The Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail

The Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail. Asheville Elects Freedman Newton Shepard/Graduates of the Allen School. , (panel 1) , The Asheville Black Cultural 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 resilient communities and fostered social change. , Explore the rich Black cultural heritage of Asheville 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 nonprofit 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 Ashevillans. 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., (panel 2) , Asheville Elects Freedman Newton Shepard , 1892 and 1893 , Established in 1865, the Freedmen's Bureau aided in integrating African Americans legally and safely into society. The Bureau had a military presence, offered voter registration, certification of marriages, and other acts of citizenship. , Born into slavery in 1841, Newton Shepard became the first Black person to win an election in Asheville in 1882. In 1883, newspapers reported that voters re-elected Shepard to a second 12-month term. Mr. Shepard was reported to have voted to invest in infrastructure and for hotel development. Upon his death in 1924, a notice reported his past service as an Alderman. It would be 86 years before residents elected another Black leader. Ruben Dailey was elected to City Council in 1969. By then, the local paper of record had forgotten about Mr. Shepard. This marker is the first to celebrate Shepard's achievement., TOP: African Americans register to vote in Asheville, Harper's Weekly, Sept. 28, 1867. Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina, (panel 3) , Graduates of the Allen School , Advancing Civil Rights, Arts, and Science , After the end of the Civil War, there was a national movement to create schools for Black students. The Allen School was founded in 1887 to offer basic education classes for girls, boys, and adults. The Allen School later became a girls boarding school., The Allen School produced nationally and internationally recognized women including Nina Simone, singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist, and Dr. Christine Darden, one of the first Black female aerospace engineers for NASA. In 1961, teenage activists Oralene Simmons of Stephens-Lee High School and Viola Spells of the Allen School successfully petitioned to desegregate a public library. Many students in Asheville participated in further integration efforts around the city through the Asheville Student Committee on Racial Equality (ASCORE). The school closed in 1974., TOP: A cooking cass at The Allen Industrial School, (ca. 1915-1930). Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina