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183-609: Maddox was born in Atlanta, Georgia , the second of nine children born to Dean Garfield Maddox, a steelworker , and his wife, the former Flonnie Castleberry. Maddox left school shortly before graduation to help support the family by taking odd jobs, including real estate and grocery. He received his high school diploma through correspondence courses. During World War II , Maddox worked at the Bell Aircraft factory in Marietta, Georgia producing

366-611: A white supremacist group. In 1935, Maddox married seventeen-year-old Hattie Virginia Cox. Maddox's wife nursed him through all his illnesses and supported his political and business career, even though he had to spend much time away from the family. On June 25, 2003, after a fall while recuperating from intestinal surgery in an Atlanta hospice , Maddox died of complications from pneumonia and prostate cancer . He and his wife Virginia are both interred at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs in northern Fulton County, Georgia. Due to

549-520: A "far better governor than his critics will ever admit". Blackburn, a former U.S. representative, also noted that no accusation of corruption was made against Maddox, whose administration was characterized by economic development and the appointment of African Americans to state executive positions. Under the Georgia constitution of 1945, Maddox was prohibited from running for a second consecutive term. He therefore waged his second bid for lieutenant governor,

732-612: A 1,500-person bi-racial banquet to honor him (Atlanta was King's hometown). Furthermore, he shamed many of the white leaders in the city into supporting the event beyond pragmatic grounds. Many attended the dinner, making it a turning point in Atlanta's race relations. Upon hearing that Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot in Memphis , Mayor Allen immediately rushed to the support of Dr. King's wife. Allen and his wife were with Mrs. King when it

915-547: A Dream " speech, also calling for racial equality and an end to discrimination, later proving to be a very defining moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Excerpts from Allen's testimony were published in newspapers the day after he spoke in front of Congress: "I am firmly convinced that the Supreme Court insists the same fundamental rights must be held by every American citizen. Therefore, any failure by Congress to pass

1098-498: A Jewish-American factory superintendent, was convicted of the murder of a 13-year-old girl in a highly publicized trial. He was sentenced to death but the governor commuted his sentence to life. An enraged and organized lynch mob took him from jail in 1915 and hanged him in Marietta . The Jewish community in Atlanta and across the country were horrified. On May 21, 1917, the Great Atlanta Fire destroyed 1,938 buildings in what

1281-504: A better future for humankind. After Allen's death on July 2, 2003, at the age of 92, he was buried at Westview Cemetery in Atlanta. His remains were reinterred at Oakland Cemetery alongside other family members in 2009. Ivan Allen Jr. was awarded a Doctor of Public Service degree from Georgia Tech and honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Morris Brown College , Juniata College , Clark College , Morehouse College , LaGrange College , Emory University , and Davidson College . He

1464-447: A blacksmith shop, a grocery store, and nothing else". A year later, the area around the milepost had developed into a settlement, first known as Terminus , and later Thrasherville , after a local merchant who built homes and a general store in the area. By 1842, the town had six buildings and 30 residents and was renamed Marthasville to honor Governor Wilson Lumpkin's daughter Martha. Later, John Edgar Thomson , Chief Engineer of

1647-531: A brief bid for Georgia Governor on a segregationist platform. In a field of nine candidates, he lost to segregationist Marvin Griffin . In 1957, Allen resigned from his position as president of the Georgia State Chamber of Commerce, hired a press agent, and delivered speeches across Georgia as a potential candidate for the 1958 Gubernatorial Election. Again, he ran on a segregationist platform, but emphasized

1830-518: A businessman and civic leader. From an early age, Allen understood that his family was one of privilege. He began attending Boys High School in 1927, and was one of the few students to own a car. That same year, his father's name was published for the first time in the Social Cities Register, an annual list of elites in Richmond, Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah, and Augusta. He regularly attended

2013-588: A city of the " New South " that would be based upon a modern economy and less reliant on agriculture. By 1885, the founding of the Georgia School of Technology (now the Georgia Institute of Technology ) and the Atlanta University Center , a consortium of historically Black colleges made up of units for men and women, had established Atlanta as a center for higher education. In 1895, Atlanta hosted

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2196-496: A conviction about the moral rightness of racial equality – a belief would lead Allen to place himself at the center of a firestorm. Even before becoming mayor, Allen was involved in efforts to bring desegregation to Atlanta for the sake of Atlanta's businesses and city image. As president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, he worked closely with Judge A.T. Walden, longtime African-American leader; Opie Shelton, vice-president of

2379-492: A decreasing portion of the population, from a high of 67% in 1990 to 54% in 2010. From 2000 to 2010, Atlanta gained 22,763 white residents, 5,142 Asian residents, and 3,095 Hispanic residents, while the city's Black population decreased by 31,678. Much of the city's demographic change during the decade was driven by young, college-educated professionals: from 2000 to 2009, the three-mile radius surrounding Downtown Atlanta gained 9,722 residents aged 25 to 34 and holding at least

2562-571: A four-year degree, an increase of 61%. This was similar to the tendency in other cities for young, college educated, single or married couples to live in downtown areas. Between the mid-1990s and 2010, stimulated by funding from the HOPE VI program and under leadership of CEO Renee Lewis Glover (1994–2013), the Atlanta Housing Authority demolished nearly all of its public housing, a total of 17,000 units and about 10% of all housing units in

2745-472: A guest on The Dick Cavett Show on December 18, 1970. During a commercial break, fellow guest and former football player Jim Brown asked Maddox if he had "any trouble with the white bigots because of all the things you did for blacks". On the air, Cavett substituted the word "admirers" in place of "bigots", enraging Maddox. After demanding an apology from Cavett, and getting a carefully worded form of it, following further conversation, Maddox still walked off

2928-503: A key address to the public, he asked Atlantans to eliminate racial segregation and in doing so, to set an example to inspire "all the world". At the behest of President John F. Kennedy, Allen testified before Congress on behalf of what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . He was the only white southern politician of significance to do so. After his testimony, Allen and his family were under death threats and required police protection for

3111-541: A leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee claimed that Allen then instructed police to, "get them out of here, if you have to tear it down brick by brick," referring to their homes. Mayor Allen challenged members of Atlanta's prestigious Commerce Club to accept African American businessmen. When Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, Allen helped organize

3294-686: A major role in Atlanta's economy, as the city claims the nation's third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies (tied for third with Chicago ). It also hosts the global headquarters of several corporations such as The Coca-Cola Company , The Home Depot , Delta Air Lines , Arby's , AT&T Mobility , Georgia-Pacific , Chick-fil-A , Church's Chicken , Dunkin Donuts , Norfolk Southern Railway , Mercedes-Benz USA , NAPA Auto Parts , Papa Johns , Porsche AG , Newell Brands , Rollins, Inc. , Marble Slab Creamery , and UPS . Over 75% of Fortune 1000 companies conduct business operations in

3477-457: A more moderate approach to racial issues. In 1961, Maddox lost to Ivan Allen, Jr. , with whom he split the white vote. Allen's ability to garner virtually all of the black vote provided his margin of victory. In 1962, Maddox ran for lieutenant governor as a Democrat, against Peter Zack Geer , a candidate with whom he shared segregationist and states' rights views. In an effort to differentiate themselves from each other, each attempted to paint

3660-569: A population of 510,823 living within the city limits, Atlanta is the eighth most populous city in the Southeast and 37th most populous city in the United States according to the 2020 U.S. census . It is the principal city of the much larger Atlanta metropolitan area , the core of which includes Cobb , Clayton and Gwinnett counties, in addition to Fulton and DeKalb. Metro Atlanta is home to more than 6.3 million people (2023 estimate), making it

3843-409: A postwar suburban layout. These include Collier Heights and Cascade Heights , historically home to much of the city's upper middle-class African-American population . Northwest Atlanta contains the areas of the city to west of Marietta Boulevard and to the north of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, including those neighborhoods remote to downtown, such as Riverside, Bolton and Whittier Mill. The latter

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4026-568: A reference to the closing of the Pickrick Restaurant to avoid desegregation. On winning the runoff, the Baptist Maddox, who neither smoked nor drank alcohol, described God as his "campaign manager". Stunned Arnall supporters announced a write-in candidacy for the general election, insisting that Georgians must have the option of a moderate Democrat beside the conservatives Maddox and Callaway. In his general election campaign, Maddox equated

