Martin Luther King Jr National Park

Sweet Auburn

Growing Up in Black Atlanta, Georgia

"Auburn Avenue was like a grand lady," recalled one journalist. "In her prime she was the talk of the town – young, vivacious, and beautiful. Everyone loved her, respected her, and wooed her."

Atlanta in the early 20^th century was a mosaic of communities shaped by the people within the city’s bounds. Auburn Avenue was the main artery through one neighborhood that came to symbolize prosperity for African Americans.

After the Civil War, ex-slaves bought property east of the city’s central business district in the low-lying area of Wheat Street and Butler Street (now Jesse Hill Jr. Drive). By 1881, Butler Street was the center of an area known as Darktown, sandwiched between Courtland and Jackson streets. Business owners and factory workers alike took pride in their surroundings, putting up houses, office buildings, and places of worship in late-Victorian architectural styles.

Racial Segregation

By 1893 white residents, concerned that "Wheat Street" was viewed as a black neighborhood, petitioned the city council to change the name to Auburn Avenue. The area grew to be a mixture of black and white – until the race riot of 1906 revived racial segregation.

In 1909 the Rev. A.D. Williams and his wife purchased a large home on predominantly black Auburn Avenue. As pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Reverend Williams was not only an eloquent speaker, but a political activist who vigorously supported organizations dedicated to the education, social advancement, and well-being of African Americans. After Reverend Williams died in 1931, his son-in-law Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., took over as Ebenezer’s pastor. But it was Reverend Williams’ grandson whose name would become synonymous with the civil rights movement in America.

On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr., was born at his grandparents’ home, 501 Auburn Avenue. Young M.L. lived with his grandparents, parents, brother, sister, and other close relatives. Their neighbors were businessmen, clergymen, domestics, and laborers. Nearby were banks, insurance companies, real estate agencies, medical and law offices, funeral parlors, a drugstore, library, and business college – all black-owned or black operated. Despite Atlanta’s segregation laws, political leader John Wesley Dobbs was inspired to call the area "Sweet Auburn." Years later his grandson, Mayor Maynard H. Jackson, added that Sweet Auburn had offered African Americans "the three B’s – bucks, ballots, and books!"

Dr. King never forgot the community spirit he had known as a child. Nor did he forget racial prejudice. He returned in 1960 to serve with his father as co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist and to head the Southern Christian Conference. And, as the world mourned on an early spring day in 1968, it was to Sweet Auburn that the body of Martin Luther King, Jr., was brought one last time.