Resources for learning about Asheville’s Black history

Black History Month is one point in a larger conversation that enable us to imagine and work toward a better future.

At Business Before Hours in February 2021, Dr. Darin Waters and Dr. Marcus Harvey talked about truth and history and the role they play in helping us build understanding. (Recording)

Black History Month grew out of the work of publisher and historian Carter G. Woodson. Woodson, whose work focused on highlighting Black experience and contributions, said, “A people without a history don’t have much of a future.”  In the 1920s, Woodson created Black History Week – a time to focus on Black history which has since grown into Black History Month.

“I find the month a little bit problematic because we use it in a celebratory way,” Dr. Waters said.

“One of the things I find striking and problematic is the way in which we are very intentionally invited to remember very specific figures and events,” Dr. Harvey said. “Like Martin Luther King, the March on Washington, the Civil Rights Movement. It’s reflective of how our memory of the African American past in this country has been shaped by factors that aren’t necessarily emanating from within the African American community. And, as a result Black History Month has become, for the most part, a superficial celebration of a curated African American past that is not necessarily reflective of the larger picture of African American history much of which is not particularly comfortable or celebratory in nature.”

Dr. Harvey presented this challenge as we think not only about history but also our current environment in this country: Who are we? And, who do we want to be?

So as we think about building understanding, here’s a list of resources to serve as a starting point to learn more about Black history in Asheville and surrounding areas.

Resources & Historical Information:

• African American History Month exhibits and collections from National Park Service, Library of Congress, Smithsonian
• Historic Photos in the Citizen-Times
• Dr. Waters speaks on The History of African American Education in Asheville
• Pack Library Special Collections HeardTell
  • https://packlibraryncroom.com/blackavlhistoryproject/ – includes oral histories
• Mapping Racial Equity in Asheville:
• The State of Black Asheville 
• About the African American Heritage Trail on BPR News
• UNC Asheville Special Collections: Heritage of Black Highlanders Collection
• Buncombe County Register of Deeds Slave Records
• Article on the Allen School
• Article on African American Healthcare Pioneers
• Restoring WNC’s Oldest Public African-American Cemetery
  •  Spirits in the Absence of Stones: Restoring Western North Carolina’s Oldest Public African American Cemetery

• Local nonprofits resurrect Asheville’s African-American history – article in Mountain Xpress

• Yoruba Life – directory of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) owned businesses

Organizations:

• YMI Cultural Center – The YMICC’s mission is to promote cultural preservation and elevate Black excellence through community engagement, advocacy, leadership development and economic justice.
• Hood Huggers
• African-American Heritage Commission
• North Carolina African American Heritage Commission
• Western North Carolina Historical Association

Media:

• Waters & Harvey Show
• The Urban News
• WRES 110.7 FM  – https://www.wresfm.com/avl_black_history.php

Programs:

• 16 Freedman’s Bureau and Reconstruction in Asheville hosted by Pack Library https://www.buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/library/branch-locations/pack-memorial.aspx?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D150684098
• Western North Carolina Historical Association – includes exhibit on When All God’s Children Get Together at the Smith-McDowell House Museum through March 2021

Know of another great resource on Asheville’s Black history? Please let us know! Email editor@ashevillechamber.org