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Wednesday, January 08, 2020 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Education, Local History, Photograph Collection

Asheville’s First City Schools for Black Students, Part five: Builders of Black Schools (concluded)

This installment offers a look at the life and career of the fifth of the five original teachers at Asheville’s first black city school, Beaumont Street. We’ve saved one of the best teachers for last. We’ve also included information on the members of her family because of their prominence in Asheville and their connections to
African American EducationAmanda WalkerBeaumont SchoolBeaumont Street SchoolHester Walker Ford LeeJohn Wakefield WalkerSegregationWillie DodsonWillie Holt
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Saturday, January 04, 2020 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Houses, Local History

Confronting the Legacy of N.W. Woodfin: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

The Woodfin community, like many other Buncombe County communities is named for a man who enslaved human beings. If you’ve followed along in this series, you’ve probably recognized that to be a common theme among communities; they’re named for people of extravagant wealth. Wealth earned on the backs of enslaved black people. Indeed, our county
52 Weeks 52 CommunitiesAfrican AmericansAppalachiaBuncombe CountyBuncombe County HistoryCivil WarCommunity HistoryEducationenslaved peopleEnslavementlaborlawyersLocal HistoryNicholas WoodfinRailroadsSlaverySlavery in Buncombe CountyWoodfin
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Friday, December 27, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Asheville History, Local History, Photograph Collection

Southside: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

Henry Robinson wrote in 1992 about his childhood community of Southside–a mournful eulogy really, to a place that no longer exists–that the sprawling community “stretched over 400 acres from Biltmore Avenue westward to the French Broad River.” Robinson informs us today that it was “the largest residential area for African-Americans in Asheville and a melting
52 Weeks 52 CommunitiesAfrican American HistoryAfrican AmericansBrett SpiveyClaude ColemanCommunity HistoryGreen BookRabbit's Motel and RestaurantSoundSpaceSouthsideSouthside NeighborhoodSouthside RisingUrban Renewal
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Thursday, December 19, 2019 / Published in African Americans, Forgotten People, Local Heroes and Heroines, Local History, Photograph Collection

ASHEVILLE’S FIRST CITY SCHOOLS FOR BLACK STUDENTS, Part Four: Builders of Black Schools (Continued)

In our last post in this series on early black public schools, we looked at the lives and careers of Harrison B. Brown and Daniel Cato Suggs, two of the original five teachers who opened Beaumont School on January 9, 1888. This new post profiles two more of these teachers, Edward H. Lipscombe and Mary
African American early educationBeaumont SchoolBlack Education in AshevilleE. A. LlipscombeMary DicksonMary Dickson Harris
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Tuesday, December 17, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Friends of the NC Room, Local History

Swannanoa: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

I volunteered this week to create the post for Swannanoa in part because it has been my home for the majority of my life. I was educated in grades 1-12 in “the Valley” (as you will hear natives often call the community including Black Mountain and Ridgecrest). In the 20th century, Swannanoa was transformed by
BeaconBeacon BlanketsBuncombe CountyCharles D. OwenCommunity HistoryLocal HistoryManufacturingMill TownMill VillageRural HistorySwannanoaSwannanoa River
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Monday, December 02, 2019 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Education, Forgotten People, Local Heroes and Heroines, Local History, Photograph Collection

ASHEVILLE’S FIRST CITY SCHOOLS FOR BLACK STUDENTS, Part Three: Builders of Black Schools

The Creation of a Public School System for the City of Asheville, 1887-1888 Setting Up the System and Hiring the Teachers Asheville Times, July 29, 1887: “Graded School Carried: Asheville Keeps to the Front By a Very Close Squeeze” “We need not multiply words to express pleasure at the result of the election yesterday on
African American HistoryAfrican AmericansAppalachiaAshevilleAsheville City School CommitteeAsheville City Schools for blacksBeaumont SchoolBlack AshevilleBuildersBuncombe County HistoryContractorsCraftsmenD. C. SuggsDaniel Cato SuggsE.H. LipscombeEast EndEducationH. B. Brownisaac DicksonMary DicksonPrimary EducationSecondary EducationSegregated Education in AshevilleSouthside
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Friday, November 22, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Local History, Manuscript Collection, New Donations, Oral History

The only historical image of Shiloh? 52 Weeks, 52 Communities.

When I went searching our database for sources to write this edition of 52 Weeks, 52 Communities I had one thought when the results came back: “This cannot be it.” Alas, this seems to be the only historical image of the Shiloh Community in the North Carolina Collection here at Pack Memorial Library. This photo,
African American HistoryAfrican AmericansArchivesAshevilleBiltmoreBlack HistoryCollectionsequityHistory HarvestShiloh
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Saturday, November 02, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Asheville History, Forgotten People

Setting the Record Straight in Ramoth: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

Unlike most of the communities we’ve covered in this series, the community of Ramoth is in reality, no longer. Once a rather large, and even incorporated suburb of Asheville, most folks living in Buncombe County today have probably never heard of this North Asheville community. Indeed, at one time, Ramoth was so large, they intended
40th United States Colored Troops52 Weeks 52 CommunitiesA.M AlexanderAfrican American HistoryAppalachiaCivil WarCol. James T. Weaverenslaved peopleFlat CreekGeorge AveryJackson ParkKirkMontfordNorth AshevilleObituaryRamothReems CreekSlavesSpencer WeaverStonemanStoriesVeteransWeaverWeavervilleWoolsey
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Saturday, October 26, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Architecture, Buncombe County History, Forgotten People, Houses, Local History, Women

On a Staircase in Reems Creek: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

If you grew up in Buncombe County any time after 1960, chances are you took a trip either with your school or your parents to the Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace State Historic Site located in the Reems Creek community near Weaverville. The reconstruction of a late 18th, early 19th century mountain plantation has hosted thousands
52 Weeks 52 CommunitiesAndrew HemphillAppalachiaArchivesBee TreeBuncombe CountyCivil WarCommunity Historyenslaved peopleFarmingFederal Writers ProjectHemphillHistoric SiteslaborMountain MastersMountain PlantationMuseumsNC State Historic SitesOld FortPattonReems CreekReems Creek ValleyRicevilleSarah GudgerSlave DwellingSlave NarrativeSlavesSwannanoaWeavervilleZebulon Vance
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