James Lewis Cates, Jr. Memorial, Chapel Hill
The memorial for James Cates, Jr. is two pieces of metal welded together into a lectern shape with a matte black finish. A metal plaque, also black with gold lettering, is attached to the lectern top. The memorial is approximately three feet tall. The plaque is located in the Pit in front of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union where Cates was murdered in 1970.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL / AND THE TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL REMEMBER CHAPEL / RESIDENT JAMES L. CATES, JR. WHO WAS KILLED / OUTSIDE THE STUDENT UNION ON NOVEMBER 21, 1970. / CATES, A 22 YEAR OLD BLACK MAN, PLANNED TO ATTEND / A DANCE INTENDED TO IMPROVE RACE RELATIONS. THAT / NIGHT, HE DIED AS A VICTIM OF RACIAL VIOLENCE.
OUR COMMUNITY DEDICATES THIS MEMORIAL IN HONOR / OF JAMES CATES WHOSE LIFE HAS NOT BEEN AND WILL NOT / BE FORGOTTEN.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
November 21, 2022
35.910170 , -79.048530
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Brown, Joel. “Chapel Hill Removes Monuments Honoring Confederacy, Black History,” WTVD, (Durhan, NC), February 23, 2019, (accessed January 7, 2024) Link
Guskiewicz, Kevin M. “A Message from the Chancellor: James Cates Memorial,” University of North Carolina at Chapel, August 12, 2022, (accessed January 5, 2024) Link
McConnell, Brighton. “DOJ Opens Investigation Into 50-Year-Old Murder of Chapel Hill’s James Cates,” Chapelboro, April 1, 2022, (accessed January 7, 2024) Link
Pace, Madeline. “Carolina Dedicated James L. Cates Jr. Memorial,” University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, November 22, 2022, www.unc.edu, (accessed January 5, 2024) Link
Schlemmer, Liz. “52 Years After His Death, UNC-Chapel Hill Dedicates Memorial to James Lewis Cates, Jr.” WUNC, November 22, 2022, (accessed December 18, 2023) Link
Taylor, Zari. “Column: Reopening James Cates Jr. Case Is a Step Closer to Providing Closure,” The Daily Tarheel (Chapel Hill, NC), April 4, 2022), (accessed January 7, 2024) Link
Yes
Metal, appears to be steel and aluminum
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The memorial was dedicated 52 years to the date that James Lewis Cates, Jr. died on the campus of the University of North Carolina. His cousin, Congresswoman-elect, Valerie Foushee, speaking at the dedication said, “I am indeed humbled to represent a family and a community who are grateful to see this day. Although this is not a celebration, this commemoration, the dedication of this memorial, ensures that James Cates’s life will not be forgotten.” UNC-Chapel Hill’s Vice President of Equity and Inclusion Leah Cox also spoke, saying “I can say that it is both equitable and inclusive, that we include the tragic story of what took place that day in 1970, as a part of the true history of our UNC-Chapel Hill campus.” The Voices of Praise Gospel Choir performed during the ceremony. After the service family members laid flowers on the memorial. The Pit lights remained illuminated the night after the ceremony.
James Cates, a 22-year old Black man from Chapel Hill died of stab wounds after a racially motivated confrontation. Cates was in attendance at a dance hosted by campus student organizations to improve race relations with the Chapel Hill community. Cates was killed after a fight outside the Student Union between a white motorcycle gang from Durham called the Storm Troopers and young people attending the dance. Three white men charged with murder were acquitted by an all-white jury. In March 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice re-opened the case as part of a cold case initiative that investigates racially-motivated murders.
This memorial was not the first one on campus to honor Cates. In February 2019 a group of student artists had placed two black history plaques without permission. The one to Cates was placed in the Pit and the other one on Franklin Street at the edge of campus. UNC officials removed the Cates memorial the day after it was placed. That inscription read, “IN HONOR OF JAMES CATES. IN 1970, THIS YOUNG BLACK ACTIVIST LAY BLEEDING TO DEATH IN THE PIT STABBED TO DEATH BY MEMBERS OF A WHITE SUPREMACIST GANG. JAMES CATES BLOOD IS ON CAMPUS. WE FIGHT IN HIS NAME.”
The second plaque was placed to honor the young black woman called a “negro wench” by Julian Carr during his speech at the dedication of the “Silent Sam” Confederate memorial on campus in 1913. This plaque was stolen the day after it was placed with its picture appearing on the “Confederate 901” Facebook page. The inscription read, “IN HONOR OF THE NEGRO WENCH. SHE RAN TO THIS UNIVERSITY FOR SAFETY AND, FOR THE COLOR OF HER SKIN, WAS BEATEN AT HER GATES. WE FIGHT IN HER NAME.”
The memorial is located in the courtyard in front of the Student Union known as the “Pit.” The Student Union address is 209 South Road, Chapel Hill, NC.
The "Pit" where the memorial plaque is established is surrounded by the UNC-Chapel Hill buildings.
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