Old Fourth Ward was originally populated in the early 1800s. According to the data sheet and maps that McPheeters (2012) collected, the neighborhood was racially mixed in the 1890s, but in the early decades of the 20th century, the area began to become more populated with the African American middle class due to the expansion of businesses east of Auburn Avenue, and the vicinity of Morris Brown College.

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Old Fourth Ward is considered a very important landmark for activism of civil rights due to the vast amount of famous activists and other members of the black community that withheld a great amount historical significance that were born and raised there. The Old Fourth Ward district takes a decent amount of pride in the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born and raised there, and for good reason. It is also home to political activist John Wesley Dobbs, successful mortician and civic leader David Tobias Howard, as well as many other advocates for activism on civil rights.

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It wasn’t until roughly the 1980s that significant changes started being made to the area. An influx of new businesses, shops, and neighborhoods began flooding the area. The Atlanta website mentions that Old Fourth Ward has continued to evolve and redefine itself. It now contains historic landmarks, but has been surrounded by a modern threshold of new neighborhoods and parks.