Shanelle Matthews

She had barely slept or eaten or even thought about anything but chartering two buses, organizing more than 100 LSU students and preparing for a rally to draw national attention. On the way to Jena, the buses she rented out-of-pocket stopped in Alexandria. Feeling weak and dizzy, she stepped out into the humid air and fainted.

Then, when she and her friends arrived sweaty and loud in tiny Jena, waving signs, chanting, “No justice! No peace! No racist beliefs!” and rushing through thousands, she watched the Rev. Al Sharpton step out of a limousine.

“That showed irrationality on his part,” she says. “I would have really liked to see him on a bus. Michael Baisden rode a bus. I mean, what are you thinking? Grab some humility from somewhere.”

The always-outspoken Matthews studied at LSU to immerse herself in the historical significance of the South. She says she found a place where the racial divide was greater than anything she had witnessed in California.

In Baton Rouge she quickly threw her energies into everything from the NAACP to Planned Parenthood to marching with Collins Phillips against purple and gold Confederate flags.

Social activist, recent LSU graduate

Hometown: Los Angeles

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In Jena, CNN wired Matthews for the day and interviewed her about the rally. “It was empowering,” she says. “To see young black people fighting the stereotype and being active and engaged.”

After serving as vice president of Women Organizing Women and Conscious Black Society, the activist and recent LSU alumna moves to New York City this month for a graduate program in journalism at NYU. She hopes to remain focused on social issues and work on documentaries.

“The LSU administration is ready for me to leave,” she says. “I hope the movement will continue. My freedom to assemble is the most important thing to me. I really take the first amendment to heart.”

“She is very persistent in giving a voice to those on the margins. I think she will continue to be a leader in the area of civil rights, human rights and social justice.” —Dr. Katrice Albert, LSU vice provost for Equity, Diversity & Community Outreach