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African American Studies: Local Resources

a guide to resources

Slave Deeds -Buncombe County, NC

The Buncombe County Register of Deeds office has compiled a list of the documents that record the trade of people as slaves in Buncombe County. This online list shows the book and page number where the deed is located in our record books as well as the seller (grantor) and buyer (grantee) of the “property.”

The Public Library

Buncombe County Special Collections at Pack Memorial Library is a fully cataloged collection of published materials reflecting history, literature and life in Western North Carolina. Within the collection there is a particular emphasis on material relating to Asheville and Buncombe County.  This collection may contain information or news clippings about African Americans in the local area.

UNCA Campus Resources

Special Collections

 

UNCA Ramsey Library's Special Collections site lists finding aids for manuscripts, oral histories, photographs, archives, and more. Below are two major collections that contain information about African Americans in Western North Carolina.

Black Highlanders Collection contains important institutional and biographical materials on African Americans in Asheville, NC. Accounts of African American congregations and schools are included, as are representative issues of local African American newspapers such as the Church Advocate and Southern News, and other publications. Included also are biographies of leaders in education, business, and religion, and various photographs.

The South Asheville Colored Cemetery, 1840-1943
Information and documentation on Asheville's early African-American burial ground.
 

Center for Diversity Education

 "The Center celebrates and teaches diversity in order to foster conversation and respect among all cultures." [The Center}

 

Community Resources

 The YMI Cultural Center

The YMI Cultural Center (Young Men’s Institute) is one of the nation’s most unique and enduring African-American cultural centers and is an historical landmark in Asheville, North Carolina.