The Mighty Heroes of Stephens-Lee High School (2008)

Stephens-Lee High School was THE African-American school in Western North Carolina until the advent of integration closed it in 1965, sending black students to Asheville High School. This was a bittersweet victory for Asheville's black community - opportunities opened up for young people but something very important in community identity was lost. Now this documentary film - The Mighty Heroes of Stephens-Lee High School - shows the people and events that made this school legendary. Bennie Lake and Johnny Bailey - both sports heroes of the Stephens-Lee Bears in their own right - have worked for the last thirty years to document the achievements of Stephens-Lee. After publishing a book about it, they've spent the last two years filming interviews and gathering information for The Mighty Heroes of Stephens-Lee High School. Lake and Bailey produced the documentary in association with local author, publisher, and URTV personality, Ralph Roberts - so that this very important part of Asheville's history could be told.