In January 2015, the Real Silent Sam Coalition, which had been organizing to remove William Saunders’s name from Saunders Hall, changed their approach, rallying to rename the building after Zora Neale Hurston. By invoking the name “Hurston Hall” when identifying the building, the act became for Black students and supporters a way for themselves to reclaim, not just the space itself, but the history of the institution as directed by the powerful legacy of Black freedom striving in Chapel Hill.
Fryar, Charlotte. “Hurston Hall.” Personal Photograph. 24 April 2015.
In January 2015, the Real Silent Sam Coalition, which had been organizing to remove William Saunders’s name from Saunders Hall, changed their approach, rallying to rename the building after Zora Neale Hurston. By invoking the name “Hurston Hall” when identifying the building, the act became for Black students and supporters a way for themselves to reclaim, not just the space itself, but the history of the institution as directed by the powerful legacy of Black freedom striving in Chapel Hill.
Organization: Real Silent Sam Coalition
Space Use: Academic
Spatial Organizing Approach: Reclamation
Date Created: 2015
Campus Space: Saunders Hall
Citation: Interview with Omololu Babatunde by Charlotte Fryar, 1 December 2017, in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007), Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.