Palmetto, Georgia, was, by all accounts, a quiet and growing town in the final years of the 19th century. Located 25 miles southwest of Atlanta, it had a cotton mill, two warehouses, a hotel, churches, and slow, steady commerce. Its Black residents were part of the working and worshipping community that white newspapers would later […]
History
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Community, Culture, Events, History
Women’s History Month: 12 Events in Atlanta Honoring Black Women
As the home of civil rights legends, business leaders, and cultural content creators, Atlanta — and Black women in our city — influence everything. In celebration of Women’s History Month this March, there will be book signings, art exhibits, and spoken-word brunches so that Black women in the metro area can get their flowers. March […]
Posted inCulture, History
Political Power and Black Business: A Sweet Auburn Building Anchored Black Atlanta
Built in 1895, the brown and yellow Queen Anne style house sits close to the sidewalk, two stories rising straight from a narrow yard bordered by hedges trimmed even with the porch rail. The steps leading from the street are paved with concrete worn at the center where thousands of feet have walked the same […]
Posted inHistory, News
Georgia Leaders Mourn Passing of Civil Rights Icon Jesse Jackson
Atlanta remembers the charismatic speaker who played a major role in national politics and in our own city.
Posted inCulture, History
From Enslavement to Legacy: The History Buried at South-View Cemetery
On the southern edge of Atlanta, red clay settles into quiet hills, and magnolia trees stretch toward the sun. South-View Cemetery rests like a long, unfinished sentence. Not silent, nor asleep. It listens. It remembers. Beneath its grass and stone lies a community that refused to disappear. Here, the dead become the storytellers about the […]
Posted inCommunity, History
Keeping Watch: The Night Black People Claimed Freedom
Before the clocks struck midnight, before freedom found its way into law books, Black folks were already awakened. Awakened in the hush of pine-shadowed churches, awakened in praise houses leaning toward the marsh, awakened between damp blankets, awakened in cabins where whispered prayers traveled faster than fear. On the night of Dec. 31, 1862, African […]
Posted inEssay, History
From Summerhill to Auburn Avenue, the Church That Would Not Fall
Sunday is when paradise is preached and seen. They come dressed in their Sunday best. Starched collars and scuffed shoes. Wide-brimmed hats blooming like flowers across the sanctuary. An elder humming low, as if tuning her soul like a string before the choir rose. The beauty of the stained glass fell across the pews like […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, History
The 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre Stole Black Lives Where Downtown Condos Now Stand
I hold your stories. I am Georgia’s red clay and black land. The silence that speaks beneath the roar of trains and traffic. I am a record. You call me soil, but I am memory. I remember how Black life rose after slavery’s end. How men and women carved businesses into my streets, lifted schools […]
Posted inEducation, History
New John Lewis Mural Unveiled at DeKalb County School
In 2019, U.S. Rep. John Lewis attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a school named in his honor. Now, a mural at the DeKalb County school continues to celebrate his legacy. Unveiled Monday, the mural at John R. Lewis Elementary in Brookhaven features the colorful picture of the civil rights icon holding hands with children along […]
Posted inHistory
The Long Journey to Preserve Emmett Till’s Story, 70 Years After His Lynching
At about 9 a.m. local time on Thursday, the Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. arrived by train in Greenwood, Mississippi. He traveled for nearly 13 hours from Chicago aboard the Amtrak City of New Orleans. This first-of-its-kind commemorative ride was done to honor the life of his cousin and best friend, Emmett Till. Parker and Till […]