Why Document this Project?
This is story created for my Video and Graphic Information Gathering Class in the Media and Journalism school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Our assigned theme to explore was North Carolina, and I chose to investigate and portray how the most recent protests and boycotts at UNC concerning Silent Sam are affecting current students.
My attempt to get a holistic view of how the protests were impacting students led me to interview one student pursuing a degree in journalism, Adam, and one student activist, Mia. Mia’s outlook tells how student activists now have an opportunity to stand up for what they believe in with an issue right in their backyard. Mia noted that a lot of historical social movements begin on college campuses, since young people are encouraged to find their voices and passions at institutions like Carolina. Adam’s perspective shows how other students are using the events to curate information and their feelings to remember this part of history without necessarily being directly involved in the sometimes dangerous action. UNC’s journalism school teaches unbiased journalism, so many students have respectfully acknowledged the protests as a part of history to observe and record.
For three weeks this semester, I toted around my camera and walked by the statue about four times a day en route to and from classes to gather footage. I browsed Facebook for student events to attend surrounding the statue and explored campus for visible signs of the protest and boycott. And I was not disappointed.
I chose to tell this story because I find it fascinating the different ways students have become involved with this issue and how much information is actually known or not known about the history of Silent Sam. To learn about what I discovered from students, check out the video or to learn more about the statue check out the infographic.