During the first half of the 20th century, the historic Westside was a bustling middle-class Black community with manicured neighborhoods – but as socioeconomic inequities set in, so did neglect.

Over the years, many properties on the Westside became vacant, abandoned and blighted, leaving rotting shells of former homes engulfed in overgrown vegetation. The unsightly nature of the situation pushed out families, and drew in crime.

Lee Harrop, vice president of Real Estate Development at Westside Future Fund (WFF), says it’s a cycle that without intervention will only get worse, which is why the organization is working to purchase as much of the blighted property as possible to help beautify and sustain the community.

“One of the reasons we work so hard to purchase, secure and maintain these blighted properties is that blight leads to more blight. It’s the broken window theory—if you fix the broken window, people won’t feel as inclined to break the one next to it,” said Harrop.

To date, WFF has purchased 189 vacant or blighted properties on the Westside—120 vacant lots and 69 severely deteriorated single family homes. Of those single family homes, 25 have been or are slated for demolition due to safety concerns. An additional 18 have been renovated and sold or rented, and 29 more are either under construction or awaiting city permitting.

One area of focus in the clean-up effort has been the streets surrounding the newly-constructed Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park. While partner organization Park Pride was redeveloping the park, WFF set off to purchase and clean-up blighted properties on surrounding blocks. The side-by-side projects had a double-dipper effect, reducing blight and increasing quality of health and life for people living next to the park in the future and preserving that land for legacy residents.

“We try to take blight out of the equation anywhere that we can. We managed to get rid of all the blight in the Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park development area, so now we’re focusing on the next blocks beyond that. Removing the blight has also pushed out squatters, many of whom were engaging in illegal activity. By pushing them out, the park area has become much safer for families and children,” said Harrop.

On Proctor Street, one of the streets bordering the park, WFF has already constructed, sold and closed several homes through the Home on the Westside program. The program aims to provide legacy residents of the Westside with newly-renovated or constructed, affordable homes in the community.

While WFF works to redevelop and rejuvenate these properties, they have to be secured, consistently monitored and maintained.

Thanks to a partnership with Westside-local non-profit Integrity Home Solutions, that maintenance is made easier, says Raquel Hudson, director of Property Assets and Volunteer Programs.

“Integrity Home Solutions makes sure our properties are cut regularly, keeping the grass at a proper height, cutting back bushes and branches and keeping the properties beautified. They also check to make sure there’s no dumping or trash, which is a huge problem here on the Westside, particularly on vacant properties. If there is, Integrity Home Solutions cleans it up for us,” said Hudson. “They’ve been a great partner in helping us in our mission.”

In cases where clean up efforts may need to be more extensive, Integrity Home Solutions helps identify key areas for WFF monthly Community Cleanup, volunteer events that aim to remove trash and overgrowth over larger areas.

The purchase, maintenance and renovation of these blighted and vacant properties is essential to the organizational mission of WFF to revitalize the Westside, and the organization has plans in store to continue this effort over the coming years.

Revitalizing our community is a team effort, one that relies heavily on the support of our many incredible volunteers. To thank them for their hard work and dedication, we shine a light on people who actively support our mission.

This month, we’re spotlighting Alesha Bell, a Westside local committed to helping transform our community for the better. See what inspires him to give her time as a volunteer for Westside Future Fund.

Q: How did you first hear about the Westside Future Fund?

A: Back in 2018, I was looking for organizations in my neighborhood I could volunteer with and when I searched on Google, I fell upon the Westside Future Fund website and was immediately interested. Their vision to transform the Westside resonated with me as a resident.

Q: What is your favorite part of serving with the WFF Volunteer Corp?

A: For me, it’s my love for making a difference in my community and actually touching the lives of my neighbors.

Q: What inspires you about this service opportunity?

A: As a mother of two small children, I want to set an example for them by serving our community in a way that shows integrity, a loving spirit and leadership. My children are my inspiration, encouraging me every single day to always do the right thing in my community.

Q: What do you want others to know about the Westside Future Fund and why it’s so important?

A: It is so important as residents of the Westside that we are strong together and that we care for one another. Our strength in numbers displays our passion and growth in our community. We can only go up from there!

A Worker from a Young Age

In 1933, Dorothy Bolden began working as a domestic worker for a white Atlanta family near her Vine City home in the Westside community. She was nine years old. Every day after school, she’d work at the family’s home, caring for their baby, washing diapers and cleaning the house.

