University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill trustees voted Wednesday to remove the names of four men who have ties to white supremacy and racism from campus buildings.
The campus Board of Trustees voted to remove the names of Charles B. Aycock, Julian S. Carr, Josephus Daniels and Thomas Ruffin Sr., The News & Observer of Raleigh reported.
The university’s Commission on History, Race & A Way Forward said the men used their power to disenfranchise Black people.
The Aycock Residence Hall was named after former North Carolina Gov. Charles Aycock. The commission said he led a white supremacy campaign in 1898 that “condoned the use of violence to terrorize black voters and their white allies."
The Carr building, a former dorm, is named after former trustee Julian S. Carr. The commission said he helped finance the Democratic Party’s 1898 white supremacy campaign, which “stripped black men of the right to vote and institutionalized racial segregation."
The Daniels Building is named after former News & Observer publisher Josephus Daniels. The commission said he used his newspaper “to demonize Black voters and politicians as a threat to whites."
The Ruffin Residence Hall dorm is named after former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin Sr. and his son Thomas Ruffin Jr, a university alumnus. The commission said the elder Ruffin went against case law to give slave owners more power and to normalize violence in slavery.
U.S. & World
The name of Thomas Ruffin Sr. will be stripped from that residence hall, but it will still honor his son.
