Mars Hill
Taking small, gentle steps toward equality
Where the pavement ends on Mt.
Olive Road, there stands a remnant
of a bygone era. Peeking out from
numerous too-close sapling trees and
a few stray vines, the remains of the
Long Ridge School are not that dif-
KEENE’S TAX SERVICE
ferent from numerous other simple,
boxy schoolhouses that once dotted
the hills of Appalachia.
1040EZ $50.00
But the Long Ridge School is not
like many other community-built
1040A $60.00
one- and two-room school houses
Fees include E-File
throughout the region. The Long
Ridge School was one of nearly
5,000 schools for black children
Free Quotes for Farms,
throughout the rural South built by
Business and, Sales
the Rosenwald Initiative, a program
funded by Julius Rosenwald, the
one-time president of Sears Roebuck
Hours 9-5 Monday - Saturday
and Company.
“Oh, I can’t even count how many
Late Appointments - Drop-Offs Welcome of us there were that went to school
there,” Charity Ray said recently.
“See, we had students that came
Helen Keene up from Hot Springs and Marshall
30 years experience - Enrolled Tax Agent
too.”
At 72, Charity Ray has been a
(828)645-2657
resident of Mars Hill for most of her
life, and she has been an employee
9 Gill Branch Rd. • Asheville, NC 28804
of Mars Hill College for 38 years.
She began as a secretarial assistant
in the president’s office in 1970, but
soon afterward, found her niche in
the school’s library.
These days, Ray works at a school
that enjoys the largest student mi-
nority population of any other col-
A look at the Long Ridge School today.
lege in Western North Carolina. In
her role as a library assistant, she sees
and works with young people every
day who have never known the sting
of institutionalized segregation.
Those young people have grown up
in an America where their choices of
friends, roommates, and even dates,
are increasingly colorblind.
But it may be hard for them to
honestly fathom how far America
REHABILITATION
and
has come until they see the story
CARE CENTER of segregation through the eyes of
someone they know like Ray.
Introducing Short-Term Rehab-to-Home Therapy at
“It seems almost like it never hap-
Emerald Ridge Rehabilitation and Care Center!
pened,” she said. Matter-of-factly
and without rancor, she tells about
Our facility offers a newly remodeled therapy wing, a time when there were places she
with state-of-the-art equipment. It is designed to could not go and things she could
improve functioning, mobility and a return to not do. And then, with character-
independent living. istic optimism, she shakes her head
• Physical, Occupational and
and said, “You just cannot dwell on
Speech Therapies
the hard times.”
• Post hospital care and recovery
Like the Rosenwald school, her
• 24 Hour Skilled Nursing Care
memories tell a story of a time and
• Dr Charles DePaolo,
a place when Americans were segre-
Rehab Physician Advisor
gated at work, in their communities,
• Private Entrance - Private Dining
at school, by the color of their skin.
Cafe Menu - Walk-in Showers
”I had white friends that I played
with and they didn’t understand why
for more information
we couldn’t go to school together,”
828.645.6619 Ray said. “But their parents ex-
24 hour referral hotline plained it to them.”
828.808.2510
By the time she was in school, the
25 Reynolds Mountain Blvd.
Long Ridge School and Mt. Olive
Church had become the center of
A painting of the Long Ridge School by Charity Ray.
12 THE TRIBUNE - Jan 22 - 28, 2009
www.weavervilletribune.com
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