The end of World War II brought a severe housing crisis to Atlanta, as thousands of veterans returned home to discover the city had not only failed to build new homes during their absence but actually started to destroy old ones. Black leaders banded together to create new housing on the city’s outskirts, but found such projects blocked by local resistance and government red tape. In the end, they had only one option. “Following the pressure of increased population,” Atlanta’s Metropolitan Planning Commission observed, “their only avenue for expansion has been ‘encroachment’ into white
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