In 11th grade, she dropped out of school and began working full-time as a domestic worker. She would begin at 8 a.m. and finish in the early evening, just after dinner. Despite working nearly 12 hours a day, she only earned $3 per week.

For Bolden, domestic work was the only lifestyle she knew. When she was born in 1924, her mother was a maid and washerwoman. Before she began working on her own, Bolden and her brother would deliver the laundry their mother washed for other families.

The work was grueling. From the beginning, Bolden longed to leave the domestic workforce, but was limited by an injury she suffered at age three, which left her eyesight severely damaged. She attempted to attend design school and work in a mailroom, but her poor vision made it near impossible. She ultimately landed back as a domestic worker.

Unfortunately for many Black women at the time, this was a vicious cycle. Domestic work was one of the few careers readily available to them due to a litany of restrictions caused by segregation. It was unrightfully viewed as an unskilled job, resulting in low wages, long hours and poor treatment.

At the age of 16, Bolden experienced poor treatment firsthand. Her employer demanded she stay late one evening to wash dishes and tidy up the house. With nightfall just around the corner, she refused and left. On her way home, she was confronted by two Atlanta police officers who promptly arrested her for talking back to a white woman. She was jailed and eventually bailed out by her family at great financial expense.

Family, Misfortune and Motivation

A few years later in 1944, Bolden met Abraham Thompson and the two were married. The couple had nine children together— three passed away at a young age and the other six lived on to adulthood.

Bolden took a few years off from work to care for her family, but economic conditions were unfavorable and forced her back into the domestic workforce. This time around, with years of experience under her belt, she was able to command a higher rate with some larger homes paying her as much as $90 per week.

Still, the pay did not satisfy the exhaustion. Each day, she would wake up at 4 a.m. to travel to the white neighborhoods she served, then return home in the evening to prepare meals and care for her children. While she claimed to like the work to some degree, the exhaustion it caused and the mistreatment she suffered at the hands of families she served were taking a toll.

One day in 1955, Bolden was watching TV when she saw the news of Rosa Parks in Alabama refusing to give up her seat. The exhaustion she saw in the fellow labor worker’s eyes inspired her to move for change, and that’s when her mission began.

A Quest for Change

Bolden quickly dove into the world of activism, volunteering with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and her impact was immediately noticeable. She played an integral role in school desegregation, voter registration and housing reform.

Bolden was still unsatisfied, arguing that desegregated schools and housing was pointless when Black women working as domestic workers couldn’t even afford clothes for their children to attend the schools. That’s when she turned her attention and activism toward the cause closest to her heart, supporting her fellow domestic workers.

Having grown up in Vine City and working tirelessly to build an activism network in the community, she turned to her new neighbor on Sunset Avenue and asked for some guidance on how to form a union for her fellow workers. That neighbor was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

King had heard of Bolden’s work with local organizations and encouraged her to move forward with the formation of a union, saying he knew she had the ability to do it herself. So she did.

Forming a union required her to meet with her constituents. With years of domestic work experience herself, she knew there was little to no time for them to meet outside of work hours, so she met them at the one place she knew they’d be every day— the bus.

For months, Bolden would ride buses at the same time domestic workers were traveling to and from their jobs. She championed her cause, urging domestic workers to join her in forming a union – and they agreed.

A Union is Born

In 1968, more than 70 domestic workers elected Bolden as president of the newly-formed National Domestic Workers of America, one of the first of its kind in the country. While the organization had national in its name, it primarily served women in the Atlanta area.

The union’s first goal was to train the domestic workers in skills, including cooking, shopping, child care and elder care. Though most workers already possessed the skills, Bolden and the union provided a formal training program, which helped them argue that the workers were now professionally trained and worthy of higher pay and better treatment.

The union’s impact was noticeable; domestic workers were now receiving reasonable pay and there was a clear shift in the overall environment of the career, with many workers feeling more confident and proud of their work. Soon, similar organizations began to sprout up around the country, and the government took notice.

In 1970, the union announced the first Maids’ Honor Day, during which employers nominated their employees to be recognized at a local gala to celebrate their hard work. Two years later, then-Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter announced the day would be recognized as a state holiday. Bolden stood next to him during the address.

Over the next three decades, the union would remain a prominent force for protecting the rights of domestic workers. Bolden’s success earned her national recognition, and over the years she acted as an advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. She remained a key leader of the union until her retirement in the mid-1990s. Bolden passed away in 2005.

