''Inquisition v. City of Charlotte'' was a landmark First Amendment decision.
''The Inquisition'' was an
underground newspaper produced by
East Mecklenburg High School students and their various contributors bi-monthly in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...
from April 1968 to late 1969.
Background
''The Inquisition'' was an
underground newspaper produced by high school students—mostly attending
East Mecklenburg High School—and their various friends bi-monthly in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...
from April 1968 to late 1969. ''Inquisition'' was the first
Underground Press Syndicate member from the U.S. South and a member of
Liberation News Service. Copies of ''Inquisition'' can be found in 15 university libraries.
After a first issue of only 81, the magazine went to 450 then doubled again by the third issue. By its final issues, the newspaper inspired emotional rejections by parents and became an underground icon for teens.
''Inquisition'' reporters are rumored to have taped one of Jimi Hendrix's last concerts for issue #3.
Superior Court case
The paper was the subject of a landmark First Amendment case, "Inquisition vs City of Charlotte", pitting freedom of the press against a city zoning ordinance from March - May, 1969. The case, which was partially decided by placing the sound of the paper's small printer against the sound of a power mower, was found in favor of ''Inquisition''.
Revisiting
''Inquisition'' was revisited by way of an interview with two founders, Russell Schwarz and Lynwood Sawyer, with scholar Suzanne Sink and host Michael Collins on
WFAE
WFAE (90.7 MHz) is a non-commercial public radio station in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is the main NPR news and information member in the Charlotte region. The station's main studios and offices are at One University Place in the Universit ...
's Charlotte Talks on November 10, 2010, and rebroadcast on January 16, 2012.
''Inquisitions story was featured in a retrospective on the year 1968 in ''Charlotte Magazine'' September 2013.
See also
*
List of underground newspapers of the 1960s counterculture
References
External links
Dunbar, Hanson. High School Organizing Has Its Faults: Former Underground Editor. Page 7. Daily Tar Heel. October 3, 1969.Holding in the North Carolina Collection at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill* Encyclopedia of Journalism By D. Charles Whitney, Christopher H. Sterling "Alternative and Underground Newspapers" Volume 1, Page 81.
The ''Inquisition''- Charlotte Talks. WFAE Radio. Recorded interview by Mike Collins with ''Inquisition'' editors Russell Schwarz and Lynwood Sawyer and researcher Suzanne Sink. November 10, 2010. Link includes audio, images of the paper, Sink's research paper on the zoning case and references to the Jimi Hendrix recordings.
Sink, Suzanne. Fueling the Southern underground Movement, mss 434, Special Collections, J. Murrey Atkins Library, University of North Carolina at CharlotteSouthern Underground Press: The Project to Archive and Rebuild the Communities of The Southern Underground Press (website)
Student newspapers published in North Carolina
Underground press
Student rights case law in the United States
United States children's rights case law
United States Free Speech Clause case law
1969 in United States case law
High school newspapers published in the United States
1968 in education
Legal history of North Carolina
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