Three scholars have been recognized for their contributions to advancing social justice at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and within the local community.

Greear Webb ’23 received the inaugural John Lewis Student Activist Award from the Triangle Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee

The award, presented virtually on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, honors the life and legacy of the late Congressman John Lewis by recognizing a North Carolina resident’s impact on social justice activism.

Greear is the co-founder of Young Americans Protest (YAP!) and the NC Town Hall. The scholar serves on the Commission on Campus Equality and Student Equity, as co-chair of the political action committee for the Black Student Movement (BSM) at UNC-Chapel Hill, and as an organizer for the Raleigh Demands Justice Coalition.

During summer 2020, he participated as a Voter Mobilization Ambassador in Making Caring Common, a program administered through Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. Learn more about Greear.

MLK UNC Student Scholarship

Aneesha Tucker ’22 of Charlotte has received the annual MLK UNC Student Scholarship alongside finalists Melanie Godinez-Cedillo ’22 of Weaverville, North Carolina, and Amy Lo of Cleveland, Ohio.

The MLK, Jr. Scholarship Committee recognizes individuals who demonstrate a “commitment to civil and human rights and their desire to improve the quality of life of all members of the University community,” according to the University Office for Diversity and Inclusion’s website. Nominees are also judged on academic achievements.

More about Aneesha

Aneesha is a double major in health policy and management and women’s and gender studies. As a youth education assistant at the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, the scholar facilitates a consent and sexual education class for K–12 students. Aneesha is also a member of the Black Youth Project (Durham chapter) and Durham Beyond Policing.

The scholar said advancing toward justice requires “the knowledge and determination of those who know its past, present, and future.”

“When we work within the community, we embark on a journey of not only taking back our personhood and demanding people see it, but of seeing it within ourselves,” said Aneesha, a Humanities Futures Fellow.

The scholar’s involvements also include serving as policy chair of UNC’s Criminal Justice Awareness and Action initiative and interning at Emancipate North Carolina, an organization dedicated to dismantling structural racism and mass incarceration across North Carolina.

More about Melanie

Melanie is a team lead for the Community Empowerment Fund and the co-director of outreach for Mi Pueblo, the largest Latinx organization at Carolina. Melanie established Mi Pueblo’s first mentoring program, Amigx, and has recruited more than 50 Latinx juniors and seniors to participate as mentors for first-year students. She is also a scholar representative on the Morehead-Cain Scholarship Fund Board.

The virtual award ceremony held on January 26 included an interview with Patrisse Cullors, co-founder and executive director of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Ruth Samuel ’21, a media and journalism major in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, moderated the discussion.