While the traditional domestic worker role has changed significantly over the years, Bolden’s legacy was crucial to providing the safe and fair work environment that home caretakers experience today.

Born in 1908, Dr. Irene Dobbs Jackson was the first of six daughters born to Irene and John Wesley Dobbs. In her early years, Irene, known as “Renie,” and her family resided in Auburn Avenue, a thriving neighborhood in Atlanta known as an epicenter of Black culture and excellence in the South. She was a brilliant academic, graduating valedictorian of her high school and 1929 Spelman College classes, and a talented pianist, a skill that ultimately led her to her future husband.

In 1932, while playing piano at a party in her Auburn Avenue neighborhood, Renie met Maynard Jackson Sr., her husband-to-be. Before tying the knot, she moved to France to study for a Master’s degree in French at the University of Toulouse.

During this same time, her father John Wesley Dobbs embarked on a mission to secure voting rights for Black Americans. Believing that enfranchisement was the key to overcoming segregation, Dobbs started a voter registration drive in 1936 with a goal of registering 10,000 Black voters in Georgia. That year, Dobbs founded the Atlanta Civic and Political League, and over the next decade more than 20,000 Black citizens were registered to vote. In 1946, following this decade of success, Dobbs founded the Atlanta Negro Voters League and, using his found influence and leadership, convinced then-Mayor Hartsfield Jackson to integrate the Atlanta Police force.

By then, Renie had returned from France and married Jackson Sr., a preacher at Friendship Baptist Church. In 1949, the couple built and moved into their new home at 220 Sunset Avenue in the Vine City neighborhood on the Westside. They chose the location for their family’s home because of the neighborhood’s reputation as a nice, middle-class Black neighborhood. The couple and their six children lived in apartment three on the second floor. Maynard used the third floor apartment as his office and they rented out the two first-floor units to generate additional income.

During this time, Jackson Sr. became increasingly involved in the local push for civil rights for Black Atlantans, using his position as a leader in his prominent Black church to encourage increased political involvement in the Black community.

A few years later in 1953, Jackson Sr. passed away and Renie decided to further pursue her education, returning again to the University of Toulouse for a doctorate in French. In 1959, she returned home to both her Sunset Avenue home and alma mater Spelman College, where she assumed a post as a professor.

As a scholar in a constant pursuit of new knowledge, she headed to her local Atlanta Public Library. While in France, she had been free to join any library she chose and check out any books-–but that was not the case at home. Segregation restricted Black people from full participation in the library system. Black Atlantans were permitted to read books, but only in the basement of a segregated branch of the library system. Additionally, they couldn’t hold an official library card to the main branches of the Atlanta Public Library system.

Determined to be the difference, Dr. Jackson walked into the main branch of the Atlanta Public Library and demanded equal treatment, applying for a library card. Within a few days, her application was approved, and Dr. Irene Jackson was the first Black person in the city’s history to be issued a public library card. Today, she’s credited with integrating the Atlanta Public Library system.

Her leadership in the fight for equality went on to inspire her children, including her son Maynard Jackson Jr. From his earliest days on Sunset Avenue into his adulthood, Maynard Jr. was a champion for the Black community. After years of community leadership, he was elected as Atlanta’s first Black mayor in 1973.

The Jackson family sold their home in 1969, but its historical significance grew. In 1970, the home was purchased by Southern Rural Action Incorporated and was used to house visiting scholars who came to see The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, an organization founded by Coretta Scott King, wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In 2020, Westside Future Fund purchased the Sunset Avenue home to restore and apply for historic designation on the National Register of Historic Places. Renovations are currently underway. Once completed, the reimagined property will serve as affordable housing for researchers and graduate students affiliated with the Atlanta University Center, and it will stand as a landmark for years to come.

During #BlackHistoryMonth, Westside Future Fund is highlighting some of the places, people and events that form the rich history of our neighborhoods — English Avenue, Vine City, Ashview Heights and Atlanta University Center.

Vine City

1905: Alonzo Herndon founds the Atlanta Life Insurance Company

Formerly enslaved, Alonzo Herndon (1858-1927) is heralded as “Atlanta’s first Black millionaire.” He was a brilliant businessman who started as a barber, opening several shops across the city including one at 66 Peachtree Street that donned crystal chandeliers, gold fixtures and the reputation of being the largest and best barbershop in the region. He went on to start the Atlanta Life Insurance Company in 1905 with $5,000 in assets — and by 1922, the company’s value had grown to over $400,000.

