TECHNICIAN
‘The Southern Worker:’ An old voice rediscovered Katie Sanders Deputy Features Editor
Staff Writer
11 2013
Premium dropped for online courses Taylor O’Quinn Staff Writer
JOANNAH IRVIN/TECHNICIAN
Dick Reavis, an associate professor of English, rediscovered and indexed all but two issues of the anti-racist 1930s newspaper The Southern Worker. It is now available online.
know there was anybody like us,” Reavis said. “But this newspaper says, ‘Oh yes. You had ancestors. You represent a lineage….’ I looked at it and I said, ‘Gee, there’s nothing new under the sun, it’s just in the ‘30s they got beat.’” The Southern Worker was published by the Communist Party in Chattanooga, Tenn., but its readership covered the whole South, including North Carolina. The paper shone a spotlight on lynchings or trials in which race was a determining factor no matter where they took place. The Southern Worker was illegal – not because it was published by the Communist Party, but because
of its stand on racial equality. Its writers and readers therefore had to take precautions. For example, the front page claims it was published in Birmingham, Ala., instead of Tennessee, and its editor Solomon Auerbach wrote under th e pseudonym James S. Allen. “It stunned me,” Reavis said. “It brought up all the questions from the right of black people to serve on juries to racial intermarriage. It didn’t blink at anything.” The newspaper even referred to groups of white Southerners who were engaged in the fight for equality. “You look at The Southern Worker and you find out that not only were
there blacks, but there were whites in the ‘30s that opposed Jim Crow. And you know, if I had to pick a set of grandparents, it would be them,” Reavis said. Reavis also began to pull other newspapers from the day to compare the events reported and check The Southern Worker’s accuracy. “I found that The Southern Worker didn’t distort the facts,” Reavis said. “It had ordinary concerns. It was not that ideological.” This was a surprise, as other Communist papers, like The Daily Worker, regularly published heavily slanted propaganda.
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Working out New Year’s resolutions Sara Awad
january
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
When Dick Reavis, now an associate professor of English at N.C. State, was working with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, he thought he and his fellow organizers were the first people in history to fight for equal opportunity. Now, however, he has come across a forgotten four-page tabloid newspaper called The Southern Worker that proves there were people fighting for racial equality in the South as long ago as the 1930s. In 1965 and 1966 Reavis was a voter registration worker in Marengo County, Ala. At that time African Americans were only allowed to vote if they could pass a literacy test. Moreover, these tests were only given one Tuesday a month, only about 20 applicants could try a day, and very few people passed. Reavis worked to prove that it was unreasonably difficult for a black person to register to vote, among other things. “The problem is they were trying to arrest us all the time we were doing this,” Reavis said. “I ended up going to jail, I believe, six times, six or seven, on charges like vagrancy or disturbing the peace. And at one point I was sentenced to six months of hard labor.” Reavis found a reference to The Southern Worker a few years ago in the footnote of a book, Hammer and Hoe by Robin Kelley and, after reading a microfilm copy of the publication in the library, immediately connected with it. Even though it was written and published in the 1930s, every issue argued for racial equality. “Those of us who were integrationists from the South thought that we were freaks and accepted that critique, because we didn’t
friday
It has been a semester since the University dropped the extra charge for online courses, and some teachers say the work ethic of students enrolled in these classes disappeared with the fee. The University dropped the premium for taking an online course for full-time, degreeseeking students in the fall semester of 2012. Since then, the grade distributions for many online courses have been more varied than they were previously. Melissa Hart, a finance lecturer for the Poole College of Management, teaches two live courses and two online courses. According to Hart, students believe online courses will be easier than live courses, but she warns this is not always the case. “It’s much easier to go to class than to tell yourself to make time for an online course,” Hart said. Hart said she noticed a change in the planning process of her distance education students. According to Hart, more students missed homework assignments than they did before the cost drop was implemented. Hart said she thinks the grade distribution for online courses will even out eventually when students become more aware of what a distance education class really is all about. Hart encourages students to consider the costs and the benefits of taking an online course before signing up for such a class. Hart said though there is not a monetary cost, students should view the additional time management associated with online courses as a cost. “I encourage students to try one distance education course at a time,” Hart said. “Don’t try to jump into it all at once.” William Johnson, a
NEW FITNESS CLASSES
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TRX Strech: a stretch class for suspension training designed for those students who need a warm-up or cool-down Double Trouble: a boot camp workout taught by two male instructors PiYo: a fusion of Pilates and yoga Strength in Motion: a strength building class
Students heading to Carmichael • Gym this January might find their usual treadmill taken. • After nearly a month at home, • many students return to campus with a few unwanted pounds and SOURCE: UNIVERSITY RECREATION New Year’s resolutions to go with them, which makes January the busiest month for the gym. However, last year’s renovation to the Car- their classes. Several group fitness michael Complex should ease the classes are filled, and 250 people attransition by providing additional tended the first day of fitness classes, space for the additional patrons. Strickland said. University Recreation Fitness As“[January] has definitely been sistant Director Natalie Freeland chaotic. I like the rush, and I think said the entrance to Carmichael everybody loves the high population Gym is now more “cosmetically in fitness classes,” Strickland said. pleasing” and has new cardio and According to Strickland, the strength equipment to shorten the crowd begins to die down after two lines that had been forming outside weeks, at which point she is able to the door of the old facility. see who her “regulars” will be. “Some people The stress that only go to the Recaccompanies an inreation Center and creased flow of trafnow they have the fic to the gym has opportunity to see caused problems, bot h faci lities,” like compact disc Freeland said. “I players not funcam excited students tioning properly, are coming out but there is always to the gym, and I someone there to Natalie Freeland, University want people to lead help, Strick land Recreation assistant director healthy and active said. lifestyles during all “During t hese times of the year.” busy times, we always make sure the Patrons are not the only people staff is ready to go with easy-to-use excited to hit the gym in January. procedures,” Strickland said. Fitness instructor and junior in “Many new classes are also being nutrition science Kaitlyn Strick- offered this semester, like Turbo land said many fitness instructors Kick. Group fitness classes are a are motivated by the new interest in great place to start for those looking
“I want people to lead healthy and active lifestyles during all times of the year.”
ONLINE continued page 7
insidetechnician
One change toward student health See page 6. CAIDE WOOTEN/TECHNICIAN
Students play a pick-up game of basketball Thursday afternoon at the Carmichael Complex. January is the busiest month for Carmichael Complex due to New Year’s resolutions.
to complete their New Year’s resolutions,” Strickland said. According to Freeland, there are also more than 120 pieces of group exercise equipment for students to use at their leisure. “I like group fitness because you’re working out with people, it’s just more lively, you laugh, we make fun of each other, encourage each other and motivate each other,” Strickland said. “It’s like a social thing, you get out and make friends,” Strickland said. According to Strickland, many students don’t know what they are doing the first day of class, and those who continue trying to come to class are the ones who are successful. Personal training is another popular activity for gym-goers. There
are 13 trainers on staff to assist students with their physical needs, Freeland said. Students also tend to take advantage of club sports, outdoor adventures, the bike rental program and the rock wall. Peak times at the Carmichael Complex include weekday mornings before classes, lunchtime and any time after 4 p.m. According to Freeland, more classes are offered in the afternoon to accommodate for the increased influx of students. While no classes are offered on Saturdays due to low demand, Sunday nights are typically popular with students, Freeland said. “You want as many people to partake in activities because you want to see those changes within people,” Strickland said. “That’s why we’re here.”
Ke$ha defeats the sophomore slump like a warrior See page 7.
Women fall to Chapel Hill See page 8.
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