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Founded by the Cherokee Garden Club of Atlanta in 1975, the Cherokee Garden Library is named for the state floral emblem of Georgia, the Cherokee rose (Rosa laevigata) and is one of the special collection libraries of the Kenan Research Center.

African American students integrated Atlanta high schools on August 30, 1961.

Through the 1850s, Atlanta grew from a railroad junction to a burgeoning regional center.

Born and raised in segregated Atlanta, Martin Luther King, Jr. grew to be the leader of the modern Civil Rights Movement and was recognized worldwide for his campaign of nonviolent social change. In 1955, while a pastor in Montgomery, he began his struggle to end segregation.

Joel Chandler Harris gained international prominence for his volumes of Uncle Remus folktales.

Founded in 1913 as the Georgia School of Technology’s Evening School of Commerce, Georgia State University now offers more than 250 degree programs with 100 fields of study.

City leaders purchased Oakland Cemetery’s initial six acres in 1850 to be a public burial ground.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the federal agency responsible for public health and is headquartered adjacent to the campus of Emory University.

Ivan Allen Jr. served as mayor of Atlanta from 1962 to 1970, bringing significant economic growth and providing pivotal leadership during the turbulent years of the Civil Rights Movement.

Andrew Young came to Atlanta in 1961 to work with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) after serving as a pastor in Thomasville and leading voter registration drives.

In 1919, Ernest Woodruff led a group of investors in purchasing the Coca-Cola Company from Asa Candler.

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is the ninth-largest transit system in the nation and serves an average of more than 550,000 passengers a day.

Atlanta is known for its diversity of neighborhoods, both historic and contemporary.

Traffic congestion in Atlanta manifested itself early in the city’s history as pedestrians, horse-drawn vehicles, and electric streetcars moved sluggishly amid many at-grade railroad crossings.