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Black History Month Panel Shares Perspectives

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

The third African-American to earn a degree in journalism from UNC, Walter Jackson, class of 1967, often felt isolated as a student.

Speaking Saturday at a Black History Month panel discussion organized by the Carolina Athletics, Jackson recalled being able to easily count the number of African-American undergraduates on campus during his freshman year in 1963. Rarely would he be in a class with another African-American. And there wasn't a single African-American faculty member for three more years.

"It was a different world," said Jackson, who went on to serve in Vietnam before becoming the first African-American news reporter for the Durham Herald-Sun.