UNC Asheville to Host Talk on History of Asheville's Allen School

UNC Asheville will host a talk on “The Allen School and the Education of African-American Daughters” by Patricia Beaver, director of the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University. The talk will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, in UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library room 009. The talk is free and open to the public.

The Allen School operated in Asheville from the 1870s to the 1970s, primarily as a boarding high school for black women. About one-third of these women were drawn from rural communities in Western North Carolina where no schools were available for black youth beyond eighth grade. Following desegregation, the school was closed and records lost. In her talk, Beaver will discuss the work that the Center for Appalachian Studies is doing to learn more about the Allen School through oral history, scrapbooks, photos, annuals, school newspapers and other documents.

The talk is co-sponsored by UNC Asheville’s Classics Department and the Archaeological Institute of America. For more information, call Laurel Taylor, UNC Asheville adjunct assistant professor of classics, at 828/251-6290.

Media Contacts:

• Dr. Laurel Taylor, UNC Asheville Adjunct Assistant Professor of Classics, 828/251-6290

• Jill Yarnall, UNC Asheville Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526