opinion

Moving beyond ‘heritage, not hate’ in WNC

The myth has long been that slavery was rare in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Thanks to the work of historians and archivists during the past few decades (among them UNC Asheville professor Darin Waters), we now know that there were large numbers of slaves in the mountains.

According to the 1800 Census, Buncombe County’s largest slave owner was Nicholas Woodfin with 122 slaves. In 1860, 15.3 percent of the population in Buncombe County were slaves with 25.6 percent for Burke and 18.3 percent for McDowell. The plantation system that drove wealth creation in much of the South may not have existed here due to the geography of the mountains, but the landowning elite whose names are now on many Asheville thoroughfares heavily depended on slave labor prior to the Civil War.

As historians dismantle false narratives about slavery and what caused the Civil War (yes, it was about slavery), calls for public recognition of how forced labor shaped Western North Carolina grow stronger. Community members are now petitioning for a monument to be erected in Pack Square to honor the African-American community in Buncombe County and the “sacrifices of African-Americans during the periods of slavery and segregation.” The city’s African American Heritage Commission is working on a plan for the proposed monument. The placement in Pack Square is significant because, as the petition states: “It was at this site where enslaved people were sold and had the bills of sale recorded.”

Writer and historian Ta-Nehisi Coates recently tweeted, “There is no point in American history when the demand by black people for equality was not declared by powerful people to be criminal. None.” Yes, confronting the brutal history of slavery in such a public way, right in the heart of downtown Asheville, is going to make some folks uncomfortable. It might lead to some unsettling conversations when tourists stroll to and from that dessert place they’ve heard so much about. And that’s okay. Our monuments speak not only of our past; what we deem worthy of memorializing says a lot about who we are as a people in the present tense.

Bree Newsome, the artist and activist now infamous for scaling the flagpole outside the South Carolina legislature and taking down the Confederate flag this summer, has said that people should “learn all the history you can in your lifetime.” As we struggle through a new chapter of the Civil Rights Movement, many of us are learning that the brutal reality of slavery is not only tied to the past, but is still playing out in the present. It is imperative that our public monuments reflect these hard truths.

There’s plenty of room in Pack Square, so we need not stop at one monument to African-American history and achievement. Isaac Dickson is perhaps more deserving than any of recognition in our most prominent park. In addition to forming the Young Men’s Institute, Dickson played a key role in founding the public school system in Asheville. Yes, his name is on one of our elementary schools, but his enormous contributions to Asheville are not fully recognized. While conducting research on archival photos of President Theodore Roosevelt’s tour through Western North Carolina in 1902, local historian and photographer Jen Bowen noticed an African-American man in numerous photos with the president. Bowen and Professor Waters of UNCA believe that man was Isaac Dickson. This recent discovery sheds light on how prominent Dickson’s role was in helping to build Asheville.

And while we’re at it, let’s keep building monuments that celebrate WNC’s history. Lillian Exum Clement Stafford was a trailblazer for women’s rights as the first woman elected to North Carolina General Assembly in 1920, shortly before women gained the right to vote via the 19th Amendment. She was also the first woman to serve in any state legislature in the South. Surely there is a place for her in Pack Square.

This summer the Asheville City Council and Mayor Esther Manheimer voiced support for the proposed monument, but it’s disheartening that the city council’s support for the project doesn’t come with funding to build it. Once the African American Heritage Commission’s recommendations for the monument are set, local elected officials and community members should join together in calling for the Tourism Development Authority, flush with taxpayer money, to fund the monument without delay.

Aaron Sarver is a politics and news junkie who grew up in Wilmington and graduated from North Carolina State University. He has called Asheville home since 2009.