A Free Press Must Prevail

This chapter covers the growth, development, and challenges facing UNC in the last decades of the 20th century, and the pressures on the student newspaper, both financially and ideologically. The Daily Tar Heel came under constant fire for being too politically left, or liberal, even though there were some more conservative editors and columnists. Attempts were made to defund the paper, and/or shut it down, including two lawsuits. The growing conservatism of the student body is covered, along with the rise of the New Right nationally. The Black Student Movement, the Women’s Movement, and the Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement (later LGBTQ) are topics debated heavily on campus and in the student newspaper. Importance of basketball is discussed, as the UNC tem becomes a national power. As the paper turns 100 years old, a plan is developed to again take it off-campus as a private non-profit organization.

This Woman's Work

This Woman’s Work: The Writing and Activism of Bebe Moore Campbell is a social history and critical biography based on the life of award-winning writer Bebe Moore Campbell. This manuscript examines Bebe Moore Campbell’s life and activism in two periods: first, as a student at the University of Pittsburgh during the 1960s Black Student Movement; and second, as a mental health advocate near the end of her life in 2006. Primarily known as a bestselling novelist, Campbell’s first and final novels, Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine (1992) and 72 Hour Hold (2005) reveal a direct relationship to her lesser-known activist work. As a writer and activist, Bebe Moore Campbell used frame shifting within each of her works. Her writing thus becomes a powerful vehicle through which subject matter is enlivened and expanded, immersing her readers in relevant historical and sociopolitical phenomena. As a novelist, Bebe Moore Campbell utilized recurring signature themes within each novel to theorize and to connect popular audiences with African American historical memory and current sociopolitical issues. Similarly, Campbell’s bridge leadership, charismatic personality, and writing merge within two social movement organizations as she aids in significant grassroots/local and institutional change.