Spartanburg City News

Plenty of people in Spartanburg believe they know the story of our city's Highland community. Long one of the most challenging areas of intergenerational poverty Spartanburg County, the struggles of Highland and its residents are seemingly well-known by locals but most often completely misunderstood. Lost in the decades-old local narrative of crime and poverty are the stories of the people who call Highland home, who love their community and work every day to see it thrive. The story of Highland that we don't often hear is one of community cohesion, of neighbors coming together in fellowship and in support of each other in times of need, and of a fiercely proud neighborhood that rightly views itself as vital to Spartanburg's future.   The fuller picture of what really happened in Highland during the 20th century is also lost in that well-worn local narrative, a story of longterm, systemic racism, the thoughtlessness of paternalistic local government officials, and the heavy-handedness of misguided federal Urb