Using the wealth from his barbershops and life insurance company, Herndon purchased more than 100 properties worth more than $325,000. By his death in 1927, it was estimated that he was worth roughly $1 million — roughly $17 million today — making him one of the wealthiest Black people in the nation at the time. Herndon and his wife, Adrienne, designed, purchased and moved into a Beaux Arts home for the family in the southern part of Vine City that was constructed by Black Atlanta craftsmen in 1910. The structure still stands today and sits in close proximity to the Vine City MARTA station.

1923: Dorothy Bolden is born in Vine City

At only nine years old, Dorothy Bolden was already working as a domestic worker in a nearby Atlanta home, and she would continue in that work for the next 49 years. Her experience was tumultuous, and she was once arrested after an incident with her boss for “talking back to a white woman,” and she was submitted to a psychiatric facility for evaluation. These experiences led her to her calling.

A neighbor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Vine City, Bolden utilized their combined network to connect with families all over Atlanta, particularly women working as domestic workers. During the 1960s, domestic workers endured 13-hour workdays and received minimal pay. In 1968, Bolden began the process for the organization of a national union for domestic workers to improve wages and working conditions. She gathered more than 13,000 women from 10 cities to form the National Domestic Workers Union, an organization responsible for tremendous progress for domestic workers. Her work ultimately earned national recognition and earned her advisorships to the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

1966: Martin Luther King, Jr. moves to the Westside

Born in Atlanta in 1929, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. moved back in 1960 after years of studying theology in Boston and leading Civil Rights initiatives in Montgomery. His return came as he worked to expand the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and he preached alongside his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

In 1966, a year after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. King and his family purchased the four-bedroom home at 234 Sunset Avenue in Vine City. He would spend the next two years in his Atlanta home, working tirelessly in the fight for equality and justice before being assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. Following his death, his wife Coretta Scott King remained at the home and founded the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization she led from the basement of their Westside home for years to come.

1967: Helen Howard founds the Vine City Foundation, Inc.

A resident of Vine City, Helen Howard saw a grave need for action to save the community from continued decline. Alongside fellow community members, Howard organized the Vine City Foundation, Inc. to provide urgently needed resources to residents including a free medical clinic, nursery, legal advice and a food cooperative.

1973: Maynard Jackson Jr. forms 1973 mayoral campaign at Pascal’s Restaurant

Facing the challenge of potentially being both the youngest and first Black Mayor of Atlanta, Maynard Jackson, Jr., knew he had to put together a world-class campaign for office. Tucked away in Vine City, Pascal’s was known as the gathering spot for political, religious and activist leaders. In 1973, Jackson gathered a small team to create a strategy to win the race to be Atlanta’s next mayor — their plan worked. Jackson went on to serve three terms (1974-1978, 1978-1982, 1990-1994) as mayor, second to only six-term Mayor William B. Hartsfield. Today, both men are the combined namesake of Atlanta’s airport, the busiest in the world, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

During #BlackHistoryMonth, we are highlighting some of the places, people and events that form the rich history of our neighborhoods — English Avenue, Vine City, Ashview Heights and Atlanta University Center.

English Avenue

1881: Captain James W. English elected Mayor of Atlanta

A revered Civil War Captain, James W. English is the namesake of the English Avenue neighborhood. After his election as mayor in 1881, his efforts as promoter-in-chief of Atlanta as an industrial hub included organizing the 1881 International Cotton Exposition directly adjacent to the railroad on the northeast edge of English Avenue. It aimed at “attracting Northern investment to Atlanta by demonstrating the virtually unlimited potential for economic development and capital growth in the New South.” In 1891 the ex-mayor’s eldest son, James W. English, Jr., purchased a large tract south of the exposition site and began the development of the contemporary area of English Avenue. It was designed for Atlanta’s White working class. Transportation was fundamental to the neighborhood’s early expansion. Many residents in the northern area of the neighborhood, near North Avenue, commuted to the nearby downtown business district along Peachtree Street via the several streetcars that connected the neighborhood to the downtown district until the 1960s. English Avenue School opened in 1910 to serve White, working-class students from the nearby community — but that would change several years later in 1950.

