St.; it faces north.

Landscape: The monument sits on the stone wall between McCorkle Place and Franklin Street.

City: Chapel Hill

County: Orange

Subjects: Educational Institutions