The African Americans in Western North Carolina and Southern Appalachia Conference will take place Oct. 18-20 in Asheville. The theme this year is “Making the invisible visible.”

The African Americans in Western North Carolina and Southern Appalachia Conference will take place Oct. 18-20 in Asheville. The theme this year is “Making the invisible visible.”
“Suddenly, we will have two monuments to consider: the steel lynching monument and Vance’s.”
” I think we should put out a request for proposals from artists and community members, and create a panel of local activists, artists and historians to assess them. Get the new equity manager involved. Something fitting and beautiful will come out of that.”
On Tuesday, July 25, Darin Waters will offer a lecture on the history of African-American education in Asheville and Western North Carolina as part of the Buncombe County Lunch and Learn Lecture Series, hosted by the county’s Department of Health and Human Services. The free event will run noon-1:30 p.m. at Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave. in Asheville.
The film’s world premiere is set for Thursday, June 22, at Blue Ridge Community College. Subsequent screenings will take place at the Fine Arts Theatre on Thursday, June 29, and at White Horse Black Mountain on Friday, June 30.
The event centered around a discussion of the “History of Civil Rights in WNC and the Current State of Racism Affecting Black Asheville,” and featured speeches by Darin Waters and Dwight Mullen, professors at UNC Asheville. Marvin Chambers, a founding member of the Asheville Student Committee on Racial Equality and a leader in North Carolina’s civil rights movement, served as moderator for the discussion.
A revitalized volunteer push is underway to rescue Western North Carolina’s oldest known African-American cemetery from the ravages of neglect and obscurity. The effort includes a new website that features an interactive map of the cemetery and a digital guide to each of its graves.