On Aug. 31, 1906, Asheville mourned the loss of George Willis Pack.
Tag: Zebulon Vance
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UPDATED: Racial tensions mar WNC holiday events
Separate incidents in Canton and Buncombe County over the past week highlight the racial tensions that have dominated headlines throughout 2017 in WNC and across the country.
Letter: Sun, stone and shadow
“If we remove the Vance name and plaque, we will dispose of all positive and negative connotations imposed upon it. We will reduce it to its purest form — an obelisk of stone, sun and shadow. Now the monument is free.”
Letter: Movement to remove monuments is misguided
“It’s because of teachers like Ready that there is so much anger and violence today, including that against statues and monuments to some great Americans who they have put in a proverbial box as ‘racist’ when there’s so much more to them and what they did for our country.”
A mystery in-deed: Who owns Pack Square?
Pack Square lies at the center of Asheville’s sense of itself as a city, but recent attention to the area — and the monuments to Confederate figures located there — has highlighted a curious anomaly of history and law: No one can say for sure who owns the piece of land where the Vance Monument sits.
Letter: Recontextualize the Vance Monument
” 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.”
Community turns out for Charlottesville solidarity rally at Pack Square
Several hundred people assembled at the Vance Monument in downtown Asheville on Sunday evening, Aug. 13, to express opposition to a white nationalist gathering that took place in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend.
Debate over Asheville’s Confederate memorials continues
With the recent removal of Confederate monuments in New Orleans and other Southern cities capturing national headlines, local residents, historians and scholars once again turns their eyes to Asheville’s Confederate landmarks and what they symbolize to our community.
Tuesday History: Zebulon Vance in the aftermath of the Civil War, part 2
Murder and outrage are frequent and the absence of civil law encourages the wickedly inclined.
Letter writer: Vance was a great man who served our people well
“I believe he well deserves our respect and the monument that stands in his honor!”
Letter writer: Give Vance a chance
“I am all for never seeing a Confederate flag again, but we need proper context for our precedents who lived in a world so different from our own.”
Letter writer: Too much history is claimed as racist
“To ignore the positive things that have occurred in our history is an injustice. Sadly, it seems, most people today want to turn everything into a racial issue.”
Letter writer: Take down the Vance Monument
“What message are we really giving to all of our city residents? That only white people count?”
Letter writer: You can’t change or erase history
“Should we change the name of the Lincoln Memorial and the many other buildings and monuments that pay tribute to the great men and women of their time?”
Letter writer: History (and Vance) shouldn’t be subject to current approval
“History should be left alone to be understood and appreciated. It should not be a matter of current approval. Some of us respect Vance.”
Letter writer: Remove Vance’s name from downtown monument
“Other U.S. cities are removing Confederate symbology and monuments. Let’s not waste any more time — Asheville needs to join them, now.”
Book traces the arc and influence of Jews in Asheville
The history of Asheville’s Jewish community is indistinguishable from the city’s history. A new book takes a look at the economic and philanthropic contributions of Asheville’s Jewish community.
Blood in the valley: The Shelton Laurel Massacre’s haunting legacy
“Will the America of the future — will this vast, rich Union ever realize what itself cost back there, after all?” – Walt Whitman In January 1863, at the height of the Civil War, Confederate soldiers of the 64th North Carolina Regiment, composed mostly of men from the western counties, marched into Shelton Laurel. Their […]
When past is present: Zeb Vance and his monument
“Wouldn’t it be nice have a few more parks, squares, green spaces, libraries and Urban Trail stops named after other important figures in Asheville’s and Western North Carolina’s history? You might be surprised by how many are not white males.”
Vance Monument rededication set for Saturday
A rededication ceremony for the Vance Monument is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at the foot of the monument in Pack Square Park in downtown Asheville.
Letter writer: Vance Monument debate raises issue of American historical amnesia
“As a transplanted Northerner, I have always been amazed that the South wants to glorify its past Confederate history while being so quick to overlook its true history, both past and present, of violence, hate, impoverishment and economic and chattel slavery of people. “