New Research Reveals New Information:

Asheville’s First Public Schools For Blacks For more than a year, I have collected every newspaper article on the Beaumont … More

A Most Exceptional Man: The Conclusion of the Edward S. Stephens Story

The first two posts in this series traced Edward Stephens’s career from St. Louis to Asheville to Topeka.  We saw … More

A Most Exceptional Man: The Edward S. Stephens Story (Part Two)

In Part One we focused on Stephens’s work as a principal and teacher in the Asheville City Schools and as … More

A Most Exceptional Man: Edward S. Stephens (Part One)

This post begins the two-part story of Edward Stephens and his work in Asheville and other cities.  Although Stephens wasn’t … More

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 … More

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 … More

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 … More

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 … More

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 … More