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The State of Things

Uncovering Black Asheville

WUNC | By Frank Stasio
Published January 30, 2009 at 9:51 AM EST
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In the late 1800s, North Carolina's favorite mountain retreat was home to a progressive African-American community that founded the Young Men's Institute. It remains the country's oldest free-standing African-American community center.

Asheville native and historian Darin Waters began working to help preserve the center while researching his hometown's black community and its connection to Asheville's renowned Biltmore Estate. Waters, a PhD. candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, joins host Frank Stasio to discuss the fascinating history of race relations in Asheville.

The State of ThingsAfrican-American HistoryAsheville
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Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
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