1950: City of Atlanta changes the racial designation of English Avenue School from White to Black

The population of English Avenue saw a significant change in demographics over the course of the first half of the 20th century. A once dominantly White, working class neighborhood, English Avenue had shifted toward a majority Black population by the middle of the century. Quickly, the white population began to migrate out of the community resulting in a gradual decline in the overall population and the disappearance of resources necessary for supporting residents.

1960: English Avenue School is bombed

In the wake of the mobilization of the Atlanta Student Movement, the English Avenue School was victim to a bombing in December of 1960. The act was interpreted as retaliation for the Atlanta University Center students’ desegregation campaign. A Chicago Tribune article reported that two “classrooms and an auditorium were smashed and windows were knocked out in nearby homes. The blast was heard 10 miles away.” Just the day prior, the auditorium had been used for a prayer session ahead of anti-segregation protests.

1995: English Avenue School permanently closes

With the community population having shrunk significantly since the school’s foundation, the City of Atlanta made the decision to close the English Avenue School in1995. Since the school’s closing, the building has remained unoccupied. In 2010, the building was bought by the Greater Vine City Opportunities Program, under the leadership of Mable Thomas, a graduate of the English Avenue School, with the intention of converting the building into a community center. On March 23, 2020, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. To date, Thomas’ ambitions of a community center have not been realized, but the building will remain protected for the foreseeable future.

1998 & 2011: Tom Wolfe publishes A Man in Full; Snow on tha Bluff airs in theaters

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the English Avenue community had fallen into decay. The outward migration from the community over the past 50 years had left vacant, blighted properties scattered throughout the neighborhoods and scarce community resources. As a result, some residents turned to crime and drugs to fund their needs — which in turn led to an outbreak of violence. With robberies, homicides and arrests quickly on the rise in the neighborhood, national media took notice. In 1998, Tom Wolfe would publish A Man in Full, a controversial, best-selling novel highlighting tensions between Atlanta’s wealthy White elites and a Black collegiate athlete and English Avenue resident accused of rape. Over a decade later, Snow on tha Bluff would air in theaters. The movie is a dramatization of the illegal drug trade in the English Avenue community, colloquially known as “Tha Bluff,” and the violence within the community.

2006: 92-year old Kathryn Johnson is murdered by three Atlanta Police officers

The brutal 2006 killing of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston – resident of Neal Street – by three Atlanta Police officers brought the use of excessive force and police brutality against black Atlantans to greater public attention and prompted a reorganization of the City’s drug investigation unit. Further, the killing prompted a renewed push for community mobilization and improvement. The incident sparked the modern movement for a national conversation surrounding police brutality and reform in the law enforcement system that continues to today.

During #BlackHistoryMonth, we are highlighting some of the places, people and events that form the rich history of our neighborhoods — English Avenue, Vine City, Ashview Heights and Atlanta University Center.

Atlanta University Center

1865: Atlanta University founded

Founded by the American Missionary Association and supported by the Freedman’s Bureau, Atlanta University was once the nation’s oldest graduate institution serving a predominantly African-American student body. In the early years of its existence, the university served primarily to educate and train teachers and librarians for Black communities. In the 1920s, the programs expanded and the school began offering graduate programs in liberal arts and social and natural sciences, later further expanding to offer library science, business and social work programs. In 1947, the Atlanta School of Social Work gave up its charter to join the university. One of the leaders of that effort was W.E.B. Dubois who had worked in faculty at the university for a total of 23 years by that time. Dubois would go on to become a world-renowned author, with many of his most influential works being written during his time at the university.

1867: Morehouse College founded

While often viewed as a staple of Atlanta, the city wasn’t always home to Morehouse College — at least not in its original form. Morehouse was originally named the Augusta Institute and was located at Springfield Baptist Church in Augusta. The school was founded by Rev. William Jefferson White alongside Rev. Richard C. Coulter and Rev. Edmund Turney. Just over a decade later in 1879, the institute moved to Atlanta’s Friendship Baptist Church and became Atlanta Baptist Seminary. In 1897, the school again changed its name, this time to Atlanta Baptist College to reflect the expansion of programs within the school beyond theology. At last, it came to its modern name in 1913 being renamed Morehouse College to honor Henry Lyman Morehouse, corresponding secretary of American Baptist Home Mission. Over the next few decades, the school would rise to fame as a result of being the alma mater of national Black icons like Martin Luther King Jr., Julian Bond, Maynard Jackson, and more. In 1975, the school opened the Morehouse School of Medicine, which at the time would be only the third medical school in the state (today there are five) and would go on to be a leading educator of Black doctors in the Nation.

