Lois Carlisle

In 1962, Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. ordered the construction of a barricade served to sever the main line connecting the white and Black sections of the Cascade Heights neighborhood.

Yann and Mareth Mak escaped Cambodia with their eight children arriving in Atlanta in October 1981 to get away from genocide carried out by Khmer Rouge.

For more than fifty years, Ethel Mae Matthews worked tirelessly for greater welfare rights for Atlanta’s poor and disabled.

For more than 150 years, unwavering young activists have taken up the torch and blazed their own trail through history.

For a brief and tumultuous few weeks in 1946 and 1947, Georgia had three governors. What followed is the stuff of political legend.

The Barb covered a variety of subjects relevant to its in-town audience, including arts and entertainment, health, politics, and community events. By fully digitizing the collection, researchers are now able to unpack a crucial time in the history of Atlanta’s LGBTQIA+ community from anywhere in the world.

Our city’s LGBTQIA+ history is nuanced and vast—and too complex to be contained in a single story. While this article provides an overview of more than half a century of activism in our city, it is by no means exhaustive.

The Philip Trammell Shutze Architectural drawings collection comprises 638 sets of architectural drawings, 497 of which are digitized and available on our digital database.

Black soldiers have served this country since the Revolutionary War and their stories are vital in creating a more complete, more accurate picture of America’s past.

In August 2020, we commemorate the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment which guaranteed American women the right to vote. However, this was not an inclusive victory.

The suffrage movement did not end with the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920. Securing the vote was just part of what Georgia’s suffragists aimed for.  

Atlanta influences everything, including the nation’s health. Since 1946, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has spearheaded countless global health initiatives from its headquarters in Atlanta.

In times of uncertainty, humans look to the past for guidance. It’s no surprise in a new era of public health that we’re digging through our medical history as a species, looking for answers and solace in previous pandemics.

Because it only happens once every ten years, it’s easy to forget why the Census is so important to our democracy. To refresh your memory, we’re taking a look at some frequently asked questions surrounding the Census.