The Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail
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Asheville's Black Newspapers
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The Flood of 1916

The Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail, also, Asheville's Black Newspapers, also, The Flood of 1916. . , The Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail , Dignity, Humanity, and Agency , Did you know that Black people helped create this region's first non-indigenous households? Did you know that Black people helped build Asheville and connected Asheville globally? Black entrepreneurs created thriving business districts. Black families cultivated close-knit neighborhoods. Black people from all backgrounds built resilience communities and fostered social change., Explore the rich Black cultural heritage throughout the three sections of this trail: Downtown, Southside, and the River Area., Trail History , In 2010, residents of Asheville's historically Black East End neighborhood proposed a trail to celebrate Black cultural heritage. River Front Development Group, a Black community development non-profit founded in Asheville in 1996, committed to achieving this project. River Front Development Group focused on co-creating and sharing narratives of often overlooked Black Ashevillians. This trail celebrates the dignity, humanity and agency of Black people. Community input on this project has been provided through the Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail Committee., Asheville's Black Newspapers , From the Colored Enterprise to the Urban News , For centuries, White-owned newspapers were the only published source of news and opinions in the United States. White journalists often encouraged violence toward free and enslaved Black people, including lynchings. Following emancipation, White newspapers often called for the seizure of Black wealth and property., America's first Black newspaper, Freedom's Journal, published in 1827, reported on Black civic and business life. It also advocated for Black people's rights. Asheville's Colored Enterprise, published by Thomas Leatherwood, featured news and opinions by and for Black readers. Black-owned newspapers in Asheville included The Church Advocate, Freedom's Advocate, The Southern News, The Southland Advocate, and The West Asheville News., Journalist Johnnie Grant keeps Black journalism's traditions alive in Asheville. Upon learning that The Asheville Advocate would stop publishing, she decided to launch her own newspaper, The Urban News, in 2005. Ms. Grant is the owner and publisher., (captions) , 1897: The Colored Enterprise was one of the earliest black-owned newspapers in Western North Carolina. In 2015, The December 18, 1897 edition of the paper was discovered in a time capsule that had been placed beneath the Vance Monument. It is preserved by the Western North Carolina Regional Archives.Courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina, 1902: Before 1865, Black people across the South were prohibited by law from reading and writing. Photographer John Tolbert shows an older Black gentleman in Asheville reading a book about John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (ca.1902). Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville North Carolina, 1940: This advertisement from The Southern News (ca. 1940) published in Asheville highlights Young's Gift Shop on South Market Street, part of the historically Black downtown district called The Block., Top:The Southern News Office located in the Campbell Building at 38 South Market Street (1938). D. Hiden Ramsey Library. Special Collections, University of North Carolina, Asheville, Asheville, NC, The Flood of 1916 , In July 1916, hurricanes dropped more rainfall in Western North Carolina than had ever been measured in the United States. The French Broad River overflowed its banks here by more than 20 feet., Flooding and landslides buried hundreds of homes and businesses in Asheville. The Citizens Relief Committee sheltered White residents. Black churches, schools, and volunteers from nearby Swannanoa and Chunn's Cove communities aided Black residents., Matthew Bacoate, Jr., Integrator and Entrepreneur , Asheville native Matthew Bacoate, Jr., operated the first Black-owned manufacturing companies in Western North Carolina in the 1960s and 1970s. They manufactured personal protective equipment for medical and scientific use. Mr. Bacoate counseled Presidents Nixon and Carter on Black entrepreneurship. Mr. Bacoate was also the first Black man hired in a professional role at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. He helped integrate an Asheville bowling alley and the Asheville Municipal Golf Course., (captions) , 1916: This photograph shows the Broad's devastating effect on the Black neighborhood Southside. Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina, Top: AFRAM, Inc., was Asheville's first black-owned and operated manufacturing company. AFRAM is a portmanteau word created by combining the words African and American. This photo shows the 129 Roberta Street entrance to AFRAM. It was located in the historical six-story fireproof warehouse built by the Farmer's Federation Cooperative in 1915 to store produce and crops for sale. Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina, , [Note 1916 and 2023 captions were blurred in the photo]