4209-464: A right-wing brand of "populism", picturing government, rather than big business, as the villain. When Maddox sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 1966, his principal primary opponent was former governor Ellis Arnall . That election was still in the era of Democratic Party dominance in Georgia, when winning the Democratic primary was tantamount to election . There was no Republican primary at

4392-437: A rumor; the undercover agents provided no evidence for it other than their statement. As a precaution, Maddox stationed 160 state troopers to surround the capitol. Regardless, the funeral procession, attended by tens of thousands; was entirely peaceful. Maddox called MLK an "enemy of the people" after his assassination and refused to attend his funeral. Maddox considered personally raising flags that had been placed at half-mast at

4575-487: A segregationist stance while in office. Upon the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. , he denied the slain civil rights leader the honor of lying in state in the Georgia state capitol after being told by undercover agents in the Atlanta Police Department that there was a planned storming of the state capitol by participants in the crowd of mourners. No evidence has ever emerged that this was anything more than

4758-503: A segregationist. However, his business pragmatism led him to become an advocate for African American rights. He believed that to flourish, Atlanta must address its racial issues. Eventually, however, Allen was deeply affected by daily, firsthand dealings he faced with racial issues, as well as the profound questions African American citizens posed to him about their humanity and the cultural system that refused to recognize them. His pragmatic support of racial integration transformed rapidly into

4941-593: A small Atlanta repertory company produced a play entitled Red, White and Maddox . The play ridiculed Maddox and imagined him winning the 1972 U.S. presidential election , then starting a war with the Soviet Union . The show came to Broadway and ran for forty-one performances at the Cort Theatre before closing. Maddox was a supporter of the Vietnam War because of his anti-communist views, and he often told Georgia about

5124-450: A special election was held to fill his seat in Congress. Lester Maddox stated his intention to run for the seat if McDonald's wife, Kathy McDonald, did not. However, Kathy McDonald decided to run, and Maddox stayed out of the race; she lost to Democrat George "Buddy" Darden . Maddox had been using drugs from a Bahamian cancer clinic to treat his prostate cancer. In July 1985, he revealed that

5307-680: A strategic hub for the distribution of military supplies. In 1864, the Union Army moved southward following the capture of Chattanooga and began its invasion of north Georgia . The region surrounding Atlanta was the location of several major army battles, culminating with the Battle of Atlanta and a four-month-long siege of the city by the Union Army under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman . On September 1, 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood decided to retreat from Atlanta, and he ordered

5490-522: A successful business career, Maddox was relatively wealthy when he died. After Maddox's death in 2003, Tom Murphy , the former Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives , said of the former governor: "He had a reputation as a segregationist, but he told us he was not a segregationist, but that you should be able to associate with whoever you wanted. He went on to do more for African Americans than any governor of Georgia up until that time." This view

5673-523: A survey by the Williams Institute , Atlanta ranked third among major American cities, behind San Francisco and slightly behind Seattle , with 12.8% of the city's total population identifying as LGB. The Midtown and Cheshire Bridge areas have historically been the epicenters of LGBT culture in Atlanta. Atlanta formed a reputation for being a place inclusive to LGBT people after former mayor Ivan Allen Jr. dubbed it "the city too busy to hate" in

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5856-470: A telegram to the state's Board of Regents requesting Georgia Tech not to engage in racially integrated events, Georgia Tech's president Blake R. Van Leer rejected the request and threatened to resign. The game went on as planned. In the 1960s, Atlanta became a major organizing center of the civil rights movement , with Martin Luther King Jr. , Ralph Abernathy , and students from Atlanta's historically Black colleges and universities playing major roles in

6039-464: A terminus east of the Chattahoochee River , which would be linked to Savannah. After engineers surveyed various possible locations for the terminus, the "zero milepost" was driven into the ground in what is now Foundry Street, Five Points . When asked in 1837 about the future of the little village, Stephen Harriman Long , the railroad's chief engineer said the place would be good "for one tavern,

6222-555: A trial for contempt of court on September 29, Maddox argued against the charges because he was no longer offering service to out-of-state travelers or integrationists. On February 5, 1965, a federal court ruled that Maddox was in contempt of court for failing to obey the injunction and assigned fines of two hundred dollars a day for failing to serve African Americans. Maddox ultimately closed his restaurant on February 7, 1965, rather than integrate it; he claimed that President Lyndon Johnson and communists put him out of business. The building

6405-739: A venue for business networking and hospitality. He served as chairman until his death. Allen was an active member of the Atlanta Rotary Club from 1939 until his death. He served as president of the Community Chest and United Way, president of the Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and president of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. In 1947, he was selected to head the Community Chest fund drive, during which time he became

6588-525: A very personal basis. And I think I took some of my friends with me". Allen continued to engage racial issues throughout his eight years in office. He worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. By the time he stepped down, Atlanta was at the forefront of progress in public accommodations, school desegregation, voting rights, housing, and employment. Black citizens occupied positions on

6771-546: A very private commitment to himself and to his wife Louise that he would not seek a third term in office. This was not revealed to the public until January 1969, when Allen formally announced his decision at a meeting of the Atlanta Rotary Club. That year, he refused to publicly endorse any particular candidate in the mayoral race, until just days before the runoff between Sam Massell and Rodney Cook, when reports surfaced suggesting that Allen's vice-mayor and mayoral-elect, Massell, had abused his power as vice-mayor through misuse of

6954-498: A year. Ivan Earnest Allen Jr. was born in Atlanta on March 15, 1911, the only son of Ivan Allen Sr. (1876–1968) and Irene Beaumont Allen (1889–1972). His father Allen Sr. was co-founder of the Ivan Allen Company (1900), an office supply and furniture store that, by 1925, had about fifty employees and was one of Atlanta's best-known businesses. Allen Sr. was also a founding member of the Atlanta Rotary Club, served as president of

7137-443: Is 21 miles (34 km) southeast of Marietta , 27 miles (43 km) southwest of Alpharetta , 146 miles (235 km) southwest of Greenville, South Carolina , 147 miles (237 km) east of Birmingham, Alabama , and 245 miles (394 km) southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina . Despite having lost significant tree canopy coverage between 1973 and 1999, Atlanta now has the densest urban tree coverage of any major city in

7320-548: Is a growing population of Mexican ancestry throughout the region, with notable concentrations along the Buford Highway and I-85 corridor, and now extending into Gwinnett County. In 2013, Metro Atlanta had the 19th largest Hispanic population in the United States. The Atlanta area also has a fast growing Asian American population. The largest groups of Asian origin are those of Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Pakistani and Japanese descent. Pew Research Center ranks

7503-470: Is also based just outside of the city in suburban Cobb County . Ivan Allen, Jr. Ivan Earnest Allen Jr. (March 15, 1911 – July 2, 2003), was an American businessman who served two terms as the 52nd mayor of Atlanta , during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Allen took the helm of the Ivan Allen Company, his father's office supply business, in 1946 and within three years had

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7686-461: Is dominant. The eastside is marked by historic streetcar suburbs , built from the 1890s to the 1930s as havens for the upper middle class. These neighborhoods, many of which contain their own villages encircled by shaded, architecturally distinct residential streets, include the Victorian Inman Park , Bohemian East Atlanta , and eclectic Old Fourth Ward . On the westside and along

7869-573: Is headed by his son, Iman Allen. In 1936, Allen actively campaigned for Georgia Governor Eurith D. Rivers , serving in a number of state-government positions during the Rivers administration between 1936 and 1940. As treasurer of the State Hospital Authority, he raised $ 2.5 million by passing the state's first revenue certificate bond issue to rebuild the white section of the old state mental hospital at Milledgeville . When Pearl Harbor

8052-553: Is metro Atlanta's largest employer. UPS , the world's largest courier company, operates an air cargo hub at Hartsfield-Jackson, and has their headquarters in neighboring Sandy Springs . Media is also an important aspect of Atlanta's economy. In the 1980s, media mogul Ted Turner founded the Cable News Network (CNN), Turner Network Television (TNT), HLN (HLN), Turner Classic Movies (TCM), The Cartoon Network, Inc. and its namesake television network , TruTV (truTV) and

8235-464: Is not universally shared. In its obituary of the former governor, The New York Times called him an "arch segregationist"; to support this contention, the Times noted that his convictions included "the view that blacks were intellectually inferior to whites, that integration was a Communist plot, that segregation was somewhere justified in scripture and that a federal mandate to integrate [all-white] schools

8418-613: Is now the Old Fourth Ward , resulting in one fatality and the displacement of 10,000 people. On December 15, 1939, Atlanta hosted the premiere of Gone with the Wind , the epic film based on the best-selling novel by Atlanta's Margaret Mitchell . The gala event at Loew's Grand Theatre was attended by the film's legendary producer, David O. Selznick , and the film's stars Clark Gable , Vivien Leigh , and Olivia de Havilland , but Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel , an African-American actress,

8601-427: Is one of Atlanta's designated Landmark Historical Neighborhoods. Vine City, though technically Northwest, adjoins the city's Downtown area and has recently been the target of community outreach programs and economic development initiatives. Gentrification of the city's neighborhoods is one of the more controversial and transformative forces shaping contemporary Atlanta. The gentrification of Atlanta has its origins in

8784-642: Is water. The city is situated in the Deep South of the southeastern United States among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains . At 1,050 feet (320 m) above mean sea level, Atlanta has the highest elevation among major cities east of the Mississippi River . Atlanta straddles the Eastern Continental Divide . Rainwater that falls on the south and east side of the divide flows into

8967-495: The 1996 Summer Olympics . The Games impacted Atlanta's development growth into the 21st century, and significantly sparked investment in the city's universities, parks, and tourism industry. The gentrification of some of its neighborhoods has intensified in the 21st century with the growth of the Atlanta Beltline . This has altered its demographics , politics , aesthetics , and culture . For thousands of years prior to

9150-565: The Air France Flight 007 plane crash at Orly Airport in Paris. Many of the deceased had been personal friends of Allen. In his book, Allen wrote about going to Paris immediately after the crash: "I realized how insignificant I was, but I knew I had to assume the posture of representing these families and, indeed, the entire city of Atlanta, Georgia. I knew nothing about protocol, foreign relations, aviation, international agreements, or any of

9333-678: The B-29 Superfortress bomber. In 1944, Maddox, along with his wife Hattie Virginia ( née Cox, 1918–1997), used $ 400 in savings to open a combination grocery store-and-restaurant called Lester's Grill. Building on that success, the couple then bought property on Hemphill Avenue near the Georgia Institute of Technology campus to open up the Pickrick Restaurant. Maddox made the Pickrick a family affair, with his wife and children also working with him. Known for its simple, inexpensive Southern cuisine , including its specialty, skillet-fried chicken ,

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9516-506: The BeltLine on the eastside , former warehouses and factories have been converted into housing, retail space, and art galleries, transforming the once-industrial areas such as West Midtown into model neighborhoods for smart growth , historic rehabilitation, and infill construction. In southwest Atlanta, neighborhoods closer to downtown originated as streetcar suburbs, including the historic West End , while those farther from downtown retain

9699-518: The Cotton States and International Exposition , which attracted nearly 800,000 attendees and successfully promoted the New South's development to the world. During the first decades of the 20th century, Atlanta enjoyed a period of unprecedented growth. In three decades' time, Atlanta's population tripled as the city limits expanded to include nearby streetcar suburbs. The city's skyline grew taller with

9882-738: The Equitable Building (1892–1971), Terminal Station (1905–1972), and the Carnegie Library (1902–1977). In the mid-1970s, the Fox Theatre , now a cultural icon of the city, would have met the same fate if not for a grassroots effort to save it. More recently, preservationists may have made some inroads. For example, in 2016 activists convinced the Atlanta City Council not to demolish the Atlanta-Fulton Central Library,

10065-527: The First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta with his parents, and would later serve as an elder for many years and an active member until his death. Initially an indifferent student, Allen asserted himself during his last year at Boys High , earning a spot on the honor roll. In 1929, he enrolled in the School of Commerce at the Georgia Institute of Technology . During his first year at Georgia Tech, he

10248-581: The Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta (1992). Also completed during the era is the Portman-designed Bank of America Plaza built in 1992. At 1,023 feet (312 m), it is the tallest building in the city and the 14th-tallest in the United States. The city's embrace of modern architecture has often translated into an ambivalent approach toward historic preservation, leading to the destruction of many notable architectural landmarks. These include

10431-567: The Georgia Railroad , suggested the town be renamed Atlanta , supposedly a feminine version of the word "Atlantic", referring to the Western and Atlantic Railroad. The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29, 1847. By 1860, Atlanta's population had grown to 9,554. During the American Civil War , the nexus of multiple railroads in Atlanta made the city

10614-661: The North to the Atlanta area. It has long been known as a center of African-American political power, education, entrepreneurship, and culture, often called a Black mecca . However, in the 1990s, Atlanta started to experience Black flight . African Americans have moved to the suburbs seeking a lower cost of living or better public schools. The African-American share of Atlanta's population has declined faster than that of any racial group. The city's share of Black residents shrank from 67% in 1990 to 47% in 2020. Blacks made up nine percent of new Atlanta residents between 2010 and 2020. At

10797-749: The Pew Research Center in 2014, but in recent decades the Roman Catholic Church has increased in numbers and influence because of new migrants to the region. Metro Atlanta also has numerous ethnic or national Christian congregations, including Korean and Indian churches. Per the Public Religion Research Institute in 2020, overall, 73% of the population identify with some tradition or denomination of Christianity ; despite continuing religious diversification, historically African-American Protestant churches continue prevalence in

10980-736: The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, was a member of the Honor Roll, and a member of the Dean's List. At one point, he led a student protest against Governor Eugene Talmadge when the board of regents abolished the School of Commerce at Tech and moved it to the University of Georgia . During one summer as a college student he served as postmaster, strung tennis rackets, and worked as a counselor for young campers at Camp Greenbriar in Alderson, West Virginia. He

11163-486: The Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) in the city. Around the same time, Cox Enterprises , now the nation's third-largest cable television service and the publisher of over a dozen American newspapers, moved its headquarters to the city. Notable sports networks headquartered in Atlanta include Warner Bros. Discovery Sports , NBA TV , Bally Sports South , and Bally Sports Southeast . The Weather Channel

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11346-457: The U.S. Congress in support of a federal law mandating public accommodations for African Americans. This law, particularly directed at those [restaurants and hotels] in the South that continued to close their doors to blacks by arguing private property rights, would force any private business, however remotely involved in interstate commerce, to open its doors to every person regardless of race. Against

11529-605: The runoff election against Arnall. State senator Jimmy Carter finished in a strong third place. Again, some Republicans voted in the Democratic primary runoff. Arnall barely campaigned in the runoff, and Maddox emerged victorious, 443,055 to 373,004. Maddox quipped that he had been nominated despite having "no money, no politicians, no television, no newspapers, no Martin Luther King , no Lyndon Johnson , and we made it!" He joked further that Johnson had been "the best campaign manager I've got even if he did put me out of business",

11712-439: The sixth-largest U.S. metropolitan area . Situated among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains at an elevation of just over 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, Atlanta features unique topography that includes rolling hills, lush greenery, and the densest urban tree coverage of any major city in the United States. Atlanta was originally founded as the terminus of a major state-sponsored railroad, but it soon became

11895-418: The "Lester and Virginia Maddox Bridge". Maddox was the primary inspiration for Randy Newman 's 1974 song " Rednecks ". Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( / æ t ˈ l æ n t ə / at- LAN -tə ) is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia . It is the seat of Fulton County , and a portion of the city extends into neighboring DeKalb County . With

12078-472: The "city too busy to hate." Desegregation of the public sphere came in stages, with public transportation desegregated by 1959, the restaurant at Rich's department store by 1961, movie theaters by 1963, and public schools by 1973 (nearly 20 years after the US Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional). In 1960, Whites comprised 61.7% of the city's population. During

12261-472: The "large, liberal cities". Allen wrote, "As a businessman I have analyzed the market and found that I am not a saleable product...No matter how clear and unequivocal I made my support of segregation, I was still from Atlanta". In 1961, he ran for Mayor of Atlanta against Lester Maddox, a 45-year-old restaurant owner and staunch segregationist. Allen was carried to victory by 63,522 votes, while Maddox received 35,922 votes. Allen gained much of his support from

12444-414: The "peace and tranquility necessary to continue our economic development program". In the coming years he would drastically change his political philosophy on segregation. In December 1957, he announced that he would not be a candidate for governor. He alluded to the fact that no Atlantan in forty years had won the race for governor, mostly as a result of rural Georgian apprehension towards the leaders from

