The Effect of Memorials

 

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The King Historic District is one of the most popular areas in Downtown Atlanta, and especially on Auburn Avenue. The site is his home and his tomb. Martin Luther King Jr. brought civil reforms to Atlanta and the entire Southern region of the United States and his principals and teachings are that of peace and love. It is no wonder that people wish to commemorate his life and death, nor is it surprising that people from all over the country and the world flock to img_8771Auburn Avenue to visit his birth home, Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the many museums dedicated to him. It is commendable to memorialize such an influential man in the heart of downtown Atlanta, where his teachings of love and peace continue to be of value and acceptance. However, the manner by which he is remembered is faulty. Yes, he fought nonviolently for civil rights. Yes, he advocated for peace and love for all people regardless of skin color. But he did many other things to that are often forgotten. Furthermore, the street and becomes a memorial for King, rather than for what he fought for. A local real estate agent asserts that, “Well obviously the Civil Rights struggle was more than just King, but if you are going to make a development project work down here [Auburn Avenue] you have to simplify things. You have to come up with a story.” The story is that King is the personification of the Civil Rights Movement, but only remembers specific parts of the movement. It highlights the nonviolent teachings of King, but ignores the part of Civil Rights History concerning the diversity of opinions wimg_8773ithin the movement such as the Nation of Islam, the Black Panther Movement, and generally just the normative Civil Rights Discourse. By ignoring parts of history, the reinforced idea is that King has redeemed the nation and purged all the negative racism out of the nation, by using the space granted by Atlanta. This history paints Atlanta in a better light than most of Georgia and the south are painted in, which makes me question the true intentions of the placemakers of the King site.

Landscape of Memory on Auburn Avenue

At a Glance: The Contested Identity of Auburn

New businesses, taking the place of the Odd Fellows building.
New businesses, taking the place of the Odd Fellows building.

City planners have always been recognized for creating cities that are livable, beautiful, and inclusive. Almost anyone who knows about Atlanta knows about the skyline, the instrastructure, and of course, the traffic, but most people don’t look close enough to see the history and implications of the environment. City planners and creators of the built environment do more than just create a physical space that evokes these characteristics. Through decisions concerning the remodeling or preservation of certain elements in a given space, city planners have the power to likewise remodel or preserve the memory of a place, event, person, or even an entire movement. I intend to explain the many ways that the city influences memories of landscape by explaining the current dilemma of Auburn Avenue, the landmarks of the street, the mixture of historic and current buildings and businesses, and the hidden truths implicit in the landscape.

Fighting to Keep History

One largely fought over piece of Atlanta is historic Auburn Avenue. The street has been credited as the birth home of the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the home and grave of Martin Luther King Jr. and his family’s church, Ebenezer Baptist. Some people believe this street should stay true to its historic roots and that the buildings should be maintained to reflect their past glory and to honor the movement. However, the street has been in a spiraling decline since the white flight of the area with the introduction of highway infrastructure. Therefore, there is a push to modernize the street to make it economically viable. Both sides of the argument admit the role the street has played in the city and both present pressing evidence for their claims. However, what both sides fail to understand is the role the city has played in the creating of the street. The city planners of Atlanta have crafted Auburn Avenue to highlight its role in the civil rights movement as well as its more appealing functions, but neglects to tell the entire story. By emphasizing the past, the present is forgotten as well.

The Function of Landmarks

This is a sculpture of John Wesley Dobbs. He once described Auburn Avenue as being home to the three keys to liberation: "ballots, bucks, and books." The sculpture is titled "Through His Eyes" and can be stood behind in order to see what he sees. Sadly, now all that can be seen is the highway overhead and some traffic lights.
This is a sculpture of John Wesley Dobbs. He once described Auburn Avenue as being home to the three keys to liberation: “ballots, bucks, and books.” The sculpture is titled “Through His Eyes” and can be stood behind in order to see what he sees. Sadly, now all that can be seen is the highway overhead and some traffic lights.

