Asia community in Winchester, Franklin County, TN was
founded after slavery by members of the community from Districts 8 and 9. Some of the earliest founding families
include: Childress, Kennerly, Robinson, Turner/Turney, Thruman, Syler,
Williams, Wilkerson, Hill, and Patton.
After slavery, many of these families leased land from former
slaveowners for the purpose of farming, and/or sharecropping. Women took in laundry and cleaned homes for
private families. Children often helped their
parents in these occupations to bring in more money for the family. These families worked to save money to
eventually purchase their own land. Today, there are Asia community residents
that are descendants of the founding families of this community. For over One Hundred and Forty One Years this
community has been the cornerstone for these families as it is the place where
those former slaves began their new life of freedom.
The Asia school was built between the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. In
the 1907 Franklin County Board of Education Minutes, the school board appointed
a colored teacher, Annie Mann to the duties of teaching at Asia school for a
salary of $35.00 a year. In 1925 a new teacher Fannie Mann was appointed by the
school to teach at Asia school for $45.00 a year. The earliest attendance records found at the
Franklin County Board of Education for Asia school are for the 1914 school
year, in which Audrey and Dora Turney are included as students. In 1940, the Macedonia Primitive
Baptist Church deeded the Franklin County Board of Education the land that the
school was built on for the purpose of building a new Asia school. In 1961, the Board of Education deeded the
land back to Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church after the integration of the
schools.
old school
new school
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