12627-405: The $ 100 million Peachtree Center complex were all built during Allen's mayoralty. Between 1965 and 1969, convention business in Atlanta doubled, with 400,000 delegates spending $ 60 million. Mayor Allen also played a key role in bringing Major League Sports to Atlanta. In a politically risky move, he backed the construction of the $ 18 million Atlanta-Fulton Stadium, which attracted

12810-420: The 11th-largest economy among cities in the U.S. and the 22nd-largest in the world. Its economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors in industries including transportation, aerospace, logistics, healthcare, news and media operations, film and television production, information technology, finance, and biomedical research and public policy. Atlanta established itself on the world stage when it won and hosted

12993-400: The 1950s–70s, suburbanization and White flight from urban areas led to a significant demographic shift. By 1970, African Americans were the majority of the city's population and exercised their recently enforced voting rights and political influence by electing Atlanta's first Black mayor, Maynard Jackson , in 1973. Under Mayor Jackson's tenure, Atlanta's airport was modernized, strengthening

13176-577: The 1960s (referring to racial relations). Atlanta has consistently scored 100% on the Human Rights Campaign's Municipal Equality Index that measures how inclusive a city's laws, policies and services are for LGBT people who live or work there. Religion in Atlanta, while historically centered on Protestant Christianity , now encompasses many faiths, as a result of the city and metro area's increasingly international population. Some 63% of residents identified as some type of Protestant according to

13359-493: The 1970s, after many of Atlanta's neighborhoods had declined and suffered the urban decay that affected other major American cities in the mid-20th century. When neighborhood opposition successfully prevented two freeways from being built through the city's east side in 1975, the area became the starting point for Atlanta's gentrification . After Atlanta was awarded the Olympic games in 1990, gentrification expanded into other parts of

13542-529: The Allen family to carry forward Mayor Allen's legacy, Georgia Tech 's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts awarded the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service from 2001 to 2010. In 2010, Georgia Tech established the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage . Awarded for the first time in 2011, it recognizes those around the world whose life and work embody Mayor Allen's moral imperative and compassion in shaping

13725-466: The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce; and 25 owners and managers of Atlanta's leading department, variety, and chain stores to come to an agreement of the full desegregation of downtown stores and lunch counters. On his first day in office, he ordered all "white" and "colored" signs removed from City Hall and desegregated the cafeteria. This was the first of many steps he took to advance integration. Allen authorized black Atlanta policemen to arrest whites, hired

13908-482: The Atlanta Police Department. On the Sunday before the election, Allen called for a press conference and asked Massell to immediately withdraw from consideration "for an office which requires intuitive integrity and instinctive withdrawal from even the suspicion and appearance of evil." Despite the backlash he received, Allen wrote, "Had my candidate, Rodney Cook been involved in the same affair I am convinced I would have taken

14091-582: The Atlanta area among the top 10 U.S. metropolitan areas by Indian population in 2019. Early immigrants in the Atlanta area were mostly Jews and Greeks . Since 2010, the Atlanta area has experienced notable immigration from India, China, South Korea, and Jamaica. Other notable source countries of immigrants are Vietnam, Eritrea, Nigeria, the Arabian gulf, Ukraine and Poland. Within a few decades, and in keeping with national trends, immigrants from England, Ireland, and German-speaking central Europe were no longer

14274-646: The Atlantic Ocean, while rainwater on the north and west side of the divide flows into the Gulf of Mexico . Atlanta developed on a ridge south of the Chattahoochee River , which is part of the ACF River Basin . The river borders the far northwestern edge of the city, and much of its natural habitat has been preserved, in part by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area . Atlanta

14457-663: The Beltline has stimulated new and related development along its path. Under the Köppen classification , Atlanta has a humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ) with generous precipitation year-round, typical for the Upland South ; the city is situated in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8a, with the northern and western suburbs, as well as part of Midtown transitioning to 7b. Summers are hot and humid, with temperatures somewhat moderated by

14640-744: The Callaway Republicans to the American Civil War and the 1864 March to the Sea waged in Georgia by Union general William Tecumseh Sherman . He criticized the Callaway family textile mill, which he alleged had kept wages at $ 10 a week in Troup county . Maddox said that Callaway was unable to relate to farmers, small businessmen, and the unemployed: "He would be a lot better off if he knew about people as well as dollars." Maddox said that Callaway Gardens had hired off-duty police officers to maintain segregation at

14823-649: The Civil War ended in 1865, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt during the Reconstruction era . The work attracted many new residents. Due to the city's superior rail transportation network, the state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868. In the 1880 Census, Atlanta had surpassed Savannah as Georgia's largest city. Beginning in the 1880s, Henry W. Grady , the editor of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper, promoted Atlanta to potential investors as

15006-743: The Interstate 285 perimeter and the Downtown Connector, and presided over the creation of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) , which would take over the old Atlanta Transit system and build the MARTA rail system. The $ 13 million Memorial Arts Center (now the Woodruff Arts Center ) was established as a memorial to the victims of the 1962 Orly plane crash. The $ 10 Million Atlanta Civic Center and

15189-472: The Ivan Allen–Marshall Company to Allen Jr., giving the Allen family ownership of the firm. By 1949, the firm had more than two hundred employees and annual revenues of several million dollars. Together with his father, he changed the name to the Ivan Allen Company in 1953. The company would flourish over the next four decades under his leadership and that of his late son, Ivan Allen III, becoming

15372-533: The Milwaukee Braves baseball team in 1965, the new NFL franchised Falcons football team in 1966, and the St. Louis Hawks basketball team arrived in 1968 Local Black leaders criticized him for demolishing a Black neighborhood to build it. His building program, with its emphasis on developing downtown, was opposed by some of Atlanta's black leaders as not adequately meeting the need for low-income housing. Despite

15555-527: The Pickrick soon became a thriving business. The restaurant also provided Maddox with his first political forum. He placed advertising which featured cartoon chickens in the Atlanta newspapers. Following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision of the United States Supreme Court , these restaurant ads began to feature the cartoon chickens commenting on the political questions of the day. However, Maddox's refusal to adjust to changes following

15738-592: The Secretary of Defense to release Allen from his duties. Allen was discharged and immediately became executive secretary to Governor Arnall until March 1946. He was later chief of staff for Governor M.E. Thompson (1947–1948). While working at Ivan Allen–Marshall Company, he began to participate in civic affairs, such as the Boy Scouts and the Community Chest . He served as a member of the state Board of Education and

15921-483: The State Capitol after MLK's assassination and reportedly decided against doing so because news cameras were nearby. In 1968, Maddox endorsed the former Democrat George Wallace , the then pro-segregation American Independent Party candidate in the 1968 presidential election . After leaving office, Maddox said "“I’m still a segregationist. I’ve told you that 15 times. When are you going to start believing me?” When he

16104-550: The US). Atlanta's dialect has traditionally been a variation of Southern American English . The Chattahoochee River long formed a border between the Coastal Southern and Southern Appalachian dialects. Because of the development of corporate headquarters in the region, attracting migrants from other areas of the country, by 2003, Atlanta magazine concluded that Atlanta had become significantly "de-Southernized". A Southern accent

16287-474: The United Kingdom and Germany. Bosnian refugees settled in Atlanta. Vietnamese people, Cambodians, Ethiopians and Eritreans were the earliest refugees formally brought to the city. Of the total population five years and older, 83.3% spoke only English at home, while 8.8% spoke Spanish, 3.9% another Indo-European language, and 2.8% an Asian language. Among them, 7.3% of Atlantans were born abroad ( 86th in

16470-538: The United States and is often called "City of Trees" or "The City in a Forest". Most of Atlanta was burned in the final months of the American Civil War, depleting the city of a large stock of its historic architecture. Yet architecturally, the city had never been traditionally "southern": Atlanta originated as a railroad town rather than a southern seaport dominated by the planter class, such as Savannah or Charleston . Because of its later development, many of

16653-562: The War, he worked in the Georgia State Capitol statehouse from the fall of 1945 until the spring of 1946. In March 1946, Allen Sr. asked his son to return to the family business, in light of the fact that his partner, Charles Marshall, was in poor health and had decided to retire. Allen resigned from his position as executive secretary to the governor and became president his father's company in 1946. In 1948, Marshall died and willed his half of