Landscapes and the built environment have many functions. They are practical in that they are created to be used, experienced, and inhabited. However, they also have imbedded memories and histories, and the way an environment is built is an intentional practice. It does not just happen. Just like history textbooks, the way the world is constructed is not entirely truthful. There is always a bias. The environment is constructed based on how the geographers and city planners choose to write history. The way we imagine ourselves is linked to how we remember ourselves and our identity. There are many debates about what and who should be remembered and forgotten. However, opinions about these things change over time and are ultimately battled for in the landscape “arena.” The landscape is important to public memory because it is affected by the memory as much as it creates the memory. For this reason, the landscape of the built environment must be more thoroughly examined for the truth, as many landscapes do not acknowledge all points of the past are represented. This call for investigation applies directly to my research on Auburn Avenue and the King District.

Remembered and Forgotten Auburn Avenue

I found this sign on Auburn Avenue extremely interesting. Most of the historic buildings on the street are kept looking old and old fashioned, while also large enough and apparent enough to grab the attention of passersby. However, this sign is modern and small. In fact, this third trip to the street is the first time I have ever noticed it.
I found this sign on Auburn Avenue extremely interesting. Most of the historic buildings on the street are kept looking old and old fashioned, while also large enough and apparent enough to grab the attention of passersby. However, this sign is modern and small. In fact, this third trip to the street is the first time I have ever noticed it.

The Historic Site and surrounding area produce a story of the civil rights movement that glamorizes the integration of history but ignores continued legacies of racism. In making the site, Atlanta provides a story of positive social change to market a progressive southern city. It also presents an interesting example of the street naming system that supposedly commemorates historic leaders, but also symbolically keeps racial groups separate and labeled. The renaming of streets and other areas of cities after Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders in the Civil Rights Movement is done purposefully. There is a trouble faced by the African American population that is primarily responsible for the street renaming in these instances and it is done as a way to create a new geography of memory in a white dominated cultural landscape. Certain problems include the politics of place-naming as a way to inscribe exactly what is wanted as far as ideology and values, politics of constructing a cohesive history through commemoration, and the issue of spreading the message outside of only certain “black” areas. There is a call for violent pasts to be commemorated so that the full truth may be exposed. This will be a part of the peace and reconciliation process.

Auburn Avenue, specifically the King District, has worked to shape Atlanta’s characterization and the way it is remembered. Specifically, “the memorials along Auburn Avenue are powerful sites to interrogate the intersections of race, nation and the cultural landscape as they encourage us to remember certain aspects of US history and to forget others; the monuments dedicated to Dr. King become ‘selective aids to memory’ and are related to the production of hegemony.” Memory is expressed through memorials such as King’s in a certain way that communicates specific economic, cultural, and political ideas. King’s site is utilized to emphasize aspects of non-violence and unity, while ignoring more radical aspects of the movement.

Delving into Auburn Avenue

Mural on the corner of Auburn Avenue and Hilliard Street.
Mural on the corner of Auburn Avenue and Hilliard Street.

“The study of landscape should move beyond mere surface readings and delve instead into the gritty, often ugly, sometimes energizing social history of specific places.” Marginalized groups can take advantage of the geography of landscapes that shaped their history to make statements and give them a voice. Sometimes the built environment is misused, but it can be changed and utilized to effectively portray the true history.

There is a counter-public nature to Auburn Avenue. It was once a social hub for the black community to get together and organize change when they could not interact in the usual public spheres. Auburn Avenue was one of the most influential counter-publics for the civil rights movement, but Auburn Avenue is far from its hay-day. There are many opinions about what can and should be done with the remains of such a prosperous and historic street. The development project for Auburn Avenue, Big Bethel, is emblematic of contemporary black counter-public spaces and links its identity to African American identity. Because the street has not only been recognized in the past as a black neighborhood, but also as a richer black neighborhood, there is also intersectionality of race and class and the two groups affect one another.

The issues that Auburn Avenue faces are not black and white. They are not merely a racial issue of what African Americans want versus what white Americans want, but are rather issues of what various groups of people want regardless of race. There are conflicting interest groups within the Auburn Avenue community that are adamant about their stances on what should happen to the street in the future.

