Archive Atlanta

I am taking a podcasting summer break and will return July 17th.

This week, we're talking about the 1933 kidnapping of prominent Atlanta banker James King Ottley Sr. during the height of the Great Depression, when ransom kidnappings were rising across the country. After being abducted outside his Buckhead estate and forced to write his own ransom note, Ottley convinced 17-year-old accomplice Pryor Bowen to release him.  Want to support this podcast? Visit here...

This week’s episode explores the history of Agnes Scott College, from its origins as a small, church-founded seminary in 1889 to its rise as a nationally respected women’s college. Rooted in the 19th-century female seminary movement, the school grew rapidly with support from George Washington Scott and developed traditions like Black Cat Week.  Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thev...

From railroad stop to global corridor, Chamblee has lived a lot of lives in just over a century. This week, we trace its evolution from land once inhabited by the Muscogee people, to a tiny rail junction, to a booming military town during World War I with the rise of Camp Gordon. Along the way, we uncover the surprising origin of Chamblee’s name, and follow its shifts through dairy farms, aviation...

Still recovering from my appendectomy last week and so I am re-releasing my episode about the Dick Lane Velodrome in East Point. We're talking about what a velodrome is, Atlanta’s first velodrome, Dick Lane and the decade long efforts to open this velodrome in East Point.   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week, we’re stepping into the pages of the Negro Motorist Green Book. I am sharing my conversation with my good friend, Cynthia Jennings , who has been uncovering the stories behind the places that offered safety, dignity, and community during the era of segregation - but we’re focusing on the women who made those spaces possible. Behind these listings were women entrepreneurs, caretakers, an...

This week, we explore the long and winding history behind the creation of a Botanical Garden in Atlanta - a dream that took more than 50 years to become reality. The story begins with Eugene Schofield Heath, who first pushed for a garden in the city in 1918. From ambitious Works Progress Administration projects along the Chattahoochee River to stalled plans caused by World War II, Atlanta repeated...

This week, we trace tennis from its 12th-century French origins to its rise in Atlanta, where elite clubs, segregated courts, and growing public facilities shaped the sport’s local identity. From the founding of ALTA by Bitsy Grant to the 1961 desegregation battle at the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center, Atlanta’s tennis story reflects the city’s broader fights over access and equity. We also look at the...

When people think of sit-ins, they think Greensboro. But the movement didn’t start, or stop, there. This episode looks at how the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins inspired Atlanta’s Black college students to challenge segregation in a city that called itself “too busy to hate.” From An Appeal for Human Rights to coordinated sit-ins across downtown, arrests under newly written laws, and the protests that la...

Atlanta gets nearly an extra hour of evening sunlight compared to cities east of us—and it turns out that’s no accident. In this episode, we unravel how railroads invented time zones, why Georgia was once split between Central and Eastern Time, and how Atlanta spent decades fighting over what time it should be. From business interests and newspaper deadlines to full-page ads promising more sleep f...

In this episode, we follow the land from rural farmland to an independent city with its own mayor, streetcars, schools, and sharp racial divides. You’ll hear how Bush Mountain became a vital Black community, how segregation shaped education and housing, and why progress so often bypassed certain streets. From Madea’s House to Negro League baseball fields, Klan activity, and environmental justice,...

Before airplanes and AI, Atlanta once stopped in its tracks to watch a hot air balloon rise into the sky. In this episode, I cover the story of the city’s first balloon flight in 1869. Balloon pioneer Samuel Archer King and the “Dare Devil Dentist” Dr. Albert Hape ascended nearly a mile above Atlanta as thousands watched from below. From spotting Stone Mountain to scaring onlookers and surviving a...

From ancient superstitions to nuclear submarines, the name Atlanta carries a remarkable legacy across the seas. In this episode, we trace the centuries-old traditions of ship naming, before diving into the history of the vessels called USS Atlanta. You’ll hear how one ship served both the Confederacy and the Union, how others helped usher in America’s “New Navy,” and how the most famous USS Atlant...

Tami Roche was named Miss Burlesque in 1966 and her career took off, performing across the country and on Broadway, before moving to Atlanta in 1969 to headline at the Body Shoppe for a few weeks. Weeks turned into years and she made her way to the Domino Lounge, where she developed her famous champagne glass bath act. She even had Russ Meyer, famous sexplotation film director, write a script for...

A special bonus episode to share my interview with Cliff Norris and David Aurilio to learn about the histories of the Atlanta Freedom Bands, a nonprofit community music organization made up of LGBTQ+ musicians and allies that includes a full concert band, marching band, jazz ensemble, and several small groups, and Voices of Note, the nonprofit organization that oversees Atlanta's LGBTQ+ choral gro...

Before Chosewood Park was a neighborhood with winding streets, skyline views, and a curious little road called Climax Street, it was Muscogee land—until Georgia land lotteries, and forced removal reshaped the entire region.  From John Miller Clark Reed’s 600-acre homestead… to the Nolan sisters and the Turmans, whose names still echo through the street grid… to a forgotten cemetery where descendan...

This week, I am sharing an oral history recording I did last year with Matthew Norwood, pastor of Bible Way Ministries. His father developed Norwood Manor, where he still lives, and he shared about his life, calling for the ministry and small congregation in Atlanta grew into a pillar of hope and service.   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Ins...

From crystal balls to courthouse battles, this episode with Liz Clappin  and Cynthia Jennings , dives into the history of fortune telling — from the start of Spiritualism, to Atlanta as a hotspot for spiritualists, mediums, and prophets, a place where faith, folklore, and hustles collided. We talk about Queen Kulu, Nancy Kendell, and Tobie Grant - and mysterious male fortune teller who exposed sec...

Ever wonder what I’d do with $5 million if saving it was off the table? Or which unsung women of Atlanta’s past I’d invite to a dinner party? In Volume 5 of my Q&A series, I’m answering 12 listener questions — from my favorite neighborhoods and nerdy research habits to the most frustrating parts of podcast production. Plus, I’ll reveal the stories I can’t wait to dive into next and where I see...

This week, I am so excited to share my interview with my friend Julie B. Johnson , where we talk about her latest project, Dancing in Darktown. I’m honored to collaborate with her new work focusing on Black dance halls in Atlanta from 1890-1920.  Dancing with Digital Archives in Atlanta workshop   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram  

This week, I am sharing an interview with Stan Washington, veteran journalist and editor-at-large of The Atlanta Voice . We discuss his career in PR, radio and how he arrived at The Voice, and his unwavering commitment to the Black press. This is a conversation about journalism and a call to preserve and support the institutions that continue to amplify Black voices and shape the narrative from wi...

In 1950s Georgia, faced with school desegregation, the governor’s plan was simple: abolish public schools. This episode dives into Atlanta’s tense response to Brown v. Board, the courage of 80 white ministers who spoke out against segregation, and the backlash that followed. rom sermons and manifestos to church bombings and cautious integration, we explore how religion, politics, and protest colli...

In the fall of 1971, a group of volunteers in Atlanta set out to build a radio station by the people, for the people. By 1973, WRFG was on the airwaves, amplifying voices that mainstream media refused to touch: Black activists, women, laborers, LGBTQ, ex-convicts, and musicians from every walk of life. But just two months after launch, Atlanta police tried to shut it down — accusing the station of...

Before it became Atlanta’s most iconic cemetery, Oakland Cemetery was just six acres of farmland owned by the Woodings. But as the city grew, so did its need to bury its dead. From Confederate obelisks to disinterred graves, this is the story of the cemetery that tells Atlanta’s story. Oakland Cemetery Oakland Cemetery book Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.co...

This week, I am re-sharing an episode from 2021 where I cover the history of Atlanta’s City Hall...not just the Art Deco masterpiece you can see today, but also the places that no longer exist. Where they were, how we got them and what their fate was. Our current City Hall (the 4th one in history), was built in 1930 and brought forth something called the Atlanta Graft Ring - an epic corruption sca...