Freedom Riders Exhibit on Display at Register of Deeds Office

The Register of Deeds for Buncombe County is holding a public, temporary installation honoring the Freedom Riders of the Civil Rights Era.

The Freedom Riders were an interracial and intergenerational collective of 436 activists who boarded public interstate buses for at least 60 separate rides in 1961 to challenge unlawfully persisting segregation on public transit in several Southern states.

Initially inspired by Black History Month and recent staff tours with Hood Huggers, Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger and his staff began to research and visually unravel the incredible stories of these activists. This web of Southern history led to beautiful discoveries about the impact of many Asheville natives in slowly moving the national narrative toward desegregation.

The small but dense photo retrospective is located in the hallway of 205 College St. (on the traffic circle at the corner of College and Valley Sts.). The Register of Deeds office is a public building as part of the government of Buncombe County.

Reisinger and his staff worked collaboratively to present a contextualized look into the personal motivations and outcomes of the brave civil disobedience enacted by the Freedom Riders in the early 1960s. The public is welcome and encouraged to walk through and spend time learning in this space any time during business hours, Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.