Beginning in 1995, Yonni Chapman began to compile the histories of numerous spaces around the campus to explore “the celebration of slavery, the Confederacy, and white supremacy that is embodied in the names of university buildings and its most prominent public monument, ‘Silent Sam.'” One of these spaces, Mitchell Hall, is named for “Professor Elisha P. Mitchell,” who owned “twenty slaves in 1850.” Under his direction as “Bursar of the University…slaves built the stone walls surrounding the campus.”
Fryar, Charlotte. “Mitchell Hall.” Personal Photograph. 24 May 2018.
Beginning in 1995, Yonni Chapman began to compile the histories of numerous spaces around the campus to explore “the celebration of slavery, the Confederacy, and white supremacy that is embodied in the names of university buildings and its most prominent public monument, ‘Silent Sam.'” One of these spaces, Mitchell Hall, is named for “Professor Elisha P. Mitchell,” who owned “twenty slaves in 1850.” Under his direction as “Bursar of the University…slaves built the stone walls surrounding the campus.”
Organization: Freedom Legacy Project
Space Use: Academic
Spatial Organizing Approach: Contestation
Date Created: 1964
Campus Space: Saunders Hall
Citation: Fess Up Silent Sam Fact Sheet in the John Kenyon Chapman Papers #5441, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.