Revitalizing Atlanta's Cradle of Civil Rights

"Situated several blocks from Atlanta's downtown, the area known as Sweet Auburn has been called the cradle of the civil rights movement and has since received national and local historic landmark designations. Auburn Avenue was the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr., and he is buried there.

But as the rest of the city opened up its neighborhoods to blacks as well as whites, successful residents tended to move away, and the area deteriorated economically. It also suffered when a highway connector at Interstates 75 and 85 split the neighborhood in two.

At the same time, the historic designations "put a damper on new construction, because of the limits they place on certain changes," said A. J. Robinson, the president of Central Atlanta Progress, a downtown business improvement group. Until the recent creation of a special tax district, "there were no incentives for developers," he said.

Now city officials, a private developer and leaders of the Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta are trying to reverse that downward trend by building housing and commercial space on one block of Auburn Avenue, hoping that will inspire change in the neighborhood."