Archive Atlanta

This week I bring you the final installment of the epidemic disease series with stories about typhoid, pellagra and HIV/AIDS, and how each of these impacted Atlanta and it's citizens. Learn about how doctors begged residents to put lids on their trash cans to prevent typhoid, what killed the Zoo's porcupine and how Atlanta's gay community was the first to organize efforts in the AIDS epidemic.   ...

Eugenics may seem like ancient history, but it was considered progressive reform at the turn of the 20th century, and women's groups across America prompted the theory and it's related propaganda. This week we're covering Georgia and Atlanta's role in eugenics, the Better Babies contest and forced sterilization of those deemed 'unfit'. Leave your Atlanta story: ‪(678) 465-7161‬ Want to support thi...

This week we're covering the Georgia Institute of Technology. Created as part of the 'New South' creed to fast-tract industrial education, it began as a school focused on teaching trades. Within a decade, it was changing toward the academic model. We'll talk football, traditions, campus size, Olympics and through today. https://space.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/images/histpresplan.pdf Want to s...

This week I pulled an episode that my Patreon supporters heard back in July. The 1897 Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill strike is all about the racial division between the working poor of early Atlanta. Instead of banding together, to strengthen their union and fight for higher wages, the white poor of Cabbagetown would rather strike than be pegged as equal to Black factory workers. Want to support this...

If you go back far enough, Atlanta has dealt with an issue. It's fascinating to see how people living a century ago handled the same worries and fears, but reading about historical mistakes and missteps that are also happening today, at the very least, gives me comfort. This week, we’re covering two more epidemics that affected Atlanta - diphtheria and the Spanish Flu.  Want to support this podcas...

Dr. Roderick Badger was Atlanta's first African American dentist - and that's all I ever knew about him. But his story - the son of an enslaved mother and white father, who was freed long before the Civil War - led me to learning about Atlanta's very small free-person population, why that was so, and then how and why Roderick was different and never counted among them. Roderick also had some very...

The story of Macedonia Park (later called Bagley Park, and today renamed Frankie Allen Park), is vital to understanding how institutional and structural racism works and what the long-term effects are. On the heels of the Inman Park story, it highlights the dichotomy of life in Atlanta for those who were not white and not rich. How one neighborhood still exists today, beautifully restored, and how...

This week, we're covering the second half of Inman Park's story - from 1895, through the present day. A neighborhood that began for the wealthy, white, Atlanta elite, it's residents fought hard to keep it that way in the 1900's. By mid-century, the area was slated for demolition to build I-485, until new residents fought for it's revitalization.    Want to support this podcast? Visit:  www.patreon...

Built as the first planned suburb for Atlanta’s white elite, it spurred the creation of Edgewood Avenue, the first electric streetcar and sadly, demolished worker housing to do so. It also gave us some of the most iconic homes in the city was a who's who of Atlanta’s businessmen and influential families. In Part I, we're talking about the earliest land owners and the idea and inspiration behind it...

This week, we’re talking about interracial marriages, once more commonly referred to as miscegenation. While I always focus on Atlanta, there were also stories from cities across Georgia and even national events that impacted the lives of people in this city. Laws policing interracial relationships date back to colonial times and last through the 1960s, and it’s actually considered one of the long...

Podcast break is over! My first Listener Q&A episode includes amazing questions, like: “Why do you think Atlanta has such a hard time keeping its historic buildings?”, “How does Atlanta’s Civil Rights history factor into the BLM movement today?” and "How did Atlanta keep more tree coverage than any other city?" among many others. Links mentioned: https://www.instagram.com/zanathiavintage/ https://...

1880 Atlanta is a city of 40,000 people, 15 years out of the Civil War, and full force into Henry Grady's "New South". Fairs and expositions were important tools for bringing business and industry and the 1881 International Cotton Exposition would bring 200,000 visitors to the Gate City. To quote the Constitution, “no city in the south has ever before had such an opportunity to enlarge its busines...

This week, we're covering the history of Atlanta’s earliest Chinese citizens. In 1890, the entire state of Georgia had only 1.78% of residents with foreign patronage, so I wondered what brought Chinese men to Atlanta in the 1880s? What work did they do? What were their names? How did the South embrace them? Today, we’re covering all those questions and more. Want to support this podcast? Visit:  w...

