Future Places Project

Struggle & Imperfection

 

Struggle & Imperfection

 
 

The Busy Signal

 

Mayor William Hartsfield Speaks from the Rubble of the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple Bombing, October 12, 1958.

Atlanta Journal Consitution Records, The Breman Museum of Atlanta

 
 

Often proclaimed the city “too busy to hate,” Atlanta might have also been considered the city “too busy to address” critical issues affecting its citizens. For some, it is a place of opportunity and progress—a place to learn, work, create, and call home. For some, it is a place of struggle, imperfection, and inequity. For still others, opportunity and progress remain only a dream. 

 

Ku Klux Klan Member Picketing Outside of Leb’s Restaurant while African American Students Demonstrate Across the Street, Atlanta, Georgia, February 3, 1964.

AJC Photo Archives, Georgia State University Digital Collections

Lestor Maddox locking the doors to the Pickrick restaurant rather than integrating it, 1965


AJC Photo Archives, Georgia State University Digital Collections

 

From post-Reconstruction campaigns of terror like the 1906 Atlanta “race riot,” to the 1958 Temple synagogue bombing, the fabric of Atlanta’s community has at times been ripped, snagged, and tattered.

 
 

 The city has struggled with economic opportunism and disjointed planning efforts that created incomplete neighborhoods, imbalanced opportunities and inequalities that linger today.

 

“Not Much Hope Here for my Baby”: Substandard Housing in Atlanta’s Vine City, 1968.

AJC Photo Archives, Georgia State University Digital Collections

 

When we reflect on our past with a critical eye, the picture isn’t always pretty. However, historic preservation gives us the tools to help mend the holes created in our past. By sharing our histories, stories, and unique perspectives, we illuminate the strength of Atlanta’s neighborhoods, communities, and people that have persevered through these imperfections. We also will have a tool to help patch the holes in our fabric from the past.

 
 

How can you help keep Atlanta historic?