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
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.
11 July 2014 | Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina