Auburn in Atlanta

By Linda Tancs

Auburn Avenue is one of Atlanta, Georgia’s most famous streets. Loaded with history and iconic landmarks, a mile-and-a-half stretch of it is known as the Sweet Auburn Historic District. The phrase “Sweet Auburn” was coined by businessman and civil rights activist John Wesley Dobbs, the maternal grandfather of Atlanta’s first Black mayor, Maynard Jackson. The area’s Black history goes back to the 1920s, when Auburn Avenue became the commercial center of Black Atlanta. You can learn more about that history at the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History and the APEX Museum next door. The street’s iconic landmarks include the building sign for the Atlanta Daily World, the first Black daily newspaper in the country, which operated in the building from 1928 to 2008 before relocating. Across the street is the marker for The Royal Peacock. In its heyday, the Black-owned nightclub hosted such entertainers as James Brown, Little Richard, Gladys Knight, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. No visit would be complete without experiencing the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, where the Visitor Center houses the original farm wagon that held King’s casket during his funeral procession. The Atlanta Streetcar runs the length of the avenue for only one dollar.