Our Mission

John Wesley Dobbs, a noted African-American civic and political leader in Georgia, described Atlanta’s Auburn Avenue as the "richest Negro street in the world."
Like other black communities throughout the country, the success of Auburn Avenue and its surrounding neighborhoods was intricately tied to the residential patterns forced on African Americans during the early 20th century—the result of restrictive laws in southern states which enforced segregation of the races, known as Jim Crow laws. It was here that many African Americans established businesses, congregations, and social organizations. It was here that a strong a sense of community was built that was tied together by strength and communication.

 

Several churches located along the avenue, such as Big Bethel AME and First Congregational, helped build and maintain the heritage of the street. 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 company steadily grew so that by 1910, there were more than 42 branch offices. 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 businessman and politician Henry A. Rucker. The Atlanta Daily World, the first black-owned daily newspaper, was founded here in 1928.

 

Over time though, like so many other inner-city neighborhoods, Auburn Avenue fell victim to lack of investment, crime and abandonment…eventually becoming one of the most depressed areas in the Atlanta community.

 

However, Auburn Avenue is currently experiencing a drastic resurgence with several planned residential and mixed-use projects in the district.

As this historic area undergoes an amazing transformation, the Auburn Avenue Times was created as a communication vehicle to capture the redevelopment efforts, to articulate the mood and temperament of Atlanta’s progressive African-American community and to provide Atlanta residents with information that can be used to tie this community together once again.