 

 

Sources:

Atlanta’s historic Auburn Ave. again at crossroads | Fox News
CONSTRUCTING AFRICAN AMERICAN URBAN SPACE IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Contested Memory in the Birthplace of a King
Forum on Social Justice in the South: Introduction
Creating a New Geography of Memory

(P) Built Environment Description

This large sign or piece of architecture is situated near the sidewalk, announcing the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. This is across the street from the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church and in front of the New Horizons Sanctuary of the new Ebenezer Baptist Church. The quote beneath the picture of King seems appropriate not only to be broadcasted sandwiched between two church buildings, but also on the street of Auburn Avenue.
This large sign or piece of architecture is situated near the sidewalk, announcing the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. This is across the street from the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church and in front of the New Horizons Sanctuary of the new Ebenezer Baptist Church. The quote beneath the picture of King seems appropriate not only to be broadcasted sandwiched between two church buildings, but also on the street of Auburn Avenue.

Politically Rendered Historic Auburn Avenue

Through the built environment descriptions I have completed in the past, I have really gotten to know more about Auburn Avenue’s history and culture. Each time I returned to the street, whether to a specific location, or just an entire section in general, I began to notice more and more the political implications of the way it is constructed and used by the city of Atlanta. This final trip to Auburn Avenue (at least for the purposes of this assignment) gave me yet another opportunity to see, hear, feel, and experience a political movement in and of itself.

Auburn Avenue is historically known to many as the home to  Martin Luther King Jr., the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. These buildings and more remain in use  today, albeit some more as museums than actual businesses. There is an on-going debate about the future of this street. Should it move away from its Civil Rights Movement roots, or should it remain and maintain its heritage as a counter-public? Walking through the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District, it is impossible not to feel like you have gone back in time, especially walking in the opposite direction of the skyscrapers that populate the downtown Atlanta area. The buildings are simple, but still ornate and distinguished. The architecture is practical. In many ways, this section of Atlanta is all but removed from the built narrative of Atlanta. Upon recognizing this alien characteristic, I realized that it was the emphasis on the old which made the street so unlike any other place in downtown Atlanta. There are political implications. Why would the city of Atlanta like to promote the history of the street rather than destroy it and move forward? There are many answers to this question depending on who is asked. Some people say it is good to keep the history as a reminder of what was so bad about the south before the Civil Rights Movement. Stemming from that answer is the response that this is a part of Atlanta that did something right. When I revisited this historic section of Auburn Avenue for the third time, this is what I focused on and really looked for in the built environment. Is Atlanta memorializing the street to remember the history so as to not repeat it? Or is the real motive to redefine the memory of the street to shed a better light on Atlanta?
Of course, the answer is subjective. So I will leave images of what I saw below and I will give my interpretations, but leave the rest to you.

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Sign outside of the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church. Reads:” Ebenezer Baptist Church has been a spiritual, social, and political center– a home-away-from-home– for generations of black Atlantans. Under the leadership of the Williams and King families, the church dedicated itself to helping individuals with their everyday food, shelter, and health needs. During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Ebenezer gained a worldwide reputation as a springboard for educational, voter registration, and other civic reforms.”

Reading this sign, I couldn’t help but notice that it specifically refers to black Atlantans rather than the black population in general. I also found it interesting that it mentions the Williams family in text, but pictures King. This sign is picking and choosing the parts of the history that it tells, and it highlights the positive social advancement that the Atlantan church and its members had as it gained “a worldwide reputation.”

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“Chapel of All Faiths” at the King Center

The naming of this structure implies unity. Unity, being a positive attribute of the civil rights movement, is highlighted and focused on, whereas the wrongdoings of the nation, state, and even the very city of Atlanta in such a tense time in history.

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Shotgun houses sign telling a brief history of the buildings and the events that transpired.

I could not help but notice the neutrality in the narrative of this sign. In the larger text, it talks about how the houses were for white blue collar textile workers, but black people moved in after race riots. Race riots, no big deal. What caused the riots? The answer can be found at this link, but it does not appear in the sign. What is discussed on this sign is the presence of black families on the street in quaint housing known to them perhaps as “to-gun” places of assembly.

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Sweet Auburn History sign

This sign tells about the past successes of Auburn Avenue as a social hub for the civil rights movement.

All in all, this street is screaming at me through these signs. The city of Atlanta is systematically portraying this street in the best light possible, as any strategic community would in order  to attract visitors and potential residents. However, the memory of the place is disturbed, and pieces are left out. From a political standpoint, this could go well, as it does bring visitors. But overall, knowing the darker pieces of the history and knowing them to be left out of the narrative of Auburn Avenue, the street signs seem underhanded and misleading.

