Memory Circles Form to Remember the Desegregation of Buncombe County

Last month, over 150 people attended a program on "Mountain Reflections on Brown vs. Board of Education: 50 Years Later" at the YMI Cultural Center. A follow-up meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 11, at UNC Asheville’s Laurel Forum, 139 Karpen Hall to organize interested citizens into "Memory Circles." These informal groups will meet over the next four months to remember and record the impact of Brown vs. Board of Education on members’ lives and this region. Both Buncombe County natives and those who have relocated to the area are invited. The event is free and open to the public.

"Asheville is one of the only cities in the South to discuss the days of desegregation from a local standpoint," said Dwight Mullen, UNC Asheville special assistant to the chancellor on multicultural affairs.

Following the initial work of the Memory Circles’ "Remember and Record Project," the groups will reconvene to decide how to document this history through exhibitions, programs and archives.

The event is sponsored by UNC Asheville, YMI Cultural Center, Asheville Buncombe Community Relations Council, and the Center for Diversity Education.

For more information, call Deborah Miles, executive director for Center for Diversity Education, at 828/232-5024.

Media Contacts:

• Dr. John Wood, UNCA Africana Studies Program Director, 828/251-6977
• Deborah Miles, Center for Diversity Education, 828/232-5024
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526