Delores Workman Oral History
Delores Workman has lived in Asheville for the past sixty-eight years, and has seen how Asheville’s culture has changed in terms of race and social politics. She was a junior in high school when Asheville’s public schools began integrating in 1967. After attending Stevens Lee High School for two years, she was moved to South French Broad High School as a result of integration. She remembers this as a time of great tension in the lives of both white and black students, as well as their parents. They were afraid of what the result of integrating would be. Though Workman graduated in 1967, she remembers the riots at Asheville High two years later as a result of this friction. After graduating, she found employment and attended Blanton’s Business College and Cecil’s Business College. She worked for nearly 30 years at Square D, which had a program that helped her get through school. When the Square D eventually experienced layoffs, Workman took classes at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and became a certified nursing assistant, which she worked as for 11 years.
Workman notes that she has always been politically involved. As a result, a large part of her life has been dedicated to social justice and improving the position of African Americans in Asheville. She recalls that during John F. Kennedy’s administration from 1961 to 1963, there was a heavy fear of bombs being dropped due to Cold War scares of the time. As a form of protection from potential bombs, the Asheville city had begun building bomb shelters into public buildings downtown. Workman worked to get signs put up that would allow people to know where these shelters were in the case of an emergency. She also remembers writing to President Kennedy to get a system of buses set up that could transport people to these shelters. Years later, Workman realized that, due to segregation, African Americans would not have been able to go into these shelters or ride the buses. Workman’s political involvement in Asheville city politics would continue with her run for City Council in 1989. She came in 10th in the election, but remembers being very proud of her efforts, since she was running her own campaign as an unknown candidate. Even today, Workman considers perhaps running again, though she doubts that is likely.
Delores Workman sees the YWCA as another, potential, vehicle for social change. The YWCA has been impactful in her own life. As a child, she remembers taking some swimming lessons at the facility. In high school, she got involved in the YWCA’s Senior Climaxers program in 1967. She recalls this program fondly, as it allowed a place for many young people to come read, dance, or socialize together. Most recently, she has been working as a Foster Grandmother, helping to teach and socialize with the young children and toddlers in daycare at the YWCA. Workman believes that this is, perhaps, one of the most impactful services that the YWCA offers, as she believes education is key to creating better lives for people, and needs to start as young as possible. Her favorite memories of the YWCA now revolve around their children and the potential that she sees in them. Though Workman believes that Asheville has come a long way, from remembering a time when African Americans weren’t even allowed to walk on certain sides of the street, in creating equal rights for African Americans, she believes that Asheville still has a long way to go and there is more work to do.