**Photos and videos are taken by the author**

Built Environment Description 1: Ebenezer Baptist Church

For my built environment description, I chose to visit the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church on the corner of Auburn Avenue and Jackson Street Northeast. I went on a Friday afternoon around 2:00. This was not the original building for the services of the church, but was built in 1914 by the second pastor of the congregation of Ebenezer, Alfred Daniel Williams so that there could be more seating for the congregation that he grew. I went to this site with no true prior knowledge about it other than that it was Martin Luther King Jr.’s home church.

img_8770I saw no other people around the building as I walked up and inside the sanctuary at the time of my visit, there were only about ten other visitors. When I arrived, I saw a state park officer standing outside of the building seemingly patrolling the area while also inviting passersby to walk through the church and sit in on a lecture that would be going on downstairs in the next 5 minutes. Talk about good timing! Below are two videos I took during the lecture. It is important to note that the location of the lecture was below the church lobby. NOT THE SANCTUARY.

As I walked into the lobby area, I was caught off guard. It was unlike any church lobby I had ever stepped foot in. It felt more like a Boy Scouts meeting house due to all the national park signage and the information desk. I suppose this is because it is no longer used as a church, but rather as a historic site to visit to learn and feel its history. img_8776img_8775

To my right were stairs leading up to Fellowship Hall, where services were once conducted. At each and every turn, on the walls were pictures of Martin Luther King Jr. and/or his family members. There were also multiple postings about the mission and vision of the Nation Park Service. Once I walked up the stairs and into Fellowship Hall, I was immediately taken back to a distant time.img_8779 The sanctuary was unlike any that you would see today as it was so symmetrical and minimal. There were only two plants in the front for decoration, and one picture of Jesus situated at the top middle part of the stage area. img_8798There was also one organ, a replica of the original one where Mrs. King was shot just six years after the death of her son, surrounded by red rope to signify its importance. The pews, arranged in three columns with about twenty rows each, were of cold, hard dark wood. There is one pew that is damaged from a ricochet bullet on the day Mrs. King was killed. The carpet is a bright red. There is also a clock located at the back of the church in the center of balcony that is stopped at 10:30, which is the time at which Martin Luther King’s funeral took place.img_8797 The sanctuary walls were covered with tall, ornate stained glass windows. img_8802I then descended the stairs that were opposite the stairs I walked up, and the floor separating the sanctuary from the lobby had a small fountain and plaque. The plaque shows that the fountain is the “Fountain of Love” in memory of Mrs. King.img_8785 After walking around Fellowship Hall and then back down to the lobby, I went downstairs where a man was giving a lecture about the King family and their involvement in the church. He also did a reenactment of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. He talked about the significance of the artifacts in Fellowship hall, such as the organ and the clock, and he talked about the lasting impact that the King family has had on the church, even though it is no longer active at this site, but rather at another site across the street known as the New Horizon Sanctuary.

Overall, I could definitely feel the importance of the site, but I feel that I should also mention that the updates, renovations, and replicas of the artifacts took away from the experience because it detracts from the authenticity of the space. However, the way that the building was transformed from a historical church with great leaders of influence that taught the word of God, to a national historic site solely used to commemorate those leaders is strongly illustrated through the artifacts and wall decoration throughout the interior of the building.

(H) Built Environment Description

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This is a reconstruction of the original organ that Mrs. King was playing “The Lord’s Prayer” at when Marcus Wayne Chenault Jr. came into the church during a Sunday service and fatally shot her and another man, and also wounded 1 of 400 church members. The carpet and ropes are red, perhaps by chance, but to me it is entirely symbolic of the bloodshed.

(H) Built Environment Description

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Walking out of the sanctuary, I saw this image situated on the wall right outside. This shows Martin Luther King Jr. giving a sermon at the church. Upon seeing this, it gave me chills to again recognize the immense history of the place where I was standing. Images like this were displayed all around the staircases leading up to and down from the sanctuary which is above the lobby/entrance. Images such as this add to the feeling that this building has been transformed into a historic site from a church, though it does serve as a place for services on special occasions.