In 1963, conservative lawmakers in Raleigh passed the infamous Speaker Ban, a law that aimed to keep communists from speaking on campus and to squelch the bourgeoning civil rights movement in Chapel Hill.
The campaign to overturn the ban peaked in 1966 when thousands of students rallied on the north side of McCorkle Place to listen to a banned speaker who stood just inches away, across the low stone wall on the south side of Franklin Street and the right side of history.
The struggle against the ban has been enshrined in the University’s popular memory as few other campaigns have. To do battle with institutions that do not fully change hands every four years, UNC’s new generation of student activists should tap into this legacy.
Organizing and movement building takes time. Students take time to get their bearings in Chapel Hill, and some start to check out as graduation approaches. This leaves a narrow window of time for students to launch successful campaigns.
To combat this cycle, student activists should seek out accounts of past campaigns from older students, activists outside the university and from the existing historical literature. Both the Southern Oral History Program and the North Carolina Collection offer invaluable resources for students seeking to understand how change has been effected and stymied in the past. Professors must do their part by translating research on social movements into practical advice.
No two students will draw identical lessons from their reflections on the past. But to move forward, they must first take a look back.
