The first settlement here was on land formerly occupied by Union troops and was called Shermantown for many years. It developed quickly being near the Georgia Railroad and in 1879 was at the endpoint of a newly graded road called simply Boulevard, which led from the railroad to North Avenue near Ponce de Leon Avenue and Angier Springs.
The rise of Auburn Avenue as "the" black business district in Atlanta was to a great extent an outcome of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot. Prior to this time black businesses operated largely in downtown Atlanta — a business district integrated as far as business ownership was concerned. But competition between working-class whites and blacks for jobs and housing gave rise to fears and tensions. In 1906, print media fueled these tensions with hearsay about alleged sexual assaults on white women by black men, triggering the riot, which left at least 27 people dead[3] (25 of them black) and over 70 injured.[4]
Black businesses started to move from previously integrated business district downtown to the relative safety of the area around the Atlanta University Center west of downtown, and to Auburn Avenue in the Fourth Ward east of downtown. "Sweet" Auburn Avenue became home to Alonzo Herndon's Atlanta Mutual, the city's first black-owned life insurance company, and to a celebrated concentration of black businesses, newspapers, churches, and nightclubs. In 1956, Fortune magazine called Sweet Auburn "the richest Negro street in the world", a phrase originally coined by civil rights leader John Wesley Dobbs from the poem The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith.[5][6] Sweet Auburn and Atlanta's black colleges formed the nexus of a prosperous black middle class and upper class which arose despite enormous social and legal obstacles.
Visitors at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical ParkBig Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
Several churches located along the avenue, such as Big Bethel AME and First Congregational, helped build and maintain the heritage of the street. Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, located just off the avenue, was also a significant force as the first Black Catholic parish in the city.
The Royal Peacock Club provided an elegant setting where many African Americans could perform and bring the changing styles of black popular music to Atlanta. Originally called the Top Hat Club when it opened in 1938, the club hosted local talent and national acts such as B.B. King, the Four Tops, the Tams and Atlanta's own Gladys Knight.
One of the many significant commercial buildings within the district is the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. The second-largest black insurance company in the United States, Atlanta Life Insurance was founded in 1905 by Alonzo Herndon, a former slave from Walton County, Georgia. The central building of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company complex is a Beaux Arts building facing Auburn Avenue. The district also includes the Rucker Building, Atlanta's first black-owned office building, constructed in 1904 by Henry A. Rucker, a former slave turned businessman and politician.
Also located on Auburn Avenue was The Atlanta Daily World, the first black-owned daily newspaper, which was founded here in 1928. (The Atlanta Daily World is still the nation's longest running African American newspaper.) In 1948, the Atlanta Police Department was integrated, hiring eight black police officers, all of whom were assigned to Auburn Avenue.[8]
Sweet Auburn celebrates the annual Auburn SpringFest, and in the Fall, the Sweet Auburn Heritage Festival. The Sweet Auburn Heritage Festival is an annual festival held the first weekend in October on Auburn Avenue. Civil rights leader Hosea Williams founded the first festival in 1984. Charles Johnson founded the festival in 1994 as a way to celebrate the African American achievements as established on Auburn Avenue. The festival offers food, art, and entertainment throughout the day while celebrating Auburn Avenue's past and growth, and is operated by the Sweet Auburn Committee.
The festival's entertainment varies from comedians to up and coming artists from diverse genres of music.[10] The Sweet Auburn Heritage Festival searches for entertainment from cities such as Atlanta, Macon, Savannah, Augusta, Huntsville and Chattanooga in hopes to help non- established artist's path to stardom. Artist such as Usher Raymond, Outkast, India.Arie, and Raven-Symoné have started out performing on stage at the festival. Ultimately, the Sweet Auburn Heritage Festival entertainment has grown much farther than originally anticipated from its beginning stages in 1984.
Edgewood Avenue which runs through the heart of Sweet Auburn has become a hotspot for viewing for street art in Atlanta. Works by international artists such as Sten Lex and local artists such as Dr. Dax and Chris Veal can be found on Edgewood Avenue and the surrounding streets. Several of the Sweet Auburn murals can be found on the Atlanta Street Art Map.[11]
^"Atlanta Race Riot". The Coalition to Remember the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved September 6, 2006.
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