The Different Stories of Charles Scott | Undergraduate Honors Thesis
Spring 2014 | Thesis adviser: Barbara Friedman | Honors level: With Highest Honors
The Different Stories of Charles Scott: the Newspaper Coverage of the First Black Scholarship Athlete to Attend the University of North Carolina
by Hannah Lebowitz '14
The newspaper coverage about the desegregation of college sports provides a perspective on race and society at this time in history. This honor’s thesis discusses how the News and Observer, Daily Tar Heel and Carolina Times covered Charles Scott, the first black scholarship athlete at the University of North Carolina, during his college basketball career from 1966 to 1970. It reveals that a different emphasis was placed on Scott as an athlete, student, community leader and Olympian in the three newspapers’ coverage. The way Scott was covered in the newspapers appears to reflect the social and political climate of the time, and also provides insight about the way in which articles in each newspaper addressed race and integration. This research is also indicative of how newspaper coverage on the same subject differs depending on the perspective the paper, the audience they serve and the view of the author of the story.
—
Many Honors Carolina students cap their undergraduate experience with a Senior Honors Thesis, partnering with a faculty mentor to develop original research or creative work. Students who successfully defend their thesis before a faculty review panel graduate with Honors or Highest Honors. Each year, approximately 350 students complete a Senior Honors Thesis. For many of those students, the thesis becomes a first publication or an important part of their application to graduate or professional school. Students who wish to undertake a Senior Honors Thesis project must have a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher. Academic departments may set higher thresholds for course work within students’ major field of study.
All Senior Honors Theses can be found in the Carolina Digital Repository (CDR).