BIPOC

Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta against Jerry Quarry at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium on October 26, 1970, is often relegated to the footnotes of Ali’s legacy despite its crucial role in the growth of Atlanta and the rebirth of his boxing career.

Drawn to beautiful clothes and unique designs early in life, Ann Moore pursued a career in couture fashion during a time when the profession, always competitive, was especially out of reach for African Americans. Her hard work and determination carried her from Atlanta to Detroit as well as to the most exclusive fashion locales in New York and Paris. 30 of her pieces are housed in Atlanta History Museum’s extensive Fashion and Textile collections.

From 1949 when it opened until the late 1960s, the Royal Peacock was Atlanta’s premier nightclub. Located at 186 Auburn Avenue, people dressed to the nines would line up in lines that wrapped around the block just to see the best entertainers in the country including James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Marvin Gaye. The club helped create the fertile soil that allowed Atlanta to become the hip-hop and rhythm and blues capital of the South.

Long before workers at Starbucks and Amazon began fighting for the right to collectively bargain, workers at Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills fought to unionize, creating a blueprint for those in the present-day.

When driving down a busy street in Atlanta, you may find yourself on a different road without making a turn. These seemingly nonsensical street name changes are due to past residential segregation practices enacted when white Atlantans did not want to share the same address as Blacks.

The Negro Motorist Green Book (later Negro Travelers’ Green Book) was an annual guidebook for African American travelers. First published in 1936, the pamphlet provided a list of Black-friendly restaurants, bars, hotels, clubs, lounges, and services in places across the country including Atlanta.

Drawn from the collections of Kenan Research Center, the photography in this exhibition reflects the rich stories of Atlanta’s historically black colleges and universities, the Civil Rights Movement, and those of African American educators, entertainers, and athletes.

Like many professional Black Atlantans of yesteryear, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent a lot of time at the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Georgia. Because of his close relationship with the MWPHGLG, some have speculated that King joined the lodge and became a Prince Hall Freemason before his death.

Meet Jasmine Nicole—printmaker, muralist, and 2021 Midtown Heart of the Arts artist-in-residence.

In partnership with the Trust for Public Land, Atlanta History Center featured an onsite display in the Don and Neva Dixon Rountree Visual Vault about the history of the Chattahoochee River. Spanning from indigenous life to current uses, the exhibit highlights artifacts and archival materials that show the diversity and use of the Chattahoochee River over the course of human habitation.

Atlanta History Center is home to one of the nation’s most comprehensive collections of Civil War memorabilia including a growing number of rare objects identified specifically with African American USCT soldiers and regiments such as a canteen, swords, a rifle, brass drum, knapsack, Bible, badges, a Medal of Honor, and a USCT flag.

Seventy-one. That’s a current count on how many streets there are in Atlanta that bear the name, “Peachtree.” This is the first in a series of blog posts exploring the history behind popular Atlanta street names.

From September 15 to October 15, in observation of Hispanic Heritage Month, Atlanta History Center is honoring and highlighting the Latinx community for their continuous contributions to American society.

The Cherokee Garden Library continuingly works to build a book collection that enhances our understanding of the gardening traditions of African American, Native American, and Latinx communities of the Southeastern United States. Explore our new titles that highlight these areas of focus.