The Daily Tar Heel

Serving the students and the University community since 1893

Thursday March 30th

Elevate: Amplifying voices in our community

Elevate is here to do exactly what it says — to give a platform to those whose voices are often silenced. This is a page to celebrate and uplift the underrepresented communities that make up Chapel Hill, who contribute to our culture and daily lives in ways that are often not reported. Elevate adds depth to stories across campus, the town and Orange County.


The page is in part put together and reported by members of the Sharif Durhams Leadership Program, a talent and leadership development course for DTH students from underrepresented groups. Elevate accepts pitches throughout the year for op-eds and letters from members of different groups in our community. Please send submissions to elevate@dailytarheel.com.



Charlie Scott is pictured during the 1968 men's basketball season. Photos from DTH Archives. 

Q&A: Charlie Scott recounts time at UNC as school's first Black scholarship athlete

Assistant Sports Editor Lucas Thomae caught up with Charlie Scott over the phone to discuss his time at UNC. In 1966, the Hall of Famer became the first Black scholarship athlete at North Carolina as a part of the men's basketball team.  He led UNC to back-to-back Final Four appearances in 1968 and 1969, and helped the U.S. take home the gold medal in basketball at the 1968 Olympics.

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Diamond Heels reflect dwindling diversity in collegiate baseball

It’s not where UNC recruits from, but how they recruit, that makes a world of difference. Matt Andrews, a UNC history professor whose research specializes in sports and American culture, said baseball is a “suburban sport." In the past decade, 35 percent of the UNC baseball players recruited in-state have come from the Charlotte metropolitan area. The Greensboro-High Point area is the second-most popular in-state hotbed, and the Raleigh area follows in third.

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A student views the art displayed at the Black History Art Gallery Exhibition in the Carolina Union, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023.

Art gallery celebrating Black History Month opens on UNC's campus

The grand opening of the Student Life and Leadership’s Black History Month Art Gallery Exhibition was held on Friday in the Carolina Union Art Gallery. The exhibition came after the SLL held a Black History Month Art Contest, which encouraged students to submit pottery, photography, digitals, painted works or poetry for the chance to be featured in the gallery. 

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UNC senior computer science major Rida Bayraktar, first-year neuroscience major Mina Bayraktar first-year Huss Kamal, and Alyse Bayraktar, 13 years old from Cary, are pictured on National Hijab Day on Feb. 1, 2023.

'It's a part of me that nobody can change': MSA celebrates World Hijab Day

Wednesday, Feb. 1, was World Hijab Day, an international holiday to raise awareness and celebrate Muslim hijabi women.  The UNC Muslim Students Association set up a tent in the quad to commemorate the day. “World Hijab Day is not one day, ‘Let's do it and then call it a day,’" Rida Bayraktar, UNC Muslim Student Association vice president, said. “It’s actually a continuous process about raising awareness about hijabi Muslim women and then carrying respect and understanding towards them.”

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Chapel Hill’s new poet Laureate, Cortland Gilliam poses in from of George Moses Horton Residence Hall on Wednesday, January 18, 2023.

Cortland Gilliam, Chapel Hill's new poet laureate, hopes to give back and uplift

Chapel Hill's new poet laureate Cortland Gilliam recently began in his position, and he hopes to amplify suppressed voices and educate young members of the community. Gilliam's objectives as poet laureate include highlighting the voices of marginalized people and honoring the local community that has supported him through his time as a graduate student and doctoral candidate at UNC.

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Cornell Watson, the photographer behind "Tarred Healing," poses for a portrait in his Durham office on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. "Tarred Healing" is a photo story reflecting on Black history in Chapel Hill and at UNC. 

'Tarred Healing' debuts at National Civil Rights Museum nearly a year after UNC pulled the display

Almost a year "Tarred Healing" was pulled from display at the University, Cornell Watson's photo project debuted at National Civil Rights Museum.  The exhibit features Black history in Chapel Hill, with photographs of places on UNC's campus that are relevant to the University's racial past.   “When you do things the right way, when you are connected with the community that you are creating something about, they will stand behind you in those turbulent times,” Watson said. “It was really gratifying to have the Black community of Chapel Hill stand behind this and really kind of become family.”

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Brielle Wright, co-owner of The Farmers B.A.G., photographed on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023.

NC farmers aim to make agriculture inclusive for underrepresented communities

Though a third of North Carolina's rural population is comprised of people of color, over 95 percent of North Carolina's agricultural producers are white.  Several organizations and independent farmers in the state are working to make agriculture a more inclusive environment.  “(There is) a misconception that agriculture is only farming, plows, cows, sows and things of that nature, and not aware of the many careers that are available in the agriculture area, that’s the gap,” Paula E. Faulkner, co-director of the MEA Center, said.

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