16836-414: The [Civil Rights] bill would amount to an endorsement of private business setting up an entirely new status of discrimination throughout the nation... I submit that it is not right to allow an American's citizenship to be changed merely as a matter of convenience.... I want to emphasize again that now is the time for legislative action. We cannot dodge this issue. We cannot look back over our shoulders or turn

17019-488: The ability to relocate to the suburbs. As a result, the city began to make up an ever-smaller proportion of the metropolitan area's population. African-American veterans returned from World War II seeking full rights in their country and began heightened activism. In exchange for support by that portion of the Black community that could vote, in 1948 the mayor ordered the hiring of the first eight African-American police officers in

17202-583: The area from 1802 to 1825. The Creek were forced to leave the area in 1821, under Indian Removal by the federal government, and European American settlers arrived the following year. In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western and Atlantic Railroad in order to provide a link between the port of Savannah and the Midwest . The initial route was to run southward from Chattanooga to

17385-525: The arrival of European settlers in North Georgia , the indigenous Creek people and their ancestors inhabited the area. Standing Peachtree , a Creek village where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chattahoochee River , was the closest Native American settlement to what is now Atlanta. Through the early 19th century, European Americans systematically encroached on the Creek of northern Georgia, forcing them out of

17568-500: The basement of the business, learning from a black employee named Arthur Wright and earning $ 100 per month. At the time, the business consisted of one Atlanta store and grossed $ 196,000. In 1936, he married Louise Richardson, granddaughter of Hugh T. Inman , and member of one of the most prominent families in Atlanta. He continued working at the company until he was called to the army to serve in World War II from 1942 to 1945. After

17751-451: The black community, which made up 40 percent of the city's population at the time. He took office in early 1962, replacing outgoing Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield , who was retiring after 23 years in office. In June 1962, during his first term as mayor, Allen took the solemn responsibility of flying to France to help identify and bring home the bodies of 106 of Atlanta's art and business leaders who, on an art appreciation tour, died in

17934-433: The city approved the $ 2.8 billion BeltLine project. It was intended to convert a disused 22-mile freight railroad loop that surrounds the central city into an art-filled multi-use trail and light rail transit line, which would increase the city's park space by 40%. The project stimulated retail and residential development along the loop, but has been criticized for its adverse effects on some Black communities. In 2013,

18117-647: The city board of aldermen and the board of education. Ivan Allen Jr. married Louise Richardson Allen (1917–2008), granddaughter of the influential Atlanta businessman, Hugh T. Inman, on New Year's Day in 1936. They were married for sixty-six years before Allen's death. They had three sons, Ivan Allen III (1938–1992), Hugh Inman, and Beaumont (1951–2014). At the time of Allen Jr.'s death, he was survived by his wife, sons Hugh Inman and Beaumont, daughters-in-law Margaret (Mrs. Ivan Allen III), Tricia (Mrs. Hugh Inman Allen) and Sally (Mrs. Beaumont Allen), seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Ivan Allen Jr. graduated in

18300-460: The city in the following decade. During the 2000s, the city of Atlanta underwent a profound physical, cultural , and demographic change. As some of the African-American middle and upper classes also began to move to the suburbs, a booming economy drew numerous new migrants from other cities in the United States, who contributed to changes in the city's demographics. African Americans made up

18483-402: The city's economy to this day. In 2021, major freight railroad Norfolk Southern moved their headquarters to Atlanta, and the city hosts major classification yards for Norfolk Southern and CSX . Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world's busiest airport , and the headquarters of Delta Air Lines . Delta operates the world's largest airline hub at Hartsfield-Jackson and

18666-629: The city's elevation. Winters are overall mild but variable, occasionally susceptible to snowstorms even if in small quantities on several occasions, unlike the central and southern portions of the state. Warm air from the Gulf of Mexico can bring spring-like highs while strong Arctic air masses can push lows into the teens °F (−7 to −12 °C). July averages 80.9 °F (27.2 °C), with high temperatures reaching 90 °F (32 °C) on an average of 47 days per year, though 100 °F (38 °C) readings are not seen most years. January averages 44.8 °F (7.1 °C), with temperatures in

18849-479: The city's first black firefighters, and quickly put Atlanta ahead of every other city in the South as far as hiring black workers for positions "other than the most menial jobs". He painstakingly negotiated agreements for the accommodation of African Americans at 18 private and public facilities including hotels, swimming pools, and restaurants. Many Atlanta restaurants and other public facilities desegregated by mutual agreement between their owners and Mayor Allen before

19032-597: The city's landmarks share architectural characteristics with buildings in the Northeast or Midwest, as they were designed at a time of shared national architectural styles. During the late 20th century, Atlanta embraced the global trend of modern architecture , especially for commercial and institutional structures. Examples include the State of Georgia Building built in 1966, and the Georgia-Pacific Tower in 1982. Many of

19215-409: The city's metro area, and the region hosts offices of over 1,250 multinational corporations. Many corporations are drawn to the city by its educated workforce; as of 2014 , 45% of adults aged 25 or older residing in the city have at least four-year college degrees, compared to the national average of 28%. Atlanta was born as a railroad town, and logistics continue to represent an important part of

19398-605: The city's role as a transportation center. The opening of the Georgia World Congress Center in 1976 further confirmed Atlanta's rise as a convention city. Construction of the city's subway system began in 1975, with rail service commencing in 1979. Despite these improvements, Atlanta lost more than 100,000 residents between 1970 and 1990, over 20% of its population. At the same time, it developed new office space after attracting numerous corporations, with an increasing portion of workers from northern areas. Atlanta

19581-497: The city's twelve tallest buildings were constructed during the sixties, and the Atlanta International Airport (now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport ), acquired its first direct international air routes and saw its ranking change from the tenth-busiest airport in the nation to the third-busiest. In an attempt to manage the city's vast increase in traffic, Allen oversaw the early phases of construction of

19764-443: The city's uptown district, is eight miles (13 km) north of Downtown and the city's third-largest business district. The district is marked by an urbanized core along Peachtree Road , surrounded by suburban single-family neighborhoods situated among woods and rolling hills. Surrounding Atlanta's three high-rise districts are the city's low- and medium-density neighborhoods , where the craftsman bungalow single-family home

19947-495: The city, stimulated by infrastructure improvements undertaken in preparation for the games. New development post-2000 has been aided by the Atlanta Housing Authority 's eradication of the city's public housing. As noted above, it allowed development of these sites for mixed-income housing, requiring developers to reserve a considerable portion for affordable housing units. It has also provided for other former residents to be given vouchers to gain housing in other areas. Construction of

20130-477: The city. After reserving 2,000 units mostly for elderly, the AHA allowed redevelopment of the sites for mixed-use and mixed-income, higher density developments, with 40% of the units to be reserved for affordable housing. Two-fifths of previous public housing residents attained new housing in such units; the remainder received vouchers to be used at other units, including in suburbs. At the same time, in an effort to change

20313-561: The city. Much controversy preceded the 1956 Sugar Bowl , when the Pitt Panthers , with African-American fullback Bobby Grier on the roster, met the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets . There had been controversy over whether Grier should be allowed to play due to his race, and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia's Governor Marvin Griffin 's opposition to racial integration. After Griffin publicly sent

20496-603: The clinic had been shut down by Bahamian officials after its drugs had been found to be contaminated with the AIDS virus. Maddox underwent testing, and two months later announced that he was free of the virus. During the 1987 Forsyth County protests in January of that year, Maddox attended a rally organized by members of the Ku Klux Klan after the group had attacked several dozen marchers who were protesting against racial discrimination in

20679-436: The clock back to the eighteen-sixties. We must take action now to assure a greater future for our citizens and our country.... Now the elimination of segregation, which is slavery's stepchild, is a challenge to all of us to make every American free in fact as well as in theory..." Allen described that to be the moment which made civil rights a very personal matter to him: "I have to be honest with myself and admit that up until

20862-545: The company bringing in annual revenues of several millions of dollars. In 1961, he authored a white paper for revitalizing Atlanta. It was adopted by the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and became the Six Point Forward Atlanta program. This plan would become his roadmap as mayor for creating an economic surge that established the infrastructure, business, education, arts, sports, and international presence that are

21045-513: The construction of the Equitable , Flatiron , Empire , and Candler buildings. Sweet Auburn emerged as a center of Black commerce. The period was also marked by strife and tragedy. Increased racial tensions led to the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906, when Whites attacked Blacks, leaving at least 27 people dead and over 70 injured, with extensive damage in Black neighborhoods. In 1913, Leo Frank ,

21228-464: The convergence point among several railroads, spurring its rapid growth. The largest was the Western and Atlantic Railroad , from which the name "Atlanta" is derived, signifying the city's growing reputation as a major hub of transportation. During the American Civil War , it served a strategically important role for the Confederacy until it was captured in 1864. The city was almost entirely burned to

21411-415: The counsel of even Atlanta's most prominent black leaders, Allen chose to go to Washington and deliver his testimony, knowing it would most likely ruin his political career and deeply affect his personal and business relationships. Nevertheless, with the support of his wife and very few others, Allen risked his place in society, his political future, the safety of his family, and ultimately his life to advocate

21594-426: The county. J. B. Stoner , a white supremacist who had previously been imprisoned for bombing a black church in 1958, was also at the rally. Maddox made one final unsuccessful bid for governor in 1990, then underwent heart surgery the following year. In the 1990 Democratic primary for governor, Maddox finished with about three percent of the vote. He remained a visible figure in his home community of Cobb County for

21777-448: The criticisms, however, there was more low-income housing built during Allen's eight years as mayor than the entire thirty years prior to that. Allen wrote, "It is wonderful to be idealistic and to speak about human values, but you are not going to be able to do one thing about them if you are not economically strong. If there is any one slogan I lived by as mayor of Atlanta, that would be it". As mentioned earlier, Allen had initially been

21960-453: The culture of those receiving subsidized housing, the AHA imposed a requirement for such residents to work (or be enrolled in a genuine, limited-time training program). It is virtually the only housing authority to have created this requirement. To prevent problems, the AHA also gave authority to management of the mixed-income or voucher units to evict tenants who did not comply with the work requirement or who caused behavior problems. In 2005,

22143-413: The destruction of all public buildings and possible assets that could be of use to the Union Army. On the next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, and on September 7, Sherman ordered the city's civilian population to evacuate. On November 11, 1864, Sherman prepared for the Union Army's March to the Sea by ordering the destruction of Atlanta's remaining military assets. After

22326-422: The election (less than 1% of the vote) and no electoral votes. With his political career seemingly over and with massive debts stemming from his 1974 gubernatorial bid, Maddox began a short-lived nightclub comedy career in 1977 with an African American musician, Bobby Lee Fears , who had worked as a busboy in his restaurant. Fears had served time in prison for a drug offense before Maddox, as lieutenant governor,

22509-605: The first having resulted in defeat to Peter Zack Geer in 1962. Although Maddox was elected as a Democratic candidate at the same time as Jimmy Carter 's election as governor, the two were not running mates ; in Georgia, particularly in that era of Democratic dominance, the winners of the primary elections went on to easy victories in the general elections without campaigning together as an official ticket or as running mates. Carter and Maddox found little common ground during their four years of service, often publicly feuding with each other. Shortly after that election, Maddox appeared as

22692-570: The first white member of the Community Chest leadership to attend the opening fundraising dinner for the black division of the Community Chest. In 1958, he served as a member on the Atlanta Citizens Advisory Committee on Urban Renewal. He was elected president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in 1960 and, in 1961, proposed the Six Point Forward Atlanta program, which became the cornerstone of his platform in his successful campaign for mayor in 1961. In 1954, Ivan Allen Jr. made

22875-516: The foundations for modern Atlanta. Allen was a founding member of Atlanta's influential Commerce Club, which he chaired until his death in 2003. He became president of the city Chamber of Commerce in 1961 and during this same year ran for mayor, defeating the staunch segregationist, Lester Maddox . Convinced that the South could never thrive economically under segregation, Allen supported the demands of African Americans for their accommodation at public facilities. On his first day in office, he ordered

23058-560: The ground during General William T. Sherman 's March to the Sea . However, the city rebounded dramatically in the post-war period and quickly became a national industrial center and the unofficial capital of the " New South ". After World War II , it also became a manufacturing and technology hub. During the 1950s and 1960s, it became a major organizing center of the American civil rights movement , with Martin Luther King Jr. , Ralph Abernathy , and many other locals becoming prominent figures in

23241-526: The issue was not hostility to blacks, but constitutional property rights. He even built a monument to "private property rights" near the restaurant. The Civil Rights Digital Library at the University of Georgia contains the following account of the closing of his restaurant: Maddox closed the Pickrick on August 13 and reopened the business on September 26 as the Lester Maddox Cafeteria, where he pledged to serve only "acceptable" Georgians. During

23424-430: The last building designed by noted architect Marcel Breuer . Atlanta is divided into 242 officially defined neighborhoods . The city contains three major high-rise districts, which form a north–south axis along Peachtree : Downtown , Midtown , and Buckhead . Surrounding these high-density districts are leafy, low-density neighborhoods, most of which are dominated by single-family homes. Downtown Atlanta contains

23607-583: The longest paved trail surface in the U.S. totaling about 300 miles (480 km). Atlanta's cultural offerings expanded during the 2000s: the High Museum of Art doubled in size; the Alliance Theatre won a Tony Award ; and art galleries were established on the once-industrial Westside . The College Football Hall of Fame relocated to Atlanta and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights museum

23790-486: The majority of Atlanta's foreign-born population. The city's Italians included immigrants from northern Italy, many of whom had been in Atlanta since the 1890s; more recent arrivals from southern Italy; and Sephardic Jews from the Isle of Rhodes, which Italy had seized from Turkey in 1912. Europeans from Great Britain , Ireland and Germany settled in the city as early as the 1840s. Most of Atlanta's European population are from

23973-769: The most notable examples from this period were designed by world renowned Atlanta architect John Portman . Most of the buildings that define the downtown skyline were designed by Portman during this period, including the Westin Peachtree Plaza and the Atlanta Marriott Marquis . In the latter half of the 1980s, Atlanta became one of the early homes of postmodern buildings that reintroduced classical elements to their designs. Many of Atlanta's tallest skyscrapers were built in this period and style, displaying tapering spires or otherwise ornamented crowns, such as One Atlantic Center (1987), 191 Peachtree Tower (1991), and

24156-425: The most office space in the metro area, much of it occupied by government entities. Downtown is home to the city's sporting venues and many of its tourist attractions. Midtown Atlanta is the city's second-largest business district, containing the offices of many of the region's law firms. Midtown is known for its art institutions, cultural attractions, institutions of higher education, and dense form. Buckhead ,

24339-450: The most severe occurring on January 7, 1973. Tornadoes are rare in the city itself, but the March 14, 2008, EF2 tornado damaged prominent structures in downtown Atlanta. The 2020 United States census reported that Atlanta had a population of 498,715. The population density was 3,685.45 persons per square mile (1,422.95/ km ). The racial and ethnic makeup of Atlanta (including Hispanics)

24522-421: The movement's leadership. In the modern era, Atlanta has remained a major center of transportation, with Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport becoming the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic in 1998 (a position it has held every year since, except for 2020), with an estimated 93.7 million passengers in 2022. With a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $ 473 billion in 2021, Atlanta has

24705-472: The movement's leadership. While Atlanta in the postwar years had relatively minimal racial strife compared to other cities, Blacks were limited by discrimination, segregation, and continued disenfranchisement of most voters. In 1961, the city attempted to thwart blockbusting by realtors by erecting road barriers in Cascade Heights , countering the efforts of civic and business leaders to foster Atlanta as

24888-598: The new Atlanta Convention Bureau (1913–1917), president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce (1917), two years as senator in the Georgia state legislature (1918–1919), and was the treasurer of the Georgia Democratic Party in 1936. In an effort to attract northern capital to Atlanta, Allen Sr. headed the Atlanta chamber's "Forward Atlanta" booster campaign (1926–1929), a strategy that would lure almost 700 new businesses to Atlanta and serve to influence Allen Jr.'s future as

25071-400: The other as an extremist. Geer won the race, 55–45%, but Maddox gained attention across the state. In the following years, Maddox proclaimed himself a "Society of Liberty" martyr intent on opposing a central government which thwarted states' rights and gave special protection to minority groups. He was recognized by his rimless eyeglasses, dome-shaped forehead, bald head, and nervous energy. It

