The MLK Association of Asheville is one of the groups working towards the preservation of the Anderson Rosenwald School of Mars Hill, one of very few remaining Rosenwald schools still standing in western North Carolina.

The Anderson Rosenwald School was abandoned in the 1960s, but now an effort is under way to restore the old school. The school represents the initiative that provided quality buildings and reliable access to public education for African Americans in the South. Because “you can just feel the history there,” the community is working to preserve and renovate the school into a Community Cultural Center dedicated to promoting a fuller understanding of black history in the Blue Ridge region. The Mars Hill initiative is part of a nationwide movement to preserve Rosenwald Schools which is coordinated through the National Trust for Historic Conservation. For more information, go to  http://www.preservationnation.org/rosenwald/#.VOdugUKk5ig