The noted photojournalist and granddaughter of James Vester Miller has passed.
Andrea Clarke, best known for her black and white photographs of historic Asheville, spent decades ensuring Asheville’s Black history was documented.
Born in 1945, Andrea grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After studying photojournalism in college she moved to Asheville to connect with her father and his family in the East End community.
In Asheville, Andrea discovered her grandfather James Vester Miller’s legacy as a builder and master brick mason, who built many of Asheville’s most recognizable landmarks, including the Young Men’s Institute (YMI), St. Matthias Episcopal Church, Asheville Police Department, Varick Chapel AME Zion Church, Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, US Federal Building (old annex), and the Asheville Masonic Temple. But despite Miller’s lasting contributions in Asheville, his name is largely absent from the city’s historic records…