GOV. DAN K. MOORE'S (CHAPEL HILL) WALL / SPEAKER BAN WALL

What became known as "Gov. Dan K. Moore's (Chapel Hill) Wall" is part of the wall dividing the UNC campus from town (Chapel Hill) property.

On March 2, 1966, civil liberties activist Frank Wilkinson addressed a crowd of about 1,200 students from town of Chapel Hill property across the stone wall, after the university's refusal to allow Herbert Aptheker and himself to speak to students that invited them to campus.

Three years earlier, on June 26, 1963, legislative leaders passed the Act to Regulate Visiting Speakers, later known as the Speaker Ban Law, which forbade individuals who were known to be members of the Communist Party or had invoked the Fifth Amendment in connection with congressional investigations of Communist activities from speaking on the campuses of the University of North Carolina.

The university's refusal to allow the men to speak on the physical campus was used as the basis for a lawsuit (Dickson, et al. v Sitterson, et al.) against the university and the State of North Carolina. On February 19, 1968, a three-judge federal district court in Greensboro declared the "Speaker Ban Law" invalid and decided for the plaintiffs.

A monument commemorating the Speaker Ban protest was unveiled in October 2011 at the site.

UNC Student Body President Paul Dickson introduces speaker Frank Wilkinson, March 2, 1966 (photo by Jock Lauterer, via UNC)

Frank Wilkinson speaking to UNC students, March 2, 1966 (photo by Jock Lauterer, via UNC)

The Speaker Ban Monument (Photo BY Kami LaBerge, via DocSouth)