1869: Clark University founded

Having been founded by Freedman’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Clark University shared a close bond with the denomination. Its named after Bishop Davis W. Clark, who was the first president of the Freedmen’s Aid Society and became bishop in 1864. The first class held at the school took place in Clark Chapel, a small Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta. The university was viewed as the flagship school of the denomination, “giving tone” to all other institutions of the Methodist Episcopal Church providing education for Black people according to Bishop Gilbert Haven, Bishop Clark’s successor. Clark University would go on to be renamed Clark College in 1877, and the Methodist Episcopal Church would join with the other branches of Methodists to become the United Methodist Church in 1968. Clark University was one of the first research institutions established in the Nation and today is internationally known for its research contributions.

1881: Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary (later Spelman College) founded

Founded by Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles, Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary held its first classes in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church. Despite only having four teachers and being housed in a basement, John D. Rockefeller pledged $250 to the school in 1882 after meeting Packard and Giles in just the start of the school’s rise to fame. A year later, the school moved to its current location, occupying nine acres with five frame buildings. In 1884, the school is renamed to Spelman Seminary in honor of Mrs. Laura Spelman Rockefeller and her parents Harvey Buel and Lucy Henry Spelman, longtime activists in the antislavery movement. The name would formally become Spelman College in 1924. Over the next century to the present day, Spelman would expand its extensive liberal arts and sciences programs and become a model university, winning countless awards and being acknowledged as one of the top universities in the country.

1881: Morris Brown College founded

Similar to most of the universities, Morris Brown College was founded with religious roots. Reverend Wesley John Gaines of the African Methodist Episcopal Church saw a need for additional higher education institutions in Atlanta for Black youth. Just 20 years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, over 100 students and 9 teachers walked into a wooden building at the corner of Boulevard and Houston Streets in Atlanta, Georgia, marking the opening of the first educational institution in Georgia under sole African-American patronage. The school was named to honor the memory of the second consecrated Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

1929: Atlanta University Center Consortium, Inc. is formed

Generations after their foundation, five historically Black institutions cemented their partnerships and consolidated into what is today called the Atlanta University Center Consortium, Inc. The consortium is comprised of four institutions today: Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Spelman College. Both Morris Brown College and the Interdenominational Theological Center are former members who are largely significant to the Consortium’s rich legacy.

1960: Morehouse students Lonnie King, Joseph Pierce, and Julian Bond organize the Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR)

Inspired by the sit-in movement in other cities, students of the black colleges in Atlanta formed the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights. The group went on to lead protests and sit-ins in Atlanta and nearby areas, and within a short time, inspired the start of the Atlanta Student Movement.

1988: Atlanta University and Clark College merge to form Clark Atlanta University

Having complimentary programs and a need for closer working arrangements between the two universities, a joint committee formed in 1987 by the Boards of Trustees of Atlanta University and Clark College authorized an exploration of the potential of a consolidation of the two universities. After a year, the group delivered a report of the exploration entitled Charting A Bold New Future: Proposed Combination of Clark College and Atlanta University to the Boards for ratification. The report recommended the two schools be combined — and both Boards agreed. That year, the schools merged in a historic moment, forming what is now Clark Atlanta University.

During #BlackHistoryMonth, we are highlighting some of the places, people and events that form the rich history of our neighborhoods — English Avenue, Vine City, Ashview Heights and Atlanta University Center.

Ashview Heights

1910s: Herman Perry begins developing what will become Ashview Heights

With the Atlanta City Street Railway having arrived in the area in an effort to spur suburban development in the city, Herman Perry saw an opportunity for investment in the area adjacent to the Atlanta University Center. At the time, the Sweet Auburn area, long favored by black residents, was surrounded by white neighborhoods, which posed difficulties for the community as segregation practices prevented black residents from expanding into nearby neighborhoods. Perry built houses and made mortgages to new buyers in a time when mortgages were difficult to attain. The placement of the community also opened the doors for Black communities to expand West into largely vacant areas.