This week, we're talking about school in Atlanta, from the period between 1869 - 1965. When did public school begin? Who was it for? What were it's issues? From day one, public schools dealt with over-crowding, segregation, teaching students with disabilities and even debates about prayer in school.  https://apsforgotten.wordpress.com/ Want to support this podcast? Visit:  www.patreon.com/archivea...

This week, we’re covering Avondale Estates, the mastermind behind it, and how the neighborhood housing stock covers two distinct periods in American history. Before Avondale, there was Ingleside and in 1924, George Willis purchased 950 acres to create this Utopian planned community.  Check out my friend's podcast:  tombwithaview.weebly.com/ Want to support this podcast? Visit:  www.patreon.com/arc...

This week is about a 141-year old, unsolved, double murder of Martin and Susan DeFoor, in what is today one of the fastest changing parts of Atlanta. This is a story of crime, race, the legal system, confessions and, of course, cemeteries. What I thought was a simple, short story, was really a 5 year-long mystery with no happy ending. Want to support the podcast? Visit:  www.patreon.com/archiveatl...

This week, we’re going to the almshouse, or poorhouse. Why did Atlanta have one, where was it located and what is still around today. The story has government drama, accusations of poor treatment, prison labor, asylums, women's history, AND forgotten unmarked graves. Want to support the podcast? Visit:  www.patreon.com/archiveatlanta www.archiveatlantapodcast.com/ Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.co...

A settlement born at the crossroads of Native American trails, developed for the wealthy white elites of the Gilded Age, later the poster child for racial segregation and home to the leaders of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. The West End is one of the oldest and most history-packed neighborhoods of Atlanta. https://www.historicatlanta.org/swasa/ Want to support the podcast? Visit:  www.patreon.c...

This week, we’re covering Atlanta’s history with the bicycle; its riders, causes, promoters, races, and venues. In the first 50 years of the city's cycling history, riders establish numerous clubs, started a lantern parade tradition, fought for paved roads and closing streets to vehicle traffic and created the first dedicated bike path...and that's just the tip of the history iceberg. Want to supp...

In this new world of viruses and pandemics, I've found myself drawn to times in Atlanta’s history where things felt dark and overwhelming. I think there is value in looking to the past with hindsight and, at the very least, learning that ‘this too shall pass’.  “Black Week” is actually a one-month period during which Atlantans opened the newspaper to one horrible news story after another and had n...

From the men who chartered the companies and the mules that pulled the cars to bitter feuds, boycotts and labor strikes...there is a lot to share about streetcars in Atlanta. They created several of Atlanta's neighborhoods and structures that are still around today. http://www.dot.ga.gov/BuildSmart/research/Documents/GAStreetcar.pdf Want to support the podcast? Visit:  www.patreon.com/archiveatlan...

As the world is in chaos, my hope is that, at the very least, I hope it can be a way for listeners to escape the news cycle and take a mental break. After 1890, black Atlantans were barred from park or recreation spaces in Atlanta. This week, I am sharing the earliest stories of the African American fight for park space, who led these fights, where some of these places were and how strongly they w...

My goal is to get people to think deeper about everyday places. Whether it’s where you live, where you work or where you play...if it’s in Atlanta, and it’s not brand-new, it has a story. From the first white settler, Victorian health resort and later amusement park, this week we're covering all things Ponce City Market. If you've ever patronized restaurants or rides here, you'll be surprised to l...

In 1934, W.A. Scott was a hugely successful entrepreneur, with a publishing empire and a brand-new 4th marriage. As he pulls his car into his garage one late night, he is shot by an unknown assailant. One week later he'd be dead. We may never know who killed W.A. Scott, but this week we're talking about his life, why someone would want him dead and who was charged with the crime.  Enjoying the pod...

As the world watches the COVID-19, come learn about historical outbreaks in Atlanta and how the city dealt with each. The press loved discussing the spread of disease - sensationalizing, rumors and fear were used just as freely 150 years ago. Diseases like yellow fever, smallpox, cholera, scarlet fever and tuberculosis each had their moment in history and this week, I’m covering Atlanta’s response...