Celebrating “The Castle on the Hill”

RICH HERITAGE REMEMBERED BY ALUMNI

By Pat Griffith

Founded in 1921 on the former site of Catholic Hill High School, Stephens-Lee High School would rise from the ashes of its predecessor to become perhaps the best known African-American School in North Carolina. From June 29 through July 2, alumni from across the country will gather for their eighth class reunion to celebrate the legacy of this historic institution.

Over nearly half a century Stephens-Lee High School became a center of African-American culture and education throughout the mountains. Long renowned for its classical music program, theater productions, and marching band, only in the final decade of Stephen-Lee’s existence did competitive atheletics play a major role in the school’s reputation as a place of spiritual and intellectual enrichment.

Beginning with the first graduates in 1924, leaders of Western North Carolina‘s African-American community benefited from the school’s dedication to academic excellence. The crisis over segregation in the early 1960s brought on the subsequent decision to close Stephens-Lee and challenged the very foundations of African-American society in Western North Carolina. After the closing of the school in 1965, the campus known to generations as "The Castle on the Hill" was demolished, leaving only the gymnasium standing as a lone monument to the teaching, pride, and dignity of all who passed through the doors of Stephens-Lee High School.

Photo of Stephens-Lee High School fom the Black Highlander Collection – Ramsey Library, UNC-A.

In the late 1960s the idea was born to establish an alumni association to maintain the rich heritage that emerged from the school. The first school-wide reunion, held in 1991, drew more than 500 alumni.

The opening ceremonies for this year\’s reunion will take place at Stephens-Lee Center on Thursday, June 29 at 7:00 p.m. (seating begins at 6:30 p.m.). Among those to receive recognition will be Mrs. Doris Giezentanner, Margaret Orr Kirkland, Debi Miles, and members of the Asheville Student Committee on Racial Equality (ASCORE).

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