Founded in 1892 by Black leaders in the African-American community of Asheville, NC, the YMI Center is a place for Blacks to have meetings, discuss problems, and organize events for their neighborhood. The YMI Center is the first Black cultural center. Vanderbilt loaned money to the YMI Center in the early years of its construction. Negro Street is a place in Asheville, NC where Blacks did business and lived. Unfortunately there are far less Black owned businesses on Negro Street due to the Exodus Movement. The Exodus Movement of 1879 was the movement of Blacks from the South to the North after slavery ended, Blacks did this in hope for a better life. But, nonetheless, there were problems in both the North and South that had different hardships. Highways that cut through Negro Street are also a contributing factor for the loss of Black owned businesses.
William Trent and J.W. Walker (brothers) were the founders of the YMI Center. Dr. William J. Trent Sr. served his presidency at Livingstone College from 1925-1958. Floyd Bixler McKissick (who was also part of the YMI Center) was the first African-American student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Law School. The YMI Center also had a small exhibit of famous African King posters including King Tutankhamun of Egypt who ruled as pharaoh in 1361-1352 B.C. Kind Tut was the 12th pharaoh of an 18 pharaoh Egyptian dynasty. King Tut's name directly translates to "Living Image of Aten".
Our speaker discussed with us the importance of HBCUs. HBCUs are supposed to mentor, uplift, and teach their students to be the best they can be. The speaker also stressed the importance of being active in the community and giving back. The speaker spoke about the A Score, which are students who desegregated Asheville, NC. The presenter talked about the New Jim Crow laws and how humiliating it was for people of color. The presenter told us that we (scholars) are more than our jobs because according to the U.S. census, it only says the name and job you had. Which could be a small part of someone's life.
The best advice that the presenter gave me was to go to familysearch.org. This website is ran by Mormons who photographed all the U.S. census reports throughout history and put them online. The public can access the website for free.
I am grateful that I was able to attend the presentation at the YMI Center because I do not get enough, not even a sufficient amount, of Black History at my school. I learned facts about my culture and people that I would've never found out if it wasn't shown to me. The amazing opportunity of going to the YMI Center and all the historically black places gave me a starting point to find out more about myself and my history as an aspiring successful black independent woman in the global marketing world.
Nia Imani Mack
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