People tend to believe that the environment shapes the individual, in this scenario, the built environment would then act as the mold in which the area finds itself. This is not true, rather, it is within the decisions an individual makes that shapes his or her outcome. The decisions of Auburn Avenue, or “Sweet Auburn,” can be seen in its built environment. Originally a white-owned commercial district called “Wheat Street,” renamed in 1893 to Auburn Avenue, Sweet Auburn (coined by John Dobbs) finds itself just miles away from bustling downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The built environment of Auburn Avenue looks the way it does today due to its decisions regarding its long history of segregation and its cultural representation of Civil Rights.
As Jim Crow laws ran rampant throughout the South, particularly in Georgia, African Americans were left to little choice in decisions on where to live. Jim Crow confounded the black American population in the parameters of Auburn Avenue. The beginnings of Sweet Auburn were bleak, yet the effects of its environment did not hinder its rise to success. Rather than wallowing in their powerlessness, the African American community banded together, and through their dedication, created a legacy that has resonated through the times; despites its exponential declination through the years.
The original built environment of Auburn Avenue was loaded with businesses left and right. Here are but some of the most iconic buildings, whose remnants remain to the present day; Atlanta Daily World, Atlanta Life Insurance, the Royal Peacock, and the famous Ebenezer Baptist Church. These buildings are of the few prominent structures that made up Sweet Auburn’s built environment, and although most of them are either torn down or long abandoned today, they still stand among others as components of the built environment.
Segregation, a political movement in its right, has shaped the street and its immediate area into what it is today. Despite the negative connotation that discrimination entails, there can be no denying its role in the creation of Auburn Avenue as its being contributed significantly to the overall development of The build environment. The projection of segregation in its built environment can still be seen today as the age-old buildings, including those mentioned above, stand testament to the atrocities and unfair treatments the street and its citizens faced as their existence came to be due to the implications of Jim Crow.