Excerpt Description: Taylor Webber-Fields explains that the movement to rename Saunders Hall was more about giving voice to Black students and creating an alternative narrative than it was about the removal of one name from a university building.
Excerpt Transcript: “Okay so there’s this proverb, this proverb that says the story will always be told by the hunter’s point of view as long as the lion doesn’t have a say, or something to that effect. I know I’m butchering it. And so for that to be the resounding voice on campus, it was like, no, there has to be an alternative voice there. So it was like, okay, the name can be changed or not, but know that we were here. You know what I’m saying? That we were here criticizing this space, because Carolina Hall, it ended up being named Carolina Hall, but we had originally petitioned for there to be a plaque there that would recognize the student activity that had the hall renamed. And so, it was about, again, restoring voice, giving voice to students that had been on campus, would come to the campus, and know that you have a voice in your space and place. Wherever you are, you can claim space there. And you can shape it however you want it to be shaped. At least, that was my connection to having the name moved and renamed.”
Excerpt Description: Taylor Webber-Fields explains that the movement to rename Saunders Hall was more about giving voice to Black students and creating an alternative narrative than it was about the removal of one name from a university building.
Interviewee Name: Taylor Webber-Fields
Interviewer: Charlotte Fryar
Excerpt Transcript: “Okay so there’s this proverb, this proverb that says the story will always be told by the hunter’s point of view as long as the lion doesn’t have a say, or something to that effect. I know I’m butchering it. And so for that to be the resounding voice on campus, it was like, no, there has to be an alternative voice there. So it was like, okay, the name can be changed or not, but know that we were here. You know what I’m saying? That we were here criticizing this space, because Carolina Hall, it ended up being named Carolina Hall, but we had originally petitioned for there to be a plaque there that would recognize the student activity that had the hall renamed. And so, it was about, again, restoring voice, giving voice to students that had been on campus, would come to the campus, and know that you have a voice in your space and place. Wherever you are, you can claim space there. And you can shape it however you want it to be shaped. At least, that was my connection to having the name moved and renamed.”
Organization: Real Silent Sam Coalition
Excerpt Length: 1:16
Interview Date: 11/29/2017
Interview Location: Durham, North Carolina
Campus Space: Saunders Hall
Citation: Interview with Taylor Webber-Fields by Charlotte Fryar, 29 November 2017, in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007), Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.