Browse Items (571 total)

This newspaper article from the Waynesville Mountaineer highlights Jones Temple AME Zion Church and its history in Haywood County. Despite dropping membership over the past decade, the spirits of the congregation are high. In the article, Rev.…

Video of the History of Bryson City United Methodist Church

Levern Hamlin of Mecklenburg County was the first African American student to be admitted to Western Carolina College in 1957. Hamlin was already a public school teacher, and applied to the college to qualify for an advanced teaching certificate. Her…

Western Carolina University accepted the school’s first African American student in 1957. Levern Hamlin was the first black student to be admitted and enrolled in a predominantly white state-supported college in North Carolina, according to…

Cleve Miller (right) with first cousin William Bowens

William Cleveland Miller or “Cleve” was born December 10, 1884. “His mother Kate Bowens often told him that he was born in a cotton patch while she was picking cotton on a plantation in…

Ida Jean Allen was born in Webster, North Carolina in 1921. In 1943 Allen enlisted to serve in World War II, despite the fact many told her they did not take African Americans. However, Allen was selected to be one out of forty African American women…

Five young women, one of whom is an African American, pictured for the Homecoming court at Tuscola High School in Waynesville.

Hosting a fish fry event is one of the ways the Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center raises their funds. This particular event was in preparation for the summer time expenses needed for activities and other events. This event was held in…

This undated news article is an example of the diverse ways the Pigeon Community has the center’s space. It features news from the community’s Homemaker’s Club and indicates a variety of planned activities.