I cannot even count the number of times that I have passed a street and not known the origin of the street’s name. I’m sure most people are for the most part pretty clueless about why streets are named what they are. Some people may even believe that streets are named randomly, but really, most streets are named for a purpose. Whether it is to honor a local or national leader, or to refer to a nearby landmark, the street-naming process is a drawn-out, thoughtful process that is usually meant to commemorate a figure or movement.
Take, for instance, Jesse Hill Jr. Drive: The man this street is named after was the CEO for the Atlanta Life Insurance Company on Auburn Avenue. He used his position to instruct his company to bail out individuals who were arrested for participating in non-violent protests. This intersection commemorates and encourages friendship, speaking out, and community involvement in today’s culture.
Though Jesse Hill Jr. Drive only exists in Downtown Atlanta, 84 streets around America are named after Martin Luther King Jr. The naming and renaming of streets has the purpose to commemorate and advertise the morality and beliefs of a given place, and they work to rewrite history. These men, for instance, were not the city’s favorite people, and the city definitely did not intend to commemorate their legacies during the civil rights movement. However, because they are widely appreciated and beloved by the majority of the country today, the city can capitalize on their legacy by commemorating their lives in conjunction with the street.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
For my second visit to Auburn Avenue, I decided to analyze the entire street, along with its intersecting streets, to observe what this area’s character is. Historically, it is well known to have been a wealthy, influential neighborhood in the times of the Civil Rights Movement. But today, it has lost its glory in many ways.
IN A NUTSHELL
Screenshot of collaborative map from my Mapping Atlanta Class. Blue line indicates the street route I took.
The street blocks of Auburn Avenue that are located between Piedmont Avenue and Howell Street are sectioned off by their history and their culture. Though the area was once entirely a street of commonalities and social progressivism, it now has divides. Some parts are willing to change and adapt to today’s culture, whereas other parts are dedicated to keeping the history alive, and honoring the culture of the past.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END: Between Piedmont Avenue & Jesse Hill Jr. Drive
I walked east down Auburn Avenue from Piedmont Avenue. On the first block, between Piedmont and Jesse Hill Jr. Drive NE, there were about ten or so people walking along the sidewalks, mostly because of the transit stop there, but also because of the few restaurants and shops that occupy the space.
Martin Luther King mural and quote on Jesse Hill Jr. Drive.
At the corner of Jesse Hill Jr. Drive and Auburn Avenue, there are two large murals: one of Martin Luther King Jr. with his famous quote, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends,” and the other is of John Lewis, with the quote, “I appeal to all of you to get into this great revolution sweeping this nation. Get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes, until the revolution of 1776 is complete.” These murals are facing one another, as if in constant communication and alliance. It is especially fitting for these two murals to be placed at the intersection of these two streets, since . Jesse Hill Jr. worked for the Atlanta Life Insurance Company and, as a man with great authority, instructed his company to quietly underwrite certain civil rights initiatives, such as bailing out individuals arrested for participating in non-violent protests. This intersection commemorates and encourages friendship, speaking out, and community involvement in today’s culture.
John Lewis’s quote, by his mural, on Jesse Hill Jr. Drive.Mural of John Lewis, across from the mural of Martin Luther King Jr.
NOW IS THE NEW THEN: New businesses occupy the spaces of old.
Boarded up, Atlanta Life Insurance Company Branch OfficeNew businesses, taking the place of the Odd Fellows building.
Walking past this intersection, on the adjacent corner on a light post is a sign, “DRUG TESTING OFFICE 1ST FLOOR.” Well, that was quite a change in morality from one street to another. This sign is situated on the corner, right in front of an abandoned building that is boarded up, which just so happened to have been the Atlanta Insurance Company Branch Office, whose title is visible, though faded. Across the street, there are various offices of small businesses, occupying the historic building of the Atlanta Chapter of the Grand Order of Odd Fellows (a fraternal organization supporting and networking the black business community), who built this substantial building as their headquarters and to provide much needed office, retail, professional meeting and entertainment space for African Americans. Going to the corner, there is a restaurant called “Wok n Roll” which also occupies the building of the headquarters for the Odd Fellows.
Mural on Bell Street.
Across the street, on the left-hand corner of Auburn Avenue and Bell Street, there is another mural, and this one is of Evelyn Gibson Lowery next to a painting sign for the SCLC women, and the words “Championing the rights of women, children, and families, and responding to the problems of the disenfranchised regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, or religion.” Upon trying to find out what this building was originally used for, I was unable to find any site to propose a special purpose, and only retail listings as office space, and a recent history of being the Black Lion nightclub, and then the Connect Lounge. The space is currently boarded up.
HISTORY: Don’t let go, Auburn!
AUBURN: I’ll never let go!
John Wesley Dobbs Plaza at the beginning of the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District
Next, I continued walking, past the bridge, and across Fort Street, to the beginning of the King Historic District at John Wesley Dobbs Plaza. There are only a few people around this immediate area, mostly homeless, but there is a lot of traffic down Fort Street because of its vicinity to the highway, so it gets a lot louder around here, but it quickly became quiet as I walked further down. The plaza did however have a sign, explaining the decline of Auburn Avenue. It also explains how the culture of the buildings and people between Fort Street and Bell Street were thought of as less important than the new era of highways and urban development. Between Fort Street and Howell Street, there is a mixture of boarded up, closed businesses, historic sites and organizations, as well as new businesses which seem to alternate up and down the building space. There is the Southern Christian Leadership Conference building, then an Escape the Room recreational business, and then a Women’s Southern Christian Leadership building.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference building was influential in the times of the Civil Rights Movement.Escape the Room is an entertainment business that is becoming popular now, especially among those in their mid-teens to mid-twenties.The Women’s Southern Cristian Leadership Conference building, next to the original Southern Christian Leadership Conference Building.
Mural on the corner of Auburn Avenue and Hilliard Street.
There is another mural across Hilliard Street, which highlights the white flight era and one of the main reasons for the decline of the street. But it also speaks culturally, as the area is still a black neighborhood. From this area on, up until Howell Street and Old Fourth Ward, there is the King Center and other churches. The area is almost entirely the same as in the past, besides minor renovations to the buildings, and the addition of statues and commemorative landmarks. To learn more about the Martin Luther King Historic Site, you may visit this web address to learn more. You may also check out my first built environment description about the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.
