Learn about the historical Asheville Black neighborhood, "Southside." It is estimated that up to 20,000 Black people - locals and tourists alike - gathered in Southside on weekends in the 1920s to the 1960s.
The Untils [30]
Jim Crow laws legalized racial segregation throughout the South from the 1870s through the 1970s. For example, Black people were only allowed to use entrances and bathrooms marked “Colored” in White-majority areas. Blacks in Asheville invested in the Black-majority Southside neighborhood. They created a destination for Black people to live and visit.
It’s estimated that up to 20,000 Black people—locals and tourists alike—gathered in Southside on weekends in the 1920s to the 1960s. Black business owners operated hundreds of hotels, restaurants, beauty and barber shops, professional offices, grocery stores, and entertainment venues.
Asheville’s integration and urban renewal efforts of the 1960s to the 1980s resulted in the demolition of more than 1,000 Black-owned homes and businesses in Southside. The city’s East Riverside Urban Renewal Project evicted more than half of Asheville’s Black residents. It was the largest urban renewal project in the Southeast.
