A mere half-mile east of downtown, Auburn Avenue provides
a glimpse into Atlanta's black history. In its 1920s heyday, "
Sweet Auburn " was a prosperous, progressive area of
black-owned businesses and jazz clubs, but since the Depression it
has declined, becoming yet another faceless strip of boarded-up
barbers and beauty stores. Despite admirable efforts and promises
of revitalization, it has yet to succeed in reincarnating itself as
a living monument to black culture and heritage.
However, several blocks have been designated as the Martin
Luther King Jr National Historic Site (tel 404/331-6922), in
honor of Auburn's most cherished native son, the reverend who won
the Nobel Peace Prize at a time when he was being actively
persecuted by agents of the US government. Despite the lack of
attention given to it by the city, this short stretch of road is
the most visited attraction in the entire state of Georgia, and
it's a moving experience to watch the crowds of schoolkids
listening patiently to the guided tours and waiting in turn to take
photographs. Head first for the park service's purpose-built
visitor center , 450 Auburn Ave (daily 9am-5pm), which holds
a powerful exhibition entitled " Courage To Lead" that covers
King's life and campaigns. Across the street at no. 449, the
Martin Luther King Jr Center for Non-violent Change is
privately run by King's family (daily 9am-5pm; free). Chiefly an
educational and research facility, it also features displays of
treasured artifacts such as King's bibles and traveling case, as
well as separate rooms devoted to Mahatma Gandhi and Rosa Parks.
King's mortal remains were brought here from Memphis in the early
1970s, and his memorial , a simple slab inscribed with the
words "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty I'm free at
last," stands in the shallow, five-tiered Reflecting Pool outside,
guarded by an eternal flame.
The Ebenezer Baptist Church next door, where King
followed both his father and grandfather as pastor - and where his
mother was assassinated while playing the organ in 1974 - has been
converted into another museum (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm), while
its congregation has decamped to a much larger new church over the
road. Auburn remained the base for King's breathtakingly courageous
campaigning during the Sixties, and his Southern Christian
Leadership Conference ( SCLC ) still has its headquarters in
the old Masonic building on the corner of Auburn Avenue and
Hilliard Street.
King's birthplace , a block east at no. 501, is a small,
neat Queen Anne-style shotgun house restored to its 1920s
appearance, and now looking smarter than its neighbors. Home to
Martin until he was 12, it remained in his family until 1971, since
when it has been open for lively, anecdotal guided tours
(daily 10am-5pm, 30min; free). These start from Fire Station no. 6,
nearby at 501 Auburn Ave (daily 9am-5pm); you may have to be put on
a waiting list, as schoolgroups often visit en masse.
Further west, at 184 Auburn, the recently reopened Royal
Peacock Club was famed from the 1930s to the 1950s for
performances by Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and Aretha Franklin,
while the Atlanta Life Insurance Co. Building at no. 148,
from 1920 to 1980 the headquarters of the nation's largest
black-owned business, now holds a small selection of
African-American art in the lobby.
The privately run African-American Panoramic Experience
or APEX at 135 Auburn (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm; $3; tel
404/523-2739) has an eclectic collection on black history,
including a reconstruction of a 1920s black-owned drugstore and an
African art gallery.