UNC faculty members continue to voice their displeasure with the UNC System’s decision to work with a pro-Confederate group over the future of the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam.

Dr. William Sturkey, an assistant professor of history at UNC, wrote an op-ed article in the New York Times titled ‘Why Did U.N.C. Give Millions to a Neo-Confederate Group?’ which was published after the announcement of the system’s settlement with the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Sturkey, who teaches a course on the university’s history with race, as well as courses on U.S. History and the Civil Rights Movement, highlights his and other history professors’ frustrations in the piece.

Sturkey points to the erection of statues like Silent Sam as ways to intimidate black Americans and promote white American’s influence following the Civil War. He describes the choice to provide funds to a group who does not acknowledge that element of the statue’s existence as “an endorsement of a discredited and dangerous idea.”

In a conversation with WCHL, the history professor reiterated his concerns. He said monuments like Silent Sam were created to divide poor white and black citizens politically and he sees the remaining ones have the same effect.

“Even though we’ve gotten rid of the old Jim Crow signs,” Sturkey said, “we still have Confederate monuments dividing people in the state. It’s not rational we fight so hard over Silent Sam, for example, because it costs over half a million dollars a year to keep it up. But it really benefits people politically who don’t want some folks to worry about their healthcare or education and instead be in a tizzy over whether or not a Confederate monument stands.”

The narratives of groups like the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who say the monuments reflect their heritage, concern Sturkey because many facts and research into the post-Civil War era prove the statues’ purpose. He described the UNC’s system’s choice to provide a pro-Confederate group funding as an enormous step backwards in terms of how the topics of race and slavery are approached in academia. Now, the SCV can present Silent Sam how they want, twisting the monument’s context to fit the group’s inaccurate message.

“We know that most of the soldiers who left UNC to fight in the Civil War came from slave owning families,” said Sturkey. “The class of 1860, the average family that a student came from owned 26 slaves. If you think about it, who was attending elite southern schools in the 1860s? That fact will not be included in their context and display of Silent Sam because that runs counter-intuitive to [the SCV’s] historical mission to promote the lost cause.”

In his Times article, Sturkey points to many other top universities’ commitments to addressing their history with slavery. But he said when UNC faculty typically ask for support to deeply study its own, they are told there is a lack of resources.

“What is so striking is this amount of money being given to an organization to study history in a particular way and we get told no all the time,” Sturkey said of the settlement. “‘No, we can’t afford to keep doing the Black History Month lecture. No, we can’t afford a historian of slavery. No, we can’t afford to study the university’s past.’ To turn around and then give this organization $2.5 million is really striking.”

While Sturkey challenged the university’s leadership to further address its difficult past with slavery, he also put the onus of the settlement on the Board of Governors members who negotiated it. He said because the board is appointed by the state legislature, they make decisions fueled by partisan politics.

“I think that we need leaders who are interested in serving and not controlling or punishing people,” he said. “We need people who are interested in serving the republic of the state on these boards.”

At its monthly meeting, UNC’s faculty council passed a resolution condemning the settlement, saying it violates the university’s core values and mission to North Carolina.

Related Stories
‹
Anti-Racist Activists Look to Continue Addressing UNC's Past
More than 100 people spent Tuesday night gathered to celebrate the removal of the Confederate statue Silent Sam and champion the rights of minorities, LGBT community members and activists. The rally, however, was not just to remember the actions of protesters a year ago when they pulled down Silent Sam. It was also to encourage […]
UNC System Settles Silent Sam's Future, Gives Statue to Sons of Confederate Veterans
The University of North Carolina System reached a resolution to the future of the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam on Wednesday. A court approved a consent judgement that would give possession, rights, title and interests of the statue over to the Sons of Confederate Veterans — removing UNC as the institution possessing Silent Sam. […]
Orange County Judge: SCV Have 45 Days to Return 'Silent Sam' to UNC
A judge imposed a 45-day deadline on the Sons of Confederate Veterans to return the Silent Sam statue to the University of North Carolina. Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour also ruled that the group must return the remaining balance of a $2.5 million trust fund that the university’s board of governors set up […]
Group of UNC Alumni Say Pro-Confederate Group Had No Standing in Silent Sam Lawsuit
A group of UNC alumni and donors filed court documents into the lawsuit between the UNC System and a pro-Confederate group on Wednesday, arguing there was no standing for the lawsuit that led to a $2.5 million settlement. 88 alumni of the university, including 14 members of the UNC Black Pioneers, entered a brief to […]
Guskiewicz Launches New Commission to Address UNC's History with Race
UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz announced the official launch of a new commission to address and contextualize the university’s history regarding slavery and race relations. In a release Wednesday night, Guskiewicz revealed the members of the Commission on History, Race and A Way Forward. Made to build upon the findings and feedback generated from former chancellor […]
Daily Tar Heel Ownership Files Lawsuit Against UNC, Board of Governors Over Silent Sam Deals
The media group which owns the student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel filed a lawsuit against the University of North Carolina and the UNC System Board of Governors on Wednesday. DTH Media Corporation filed the lawsuit, alleging the settlement between the Board of Governors and the pro-Confederate group the Sons of Confederate Veterans over a […]
UNC Black Pioneers Send Letter to Board of Governors Opposing Silent Sam Settlement
The letter is signed by 18 members of the UNC Black Pioneers, who all attended the university between 1952 and 1972. Chair of the group Walter Jackson arrived at Carolina in 1963. On the Weekend Water Cooler podcast, he described arriving on campus as being a cultural shock because the university was an “overwhelmingly white […]
Civil Rights Lawyers Stake Claim in Confederate Statue Case
A national civil rights group has warned the leaders of the University of North Carolina System that it should reconsider a $2.5 million settlement involving a statue of a Confederate soldier that protesters toppled last year at the system’s flagship campus. In a letter sent to the attorney who represented the UNC Board of Governors, […]
UNC Interim Chancellor Guskiewicz Sends Letter to UNC System, Voices Concerns over Silent Sam Settlement
After a more than a week of protests by the campus community against the UNC System’s decision to settle a lawsuit with a pro-Confederate group, UNC Interim Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz sent a letter to the system’s leadership outlining concerns over the decision. Guskiewicz, who shared the letter in a message to the campus community on […]
UNC History Professor: Silent Sam Settlement Affects How History is Told, Furthers Divide
UNC faculty members continue to voice their displeasure with the UNC System’s decision to work with a pro-Confederate group over the future of the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam. Dr. William Sturkey, an assistant professor of history at UNC, wrote an op-ed article in the New York Times titled ‘Why Did U.N.C. Give Millions to […]
›