It took a year longer because of the pandemic, but I am now a published author! Back in spring 2019, I applied for and was awarded a summer research fellowship with Furman’s Special Collections and Archives. For my project, I investigated whether anti-Semitism played a decisive role in Carroll A. Campbell Jr.’s victory over Max Heller in the 1978 election for South Carolina’s Fourth Congressional District. For ten weeks, I sifted through numerous letters, newspaper articles, campaign materials, and electoral statistics. In the end, I did not find any evidence to substantiate the anti-Semitism allegations, which overshadowed the real issues of the election and the components of Campbell’s campaign strategy. With the help of my advisor, Steve O’Neill, I prepared and submitted a paper with my findings to the Furman Humanities Review in spring 2020. When the editorial committee told me that my paper would not only be published, but had won the Meta E. Gilpatrick prize for best essay, I was ecstatic! Unfortunately, there was a long delay in printing due to COVID-19, but it was worth the wait. Dreams really do come true!
