Hendersonville commemorates the 60th anniversary of the integration of its schools with a new film documenting the Black community’s thirst for education when Color Beyond the Lines, a documentary from David Weintraub and the Center for Cultural Preservation, premieres on June 21, 2025.
According to Ronnie Pepper, President of Hendersonville’s Black History Research Group, “Going back to when our people were enslaved, we realized that if we were going to truly be free it was important to have a good education.”
Despite the fact that Black students were forced to use old, tattered books and attend schools far from their home, the schools they created became treasured institutions. Ninth Avenue School, for instance, offered a quality education while maintaining a close-knit family relationship. When the integration of public schools went into effect in 1965, the Black community was excited to have access to resources that they never had before, but it came at a high price: the loss of their cherished schools.
According to the film’s director, David Weintraub, “What struck me as I interviewed Black elders throughout the county was their great desire to instill a good education in their children. Although most embraced integration of schools, they were saddened by the loss of precious institutions like the 9th Avenue school.”
Edward King, an alumnus of 9th Avenue who is interviewed in the film says, “Growing up we knew that we had to out-perform, out-think, and out-read the white community if we were to succeed. We had a great pride in our Black schools and we felt like something was taken away from us.”
The film documents the tremendous discrimination the African American community in Henderson County and WNC faced and…
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