25254-460: The other details I might become involved in. I was nothing but the Mayor of Atlanta and a friend and neighbor of 106 people who had been killed at this same airport only the day before...These were my lifelong friends. This was my generation. This was also the backbone of Atlanta's cultural society, the city's leading patrons of the arts. There was no precedent for this kind of agony". In 1965, Allen made

25437-425: The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 manifested itself when he filed a lawsuit to continue his segregationist policies. Maddox said that he would close his restaurant rather than serve African Americans . An initial group of black demonstrators came to the restaurant but did not enter when Maddox informed them that he had a large number of black employees. In April 1964, more African Americans attempted to enter

25620-567: The passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. By January 1964, 14 major Atlanta hotels and motels had publicly pledged to accept reservations regardless of race. "I wasn't so all-fired liberal when I first moved into City Hall", Allen wrote. "But when I saw what the race-baiters were doing or could do to hold back the orderly growth of Atlanta, it infuriated me and eventually swung me to the extreme end opposite them". Despite his claims to have been committed to integration one of his first actions

25803-574: The population was living below the poverty line in 2022. Circa 2024, of the Atlanta residents, 391,711 of them lived in Fulton County and 28,292 of them lived in DeKalb County. In the 1920s, the Black population began to grow in Southern metropolitan cities like Atlanta, Birmingham , Houston , and Memphis . The New Great Migration brought an insurgence of African Americans from California and

25986-585: The project received a federal grant of $ 18 million to develop the southwest corridor. In September 2019 the James M. Cox Foundation gave $ 6 Million to the PATH Foundation which will connect the Silver Comet Trail to The Atlanta BeltLine which is expected to be completed by 2022. Upon completion, the total combined interconnected trail distance around Atlanta for The Atlanta BeltLine and Silver Comet Trail will be

26169-414: The proportion of whites in the city had strong growth. In two decades, Atlanta's White population grew from 33% to 39% of the city's population. Whites made up the majority of new Atlanta residents between 2010 and 2020. The Hispanic and Latino populations of metro Atlanta have grown significantly in recent years. The largest Hispanic ancestries in Atlanta are Mexican , Puerto Rican and Cuban . There

26352-467: The public accommodation of African Americans. On July 26, 1963, Allen spoke before the U.S. Congress and the nation in support of what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He was the only prominent white southern elected official to do so. As a result, there were death threats made towards the Allen family, and many white friends and constituents never spoke to him again. Just one month after Allen's testimony, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his " I Have

26535-480: The racial demonstrators and once the demonstrators and agitators arrived, the customers and employees pulled the drumsticks (pickaxe handles) from the kegs and went outside to defend against the threatened invasion. The "invasion" Maddox referred to was three black seminary students who had asked to be seated. Maddox gained the approval of segregationists by leasing and then selling the restaurant to employees rather than agreeing to serve black customers. He claimed that

26718-413: The region's preeminent office supplies and furniture dealer, with 17 offices across the South. Ivan Allen Jr. was president of Ivan Allen Company from 1946 to 1970 and chairman from 1970 to 1995. In 1988, the Ivan Allen Company boasted $ 116 million in revenues. In 1999, the supplies division of the Ivan Allen Company was sold to Staples, Inc. The furniture division, now known as Ivan Allen Workspace,

26901-594: The remainder of his life. In 1992 and 1996, Maddox crossed party lines and endorsed unsuccessful populist Republican Pat Buchanan for the presidency. His last public speech was in Atlanta in 2001 at the annual national conference of the Council of Conservative Citizens . The CCC, of which Maddox was a charter member, is considered by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League to be

27084-481: The removal of all "white" and "colored" signs from facilities in city hall. Racial alliances forged by Allen with Martin Luther King Jr. and others in the African American community, along with his advocacy for the public accommodation of African Americans in the white community, allowed Allen to guide Atlanta through the turbulence of racial integration without the violence that occurred in many southern cities. In

27267-449: The restaurant. Maddox confronted the group with a bare pickaxe handle. Maddox provides the following account of the events: Mostly customers, with only a few employees, voluntarily removed the twelve Pickrick Drumsticks, (a euphemism for pickaxe handles) from the nail kegs on each side of the large dining room fireplace. They had been forewarned by the arrival of Atlanta's news media of an impending attempted invasion of our restaurant by

27450-575: The same action – except... I would have gone into greater detail to make the public fully understand the seriousness of the situation". Sam Massell went on to win the election and succeed Allen as the 53rd mayor of Atlanta. Under Mayor Allen's Forward Atlanta program, the city's population grew more than 30 percent. Atlanta ranked in the top ten in the nation in downtown construction, with more than 55 new buildings constructed and 22,000 new jobs created each year. In 1969, Atlanta's unemployment rate at one point plummeted to an astonishing 1.9 percent. Eleven of

27633-401: The same time, Atlanta is home to a sizable foreign-born Black population, notably from Eritrea , Ethiopia , Ghana , Somalia , Liberia , and Nigeria . With many notable investments occurring in Atlanta initiated by the 1996 Summer Olympics , the non-Hispanic white population of Atlanta began to rebound after several decades of white flight to Atlanta's suburbs. Between 2000 and 2020,

27816-452: The scene of the riot, climbing a police car in an attempt to talk to and calm the crowd. He toppled from the car, uninjured, when the crowd repeatedly rocked the vehicle. Afterwards, he walked the streets – refusing to wear a riot helmet as the police did – urging the black residents to "please go home." "This is a good city", he shouted. "Help keep it that way, and go home". In his 1973 autobiography, The River of No Return , Cleveland Sellers

27999-544: The show. Making light of the incident during a subsequent appearance by Maddox, Cavett walked off this time, and Maddox applauded. Because the lieutenant governor was a mostly ceremonial role, Maddox spent most of his time as lieutenant governor preparing for a run for governor in 1974. Maddox was considered to be a near shoo-in to regain the governor's mansion in 1974, with the New York Times predicting that only Johnny Wayne could beat him for Georgia governor. However, Maddox

28182-899: The state Department of Veteran Services. He was a director of the Bank of Georgia, a trustee at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, an executive board member of the state's Family Welfare Society and of the Atlanta YMCA, president of the Young Democrats Club of Georgia, and president of the Atlanta Improvement Association (1951). For almost ten years, he led the state Chamber of Commerce in industrial development projects. With friends Mills B. Lane, Jack Glenn, Philip Alston, Richard Rich, Lawrence Gellerstedt Jr., and others, he founded The Commerce Club, which served as

28365-477: The state legislature was required to elect one of the two candidates with the highest number of votes, which meant that the lawmakers could not consider Arnall. With the legislature overwhelmingly dominated by Democrats, all of whom had been required to sign a Democratic loyalty oath , Maddox became governor. He was sworn in on the evening of January 10, 1967, minutes after the legislature certified his election. Maddox campaigned hard for states' rights and maintained

28548-499: The streets and reassuring the black community. Mayor Allen went to great lengths to ensure the city remained peaceful when nearly two hundred thousand people gathered to mourn Dr. King's death. King's widow, Coretta Scott King , honored Allen with the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize in 1981. "I was convinced now that voluntary desegregation of public facilities, worked out on a local level, had gone as far as it

28731-413: The suburbs slightly cooler due largely to the urban heat island effect. Lows at or below freezing can be expected 36 nights annually, but the last occurrences of temperatures below 10 °F (−12 °C) were December 24, 2022 , and January 2014 , eight years apart. Extremes range from −9 °F (−23 °C) on February 13, 1899 to 106 °F (41 °C) on June 30, 2012 . Average dewpoints in

28914-704: The summer range from 63.7 °F (17.6 °C) in June to 67.8 °F (19.9 °C) in July. Typical of the southeastern U.S., Atlanta receives abundant rainfall that is evenly distributed throughout the year, though late spring and early fall are somewhat drier. The average annual precipitation is 50.43 in (1,281 mm), while snowfall is typically light and rare with a normal of 2.2 inches (5.6 cm) per winter. The heaviest single snowfall occurred on January 23, 1940, with around 10 inches (25 cm) of snow. However, ice storms usually cause more problems than snowfall does,

29097-502: The threats of communist and socialist influences. In the 1966 campaign, the Savannah Morning News forecast that as governor, Maddox would "tell off the federal government forty times a day, but four years after his inauguration, he would have accomplished little else". Once in office, however, Maddox accomplished the following: Years after Maddox's gubernatorial term ended, Republican Benjamin B. Blackburn described Maddox as

