A new mural commemorating the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre in South Atlanta is drawing criticism from residents and historians, who say the artwork was developed with limited community input and misrepresents the historical trauma it seeks to address.
The mural, located on the side of a building managed by Focused Community Strategies and across the street from Carver High School, depicts the stoic faces of Black citizens reconstructing a home, and a white and Black person shaking hands. But at the center of a piece is an angry white mob. A white man is seen choking a Black man — an image based on a 1906 cover from the French publication Le Petit Journal.
While the mural, which was created by the artist Fabian Williams and commissioned by the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, was intended to provoke historical reflection, it has left some community members unsettled due to the violent imagery and the lack of resident involvement during the process.
On Oct. 6, at the leasing center for the Haven South Atlanta residential community, the South Atlanta Civic League moderated a tense conversation between residents, Focused Community Strategies staff, NCCHR representatives, and the artist, to openly discuss neighborhood concerns.
At the meeting, Williams received praise for the technical skill and intensity of the piece, even from critics of the mural, who expressed admiration for the craftsmanship.
But overall, residents were divided in their reaction to the art and questioned why they were not included in the yearlong discussion around the mural’s design.
Brenda Trammell, a longtime resident of South Atlanta, which was once known as Brownsville, commented during the community conversation that she took her 15-year-old grandson to see the mural. She said that her grandson, who is a student at Carver High, was worried that the art may invoke strong feelings of violence amongst the students.
She said she wished that more positive imagery would have been included in the mural, such as some of the historical Black institutions located throughout the neighborhood.
“I would love to have seen Gammon Theological Seminary or Clark College. I’m a product of a Gammon graduate and a Clark College graduate, so that would have meant a lot to me,” Trammell said.Â
Highlighting local heroes in the mural was suggested as an option by one resident, who also questioned why the community was not asked for its input on the design.
While one supporter thought the mural was an important piece of history that shouldn’t be forgotten, one man felt the mural was not an accurate representation of the actual event.
Overall, community members acknowledged the importance of remembering the 1906 massacre, a four-day wave of racial terror where white mobs attacked Black communities throughout Atlanta leaving at least 25 Black men, women, and children dead, hundreds injured or missing, and businesses destroyed.
A breakdown in communication
R. Candy Tate, an art historian and chair of the Coalition to Remember the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre, said that although NCCHR is a partner of the coalition, Tate said it was not consulted on the mural’s design or placement.
“This unfortunately missed the mark,” Tate told Capital B Atlanta before the meeting began. “It didn’t reflect the community voice, and it didn’t reflect the legacy of Brownsville.”
Tate said Brownsville is a symbol of Black self-determination and resilience. It was home to educators, ministers, and business owners who built a thriving community despite systemic oppression. Tate believes the mural should have honored that history.
While NCCHR framed the mural, which according to Williams cost around $50,000, as an opportunity to educate and spark dialogue, Tate warned that historical misrepresentation can do lasting damage. She said the imagery depicted in Le Petit Journal did not reflect what really happened because the image created by the French newspaper was done by an artist who did not live through the actual event.
“A picture says a thousand words,” she said, “but those words are not what we want to repeat because it is not accurate to the story of that neighborhood.”
Tate cited the history of community murals in other cities, like the Wall of Respect in Chicago and an earlier mural on Auburn Avenue, where neighborhood input played a critical role in protecting and uplifting the work. “If [the community is] not proud of it, then the latter is more likely to happen” — referring to vandalism or public rejection.
Kama Pierce, chief program officer at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, said the mural is part of the NCCHR’s Truth and Transformation initiative, which aims to bring lesser-known history into public consciousness.
“It’s important history that needs to be told and preserved so we try to find creative ways to also make history accessible to everyone,” she told Capital B Atlanta ahead of the meeting.
Pierce said that while NCCHR worked with Focused Community Strategies, which owns the building, she said she was not personally involved in the groundwork or community outreach. She was told that FCS had spoken with community members and certain board members about the mural.
But during the meeting, Marvin Nesbitt, FCS’ president, admitted they had “dropped the ball” on fostering community engagement around the mural.
“FCS has been working in this neighborhood, in this community, for 25 years, and you all have become used to a process where you know before we act on behalf of the neighborhood. I take full responsibility for doing something for that, I do apologize,” Nesbitt said.
Finding a path forward
Williams, the artist whose work was at the center of the controversy, shared that the mural went through 19 redesigns and the final sketch was not the image he originally wanted to portray, but at the direction of NCCHR and FCS, the current image is the final sketch that was green-lighted.
“​My decision was overridden, because at the end of the day, it’s not my wall. What I want to paint is something that is going to educate people, enlighten them, but also have something that’s going to be beautiful for them to reflect upon daily,” Williams told attendees.
Williams showed the crowd other sketches he had created that he said included more historical context of the event. He said he wanted to depict more of why the massacre started and include context around how the residents of the neighborhood armed themselves and fought back against the mob.
“Telling the entire story in context changes the way you feel about something when you encounter it. Why did this happen? How did it stop? That’s the story I want to tell, but as someone that was commissioned to tell the story, how this ended was outside my control,” Williams said.
Both FCS and NCCHR committed during the meeting to ongoing dialogue with residents to find a solution, but the path forward remains unclear as funding for a redesign and commitment from Williams to rework the piece would likely need to be solidified.
“What I would hope is that we can find a way to reconcile this. I certainly want to hear the comments and concerns from everyone. I really, thank you for all really stepping up for yourself and for your community,” Nesbitt said.
