North Carolina

Trapped on the Surface

In the past decade, the Cape Fear River has become more susceptible to algal blooms — a potential public health concern for more than 1.5 million people relying on the river as a drinking water source. UNC researcher Nathan Hall thinks droughts and slow flows are the culprit, and aims to predict when future blooms will occur.

A History Suppressed

A dark time in our nation’s history, the period between the end of post-Civil War Reconstruction and 1950 saw thousands of African Americans murdered via lynching – predominantly in the South. Two UNC professors hope to honor these individuals by uncovering injustices that, for decades, have been systematically erased from public memory.

Growth from the Ground Up

A Robeson County tortilla manufacturer is ready to increase his production from 25,000 pounds of tortillas a week to 120,000 pounds. UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA student Ben Holmes is helping him do just that — through NCGrowth, an affiliate of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise.

Proving Innocence: Lessons from The Wilmington Ten

In 1971, as civil rights battles raged across the South, 10 young men and women fought for fair treatment within Wilmington, North Carolina’s newly desegregated schools. UNC historian Kenneth Janken shares their story in his new book, “The Wilmington Ten: Violence, Injustice, and the Rise of Black Politics in the 1970s.”