29280-428: The time I had to make the decision to go to Washington or not go, my liberalism on the race issue had been based to a large degree on the pragmatism: it was simply good business for Atlanta to be an open city, a fair city, a "City Too Busy to Hate", a city trying to raise the level of its poorest citizens and get them off the relief roles...I am certain that at this point I had finally crossed over and made my commitment on

29463-474: The time, but there were voters who identified with the Republican Party. Republicans cast ballots in the open Democratic primary election, and some chose the candidate they believed would most likely lose the general election to their nominee, Howard "Bo" Callaway . In the primary, Arnall won a plurality of the popular vote, but he was denied the required majority. Maddox, the second-place candidate, entered

29646-414: The top five students of his class at Georgia Tech (Commerce, 1933). He was president of the Student Body and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, to which he offered lifelong support. For many years, he hosted the annual Ivan Allen Rush Party for his fraternity in the meadow behind his home. In 1990, the liberal arts college at Georgia Tech was renamed the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts . Entrusted by

29829-415: The tourist park in Pine Mountain , but a superior court judge verified that Callaway had an open admission policy at the facility. Callaway won a plurality in the general election, becoming the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to top the polls in Georgia since the close of Reconstruction , and Maddox finished second. More than 52,000 wrote in Arnall's name. Under the election rules then in effect,

30012-406: The whole metropolitan area alongside historic Black Catholic churches. The larger non-Christian faiths according to both studies are Judaism , Islam , and Hinduism . Overall, there are over 1,000 places of worship within Atlanta. With a GDP of $ 385 billion, the Atlanta metropolitan area 's economy is the 8th-largest in the country and the 15th-largest in the world . Corporate operations play

30195-406: Was 'ungodly, un-Christian and un-American.'" Despite this, the obituary notes that after becoming governor, Maddox "surprised many by hiring and promoting blacks in state government and by initiating an early release program for the state prison system". The Interstate Highway 75 bridge over the Chattahoochee River at the boundary of Cobb County ( Vinings ) and Fulton County (Atlanta), is named

30378-410: Was 51.0% Black or African American, 40.9% non-Hispanic white, 4.2% Asian and 0.3% Native American, and 1.0% from other races. 2.4% of the population reported two or more races . Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 6.0% of the city's population. The median income for a household in the city was $ 77,655 in 2022. The per capita income for the city was $ 60,778 in 2022. Approximately 17.7% percent of

30561-412: Was able to assist him in obtaining a pardon. Calling themselves "The Governor and the Dishwasher," the duo performed comedy bits built around the Governor's subjugation over the Dishwasher, the Dishwasher's lack of intelligence, and musical numbers with Maddox on harmonica and Fears on guitar . After Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down in 1983, with U.S. Representative Larry McDonald aboard,

30744-417: Was also awarded the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation Award for achievement in urban affairs in 1974, the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize in 1981, the Shining Light Award in 1995, and was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia in 2004 (cite). In 1999, The Commerce Club created the Ivan Allen Jr. Leadership Award, which

30927-416: Was asked what might be done to improve the abysmal conditions in Georgia prisons, Maddox replied that what was really needed was a better class of prisoner. Maddox's chief of staff was Zell Miller , who went on to serve two terms as governor in the 1990s and as Paul Coverdell 's successor in the U.S. Senate. Maddox received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Bob Jones University in 1969. In 1968,

31110-480: Was barred from the event due to racial segregation laws. Atlanta played a vital role in the Allied effort during World War II due to the city's war-related manufacturing companies, railroad network and military bases. The defense industries attracted thousands of new residents and generated revenues, resulting in rapid population and economic growth. In the 1950s, the city's newly constructed highway system, supported by federal subsidies, allowed middle class Atlantans

31293-449: Was confirmed that Dr. King was dead. Two days after Dr. King's assassination on April 4, 1968, he participated in a march across the west side of Atlanta, leading the way in a police car for the nearly four thousand black students walking in memory of Dr. King. Along with Atlanta's police chief, Herbert Jenkins, he visited every black neighborhood in Atlanta during the traumatic days between Dr. King's death and his funeral, walking up and down

31476-452: Was considered a handicap in some circumstances. In general, Southern accents are less prevalent among residents of the city and inner suburbs and among younger people; they are more common in the outer suburbs and among older people. At the same time, some residents of the city speak in Southern variations of African-American English . Atlanta has a thriving and diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. According to

31659-424: Was constructed. The city of Atlanta was the subject of a massive cyberattack which began in March 2018. In December 2019, Atlanta hosted the Miss Universe 2019 pageant competition. On June 16, 2022, Atlanta was selected as a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup . Atlanta encompasses 134.0 square miles (347.1 km ), of which 133.2 square miles (344.9 km ) is land and 0.85 square miles (2.2 km )

31842-443: Was going to go in the South and much of the rest of the United States....", Allen wrote. "It was obvious that the President was going to have to push through a very plain and airtight law that would, once and for all, abolish the practice of segregation. And segregation, as I intended to say in my testimony, was 'the stepchild of slavery'". In 1963, President John F. Kennedy made a direct request asking Ivan Allen Jr. to testify before

32025-428: Was instead forced into a runoff for the Democratic nomination, where he was shockingly defeated by George Busbee . When Carter ran for president in 1976 , Maddox ran against him as the nominee of Wallace's former American Independent Party , saying that his former rival was "the most dishonest man I ever met". Maddox and running mate William Dyke , the former mayor of Madison , Wisconsin , received 170,373 votes in

32208-411: Was one of only five students in the student body of about two thousand to make straight A's. He graduated cum laude in 1933, with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce. While at Georgia Tech, he served as president of the student body, vice president of the Inter-Fraternity Council, cadet colonel of the ROTC , president of Omicron Delta Kappa , vice-president of ANAK, president of the Georgia Phi chapter of

32391-416: Was paid $ 500 and invested this money in Coca-Cola stock, of which he wrote was "my first investment and probably the greatest I ever made". After graduating from Georgia Tech in 1933 during the depths of the Great Depression , Allen refused offers from other companies and began his lifetime of work in the family business, which was at the time called the Ivan Allen–Marshall Company. That summer, he worked in

32574-415: Was purchased by Georgia Tech in 1965; it was used for many years as the placement center and was later known as the Ajax building. It was demolished in May 2009. During his ownership of the Pickrick, Maddox, a Democrat, failed in two bids for mayor of Atlanta. In 1957, he lost to incumbent William B. Hartsfield , for whom the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is named. Hartsfield had pursued

32757-426: Was said of Maddox, "We have a populist revolution in its truest sense moving here. White people who work with their hands see in Lester Maddox a man of their own kind and are fighting to elect him [as governor]." Time magazine termed Maddox a "strident racist"; Newsweek viewed him as a "backwoods demagogue out in the boondocks". According to one account, the former restaurateur's appeal transcended race to embrace

32940-458: Was selected as the site for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games . Following the announcement , the city government undertook several major construction projects to improve Atlanta's parks, sporting venues, and transportation infrastructure; however, for the first time, none of the $ 1.7 billion cost of the games was governmentally funded. While the games experienced transportation and accommodation problems and, despite extra security precautions, there

33123-474: Was struck in late 1941, he was called into the army as a reserve officer. During World War II, he served as a supply officer and directed the field division of the Selective Service System in Georgia for the United States Army . He entered the service in 1942 as a second lieutenant and was discharged in 1945 as a major. When the War ended, an old college friend who was also the progressive young Governor of Georgia, Ellis Arnall , went to Washington and asked

33306-428: Was the Centennial Olympic Park bombing , the spectacle was a watershed event in Atlanta's history. For the first time in Olympic history, every one of the record 197 national Olympic committees invited to compete sent athletes, sending more than 10,000 contestants participating in a record 271 events. The related projects such as Atlanta's Olympic Legacy Program and civic effort initiated a fundamental transformation of

33489-418: Was to erect a fence to separate a black neighborhood from a white neighborhood. In the face of criticism Mayor Allen refused to take it down until a court order forced him to. The event was known as " Atlanta's Berlin Wall " or "the Peyton Road Affair." In 1966, a riot broke out in Summerhill, a neighborhood south of the Atlanta Stadium, when a white police officer shot a black resident. Mayor Allen rushed to

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