Flashes of Brilliance: Few Outlasted
For decades,
many stu-
dent peri-
odicals, including
The Daily Tar
Heel, the year-
books and various
literary and politi-
cal magazines,
have regularly
included cartoons
and humorous
articles. The fol-
lowing devoted
themselves to
humor — or at
least to what
passed for it in
their day. With the
exception of the
Carolina Buccaneer,
there’s little evi-
dence of continu-
ity from class to
class.
1846
Literary Trumpet
A one-time “extra” to
what apparently was a
short-lived literary pub-
lication, this handwrit-
ten sheet contains short
essays and jokes, most of
them exceptionally lame
by today’s standards.
humor is so particular
to its time that it’s
incomprehensible
now.
1911-12 and 1919-21
Tar Baby
The first actual humor
magazine on campus,
Tar Baby by 1920 was
sold at newsstands
around the Southeast;
some of its material was
picked up by national
magazines. Racism was
rampant in its jokes and
drawings, and some
contemporary readers
and University authori-
ties considered its refer-
ences to sex indecent.
1940-42
Tar an’ Feathers
A glossy magazine that
a contemporary
described as “the first
attempt at tomfoolery
to be backed adequately
by financial appropria-
tion in hopes that riches
might make righteous-
ness.” It, too, ended up
accused of immorality,
and it didn’t last long.
1922-24
Carolina Boll Weevil
Created after Tar Baby
folded, this “new college
comic” also was accused
of degeneracy, though
what was risqué then
seems mild today: “John
asked Clara/to take/A
walk with him/And
pick flowers./But
Clara’s brother/Came
along/And so/They
picked flowers.”
1947-54
Tarnation
Filled with original
articles, cartoons and
photographs, Tarnation
was quite popular on
campus, but it died
when the Publications
Union Board shifted stu-
dent fees to a literary
quarterly, The Carolina
Magazine.
1924-40
Carolina Buccaneer
The longest running student humor magazine to
date, the Buccaneer was infamous for its run-ins with
campus authorities. “It libeled anybody and everybody and was pardoned,” said one commentator. In
1934, it was banned from campus, only to be resurrected, first as the Carolina Finjan and then under its
original name. The student council ordered the
November 1939 “Sex Issue” burned.
1925-29
The Yellow Journal
This satirical paper,
which its editors said
would “razz those men
who deserve to be
razzed,” took aim at
campus faculty, administrators and individual
students; much of its
1957-58
Ram and Ewe
Writers depicted
Carolina life through
such pieces as “Campus
Types”: The I’m-Here-
for-the-Ride Student
“flits through the halls
in his buckskin shoes
and never misses the
opportunity to pat coed
posteriors,” while The
Bohemian, of indetermi-
nate gender, sports a
shaggy mop of hair,
horn-rimmed glasses and
pale yellow egg stains
around its mouth.