1924: Booker T. Washington School opens

In one of the first examples of comprehensive community planning for African Americans in the nation, Herman Perry deeded land to the city for Atlanta’s first black high school, Booker T. Washington. The school had similar features to Atlanta’s white high schools with a combined academic and vocational curriculum. Because Washington was the only black high school in the area, it quickly became overcrowded. The school was built for 2,000 students, and within ten years, almost 6,000 students were attending Washington High School. Highly qualified teachers, some of which came over from the private high schools in the AUC, taught classes of over fifty students often without sufficient books and materials. For this reason, Washington teachers maintained a close relationship with AUC schools and often got the resources they needed through these close partnerships. The school became renowned for the education of dozens of prominent black Americans, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Mattiwilda Dobbs, an opera singer, and State Senator Leroy Johnson, the first black State Senator after the period of Reconstruction.

1958: Dr. Asa G. Yancey becomes the first African-American member of the medical faculty at Emory University

Born and raised in Ashview Heights, Asa G. Yancey led the way for Black medical professionals in Atlanta. Yancey was both the first African-American doctor at Grady Memorial Hospital and Emory University Hospital. He spent years on the staffs of both hospitals, not leaving until his retirement in 1989, and is credited for the development of the Cardiology Center at Emory alongside fellow doctors. In 1972, Yancey was appointed medical director of Grady Memorial Hospital and associate dean at Emory University Medical School. He was appointed full Professor of Surgery at Emory University Medical School in 1975.

1960: Ashview Heights hits peak population

Having become a preferred living area for Black families, Ashview Heights hit its highest population count in 1960 with 4,500 residents. The gradual decline of resources and support in the Westside neighborhoods due to neglect would take its toll over the years, however. Today, only 2,700 people live in the community.

In celebration of Black History Month, community members and business leaders came together at the Westside Future Fund (WFF) Transform Westside Summit on Friday, February 16, to learn about revitalization efforts of Atlanta’s Black Main Street on the historic Westside.

Panelists discussed the importance of Black History Month, the rich history of the Westside and active work to revitalize Martin Luther King Jr. Drive as Atlanta’s Black Main Street – a once bustling gathering spot for Black leaders and visionaries through the 20th century.

Event Highlights

Panelists included: Annette Abernathy, President of Ralph David Abernathy III Foundation; Reverend Dr. Herman “Skip” Mason Jr., Historian and Senior Pastor of Historic West Mitchell Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; and Jay Scott, Founder of Greenrock Partners.

Reverend Leroy Wright of First Thessalonians Missionary Baptist Church led the devotion and moderators Ebony Ford and Benjamin Early invited new members of the crowd to introduce themselves. Dr. Candy Tate, founding president of Culture Center International, moderated the discussion.

Prior to the panelist discussion, attendees took a moment to remember the late Akbar Imhotep who passed away in December 2022. He was a Westside historian and poet who came to the Summits regularly.

Reverend Dr. Herman “Skip” Mason Jr. led off the panelist discussion with a presentation of the many historical landmarks lining Martin Luther King Jr. Drive corridor including Pascal’s restaurant, West Hunter Baptist Street Church and more. Annette Abernathy and Jay Scott then discussed ongoing restoration efforts of West Hunter Baptist Street Church, the place where Civil Rights luminary Ralph David Abernathy preached during his time in Atlanta.

Couldn’t attend the event? Watch the full Transform Westside Summit on YouTube.

[WATCH NOW]

Transforming Our Summits

As a reminder, the Transform Westside Summit now takes place on the third Friday of each month from 7:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The Summit, which began in 2016 as the brainchild of Chick-fil-A Chairman Dan Cathy, was created to foster community fellowship and networking.

“We hope that starting later and hosting fewer meetings each month will help us maintain a high rate of engagement among Westside residents and community supporters,” said Westside Future Fund CEO Ahmann. “More than 10,000 people have attended our Summits over the years, and we hope more people will find value in the information we share. It plays a critical role in connecting business and civic leaders within our community, providing invaluable networking opportunities.”

In December of 2022, Steve Wilson became one of our newest Home on the Westside homeowners when he moved into 850 Proctor Street in the English Avenue neighborhood near Kathyrn Johnson Memorial Park. For Wilson, buying a home in the community where he was raised is special.

“The process for Home on the Westside was surprisingly simple, and it made me feel really at ease. I ended up with a wonderful home in a wonderful neighborhood back where I grew up…and I’m feeling like I’m back home again,” said Wilson.

He joins three Proctor Street Home on the Westside homeowners with two more closing on their new homes in March. Check out his home buying journey: https://youtu.be/ZOKDiAgE8II