On the southeast corner of the old state capitol grounds in Raleigh, a staircase leads up to a path under an oak tree. A few feet away stands a monument to Civil War and Reconstruction era governor Zebulon Vance, who owned Black people as slaves, fought for the Confederate army and “strongly held belief in white supremacy,” according to North Carolina’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Across a brick walkway toward another corner of Union Square stands a monument of former governor Charles Aycock, also a white supremacist “who led successful campaigns which influenced the Wilmington Massacre,” according to DNCR.
What does not exist at the Old Capitol Grounds is a monument dedicated to African Americans of North Carolina. Despite talk from lawmakers for nearly eight years that has waned in recent times, a planned African American monument on the southeastern portion of the capitol grounds has never been built. This despite a resolution passed years ago calling for “one or more additional monuments on Capitol Square to memorialize the accomplishments and contributions of North Carolina’s African Americans.”
Read portions of the resolution by clicking a paragraph heading to unfurl each section.…