Press release from Western North Carolina Historical Association:
Join Warren Wilson College professors Jeff Keith and Kevin Kehrberg as they present public memories about slavery and the Jim Crow South through the story of the Swannanoa Tunnel and efforts to maintain the South Asheville Cemetery. While often associated with southern Appalachia, the “myth of racial innocence” is lost in the exclusive use of African American convict labor to build the Swannanoa Train Tunnel that connected the mountains of Western North Carolina to the NC Piedmont in the late 1870s. This tragic construction story is highlighted through the conversations as well as the music of the laborers.
In addition, an overview of the current community work to cultivate and protect the oldest public African American cemetery in WNC, the South Asheville Cemetery, will be developed. The South Asheville Cemetery is the final resting place for nearly two thousand people – many of them slaves.
You will not want to miss this program!
Saturday, April 14, 2018 from 2-3:30pm
Reuter Center on the campus of UNC AshevilleTickets sold at the door: $5.00 donation, WNCHA members free
Program sponsored by the Western North Carolina Historical Association
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