Join Buncombe County Special Collections for a reception to celebrate the completion of a mural honoring James Vester Miller, African American community leader and brick mason. Miller is responsible for some of the most iconic brick buildings in downtown Asheville, and undoubtedly shaped the built environment of the city. Born in Rutherfordton, NC in 1860,
As part of the community efforts to help raise local consciousness of racial history Buncombe County Special Collections, in partnership with Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County and the Equal Justice Initiative, is preparing to mount a permanent exhibit about racial terror violence in Buncombe County. The central focus of the exhibit is soil
This post concludes Zoe Rhine’s series on the occupations of Black Women in Asheville in 1890. Soon, BCSC will be looking for other community members to submit pieces to HeardTell. Be on the lookout for an announcement, soon! Read the previous installments of this series here:Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part
Over the next several weeks Buncombe County Special Collections will share five different posts by former Special Collections (NC Room) Librarian Zoe Rhine. Since “retiring” in January 2020, Zoe has continued to follow her research interests; investigating the lives of African Americans in the late 19th century. Do you have research or stories about Asheville
Over the next several weeks Buncombe County Special Collections will share five different posts by former Special Collections (NC Room) Librarian Zoe Rhine. Since “retiring” in January 2020, Zoe has continued to follow her research interests; investigating the lives of African Americans in the late 19th century. Do you have research or stories about Asheville
On September 29, 2021 the Buncombe County Library system celebrates the 60th anniversary of integration. The 828 Digital Archives for Historical Equity Project has been working closely with Buncombe County Special Collections to digitize documents from the Asheville-Buncombe Library Collection and research the history of segregation and integration in the libraries in order to commemorate
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
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
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