The sixties and seventies were a time of great cultural, social, and political change in the United States. Events including civil rights demonstrations, anti-war protests, environmental movements, and gender rights sparked activism among students and young people across the country. In order for American youth to mobilize, they turned to alternative media outlets to disseminate information about their causes. "The Great Speckled Bird" (commonly referred to as "The Bird") was an example of such an alternative newspaper that was published in Atlanta, Georgia from 1968-1976 and reported on student and youth activism concerning the Vietnam War, LGBTQ issues, race, environmental matters, and corporate and political corruption. "The Bird" serves as an important historical record of student activism in Atlanta and the Southeast during the sixties and seventies. Through examination of the Georgia State University Labor Archive's digitized collection of "The Bird" and oral history interviews with paper founders and staffers, the purpose of this research is to analyze how articles in "The Great Speckled Bird" serve as a historiographical record of student and youth activism in Atlanta, Georgia and the Southeast during its publication run from 1968-1976 and examine how matters concerning free speech in mainstream and alternative publications still bear relevancy to twenty-first century American education with regard student activism, the First Amendment, and curricular goals of discerning the reliability of print and online content.