UNC honors life of civil rights advocate killed on campus in 1970 with memorial

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- UNC Chapel Hill honored the life of a Black man killed on campus in a racist attack in 1970.

The university will install a permanent memorial in honor of James Cates, a civil rights advocate, in "The Pit."

The announcement came after years of community initiative to honor Cates and bring attention to racially motivated violence.

Cates was 22 years old when he was stabbed to death by members of a White supremacist biker gang near the student union.

He was not a student at UNC but was from Chapel Hill.