Much of what Carson’s poem calls out in the administration references people whose lives are being researched by Call My Name, such as the enslaved at Fort Hill, the sharecroppers under Duff Calhoun and Thomas Green Clemson, and the convicted laborers, even mentioning 13-year-old Wade Foster in particular. In addition to calling out Clemson through poetry, Carson also became a key figure in organizing protests on campus, even getting arrested along with four undergraduates during the Sikes Sit-In. In 2017, he completed his PhD with his hip-hop album dissertation titled “Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions.” He is currently an assistant professor of Hip-Hop and the Global South at the University of Virginia, a position he has held since 2017.

Before Carson attended Clemson, another student named Whitney Anderson came to Clemson as an undergraduate in 2007 and graduated in 2011 with a degree in communications studies. During her time at Clemson, she produced a two-part documentary titled Eyes of the Tiger: A Story of Racial Diversity, highlighting the achievements and lives of Black men and women, many of whose lived experiences are glossed over by the University’s public history in favor of highlighting the school’s achievements instead. Her work helped raise awareness of the ways in which Clemson’s past is misrepresented in favor of presenting a seamless, often whitewashed narrative. Her work also explores instances of racism on the part of white students in the past, particularly the blackface party that was held just before she arrived on campus, prompting the creation of Clemson’s Black Student Union. Many instances of racism similar to this one have occurred over the years, with yearbook photos testifying to derogatory passages berating Black mess hall workers as early as the 1930s, Tigerama’s Homecoming skits performed in blackface in the 1960s, and more recently, the infamous “Cripmas” party in 2015, where white students mockingly appropriated symbols of hip-hop culture, wearing handcuffs and making gang signs while dressed in shirts with rappers’ images imprinted on them at a fraternity party hosted by the Clemson chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Events like this are unfortunately not uncommon throughout Clemson’s history, and they have often sparked protests in response.