Emily Stevens, director of the young alumni program for the Office of Development, said "The effort the class put forth to get the word out was a major factor".

[4] The location for the memorial was selected by agreement between Suh and the 2002 senior class officers, with final approval by the UNC Building Grounds Committee.

[5] The ceremony was held at 10 a.m. at the site of the memorial on McCorkle Place quadrangle in front of the Alumni Building, near Franklin Street, on the Carolina campus.

Moeser said: What we do today will not rectify what our ancestors did in the past, But this memorial, I believe, attests to our commitment to shed light on the darker corners of our history.

[5]Moeser commented that the memorial did not emerge from some committee of campus administrators or panel of faculty experts, but "arose from the inspiration of our students."

[5]Gray-Little added that "One of the troublesome legacies of slavery is the pall that it casts over the family histories of those who were bought and sold, This monument finally recognizes the many unnamed whose toil and talent made the nation's first public university possible.

"[5] In September of 2019, Ryan Barnett and Nancy McCorkle were found guilty in Orange County Court, of damaging property for vandalism at the monument in March of 2019.