Four African-American artists from New York have bought the house in which the legendary singer-songwriter, Nina Simone, was born in order to protect the property as a place of historical importance

The house is in Tyron at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The childhood homes of Malcolm X and W.E.B Du Bois have long disappeared, so the artist group realised they had to buy the modest 3-bed house in order to save it as an 'Act of Art and Politics'.

The artists are Adam Pendleton, Rashid Johnson, Ellen Gallagher and Julie Mehretu. They paid £77,000 ($95,000).

Johnson said: "It wasn't long after the election that this all began to happen, and I was desperate like a lot of people to be engaged, and this felt like exactly the right way."

The New York Times reports that the residents of Tyron are overjoyed that the house has been saved. One resident, Mr McIntrye said: "This is really what we’ve been praying for. We wanted a place that, in the right hands, would become inspirational not only as a relic of the past but as a catalyst for right now.”

Simone died in 2003 at the age of 70.