Asheville, the “Paris of the South,” Launches Reparations Commission

When you think of Asheville, North Carolina, you might think of its 50-plus breweries, Art Deco skyline, diverse music venues, River Arts district, proximity to mountains and rivers, and luxury boutique hotels such as the new Asheville Foundry Hotel, recently opened in “The Block,” the city’s former African-American business district. With 93,000 residents and growing, Asheville consistently makes the top rankings for “Best Places to Live” and “Best Place to Retire.” Some have even chose to call it the “Paris of the South.”

What you might not think about, however, is Asheville’s “very complicated history with its African-American community,” including the city’s extensive and enduring urban renewal program that decimated every Black neighborhood, most Black businesses, and much of the Black wealth that the community was building. Asheville’s urban renewal program was key to the city’s strategy to build its tourist economy. It also confined many Black residents within the city’s 10 public housing complexes and minimized their chances to build wealth through homeownership.