Commemorate the 40th anniversary of MLK’s assassination
with these events.
The National Black Arts
Festival celebrates the art, music and culture
of people of African descent. Held each year in July, it features
concerts, theater and dance performances, art exhibits, literary
events, an Artists’ Market
at Greenbriar Mall, an International Vendor Marketplace and
the Pan African Film Festival.
During the Atlanta
Jazz Festival in May, more than 100 international
performers appear at venues from Chastain Park Amphitheatre
to nighttime series at restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Some
concerts require tickets, but most events are free, culminating
in free all-day performances at Piedmont Park during Memorial
Day Weekend.
The Montreux Atlanta
Jazz Festival,
held at Underground Atlanta during Labor Day Weekend, also
boasts globally known jazz artists.
The Bronner Brothers
Atlanta Hair Show began in 1947 with 300 attendees.
Today the event, set for Aug. 18-21, attracts thousands and
offers hands-on classes, presentations and a trade floor at
the Georgia World Congress Center.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Week (Jan. 9-14, 2008) is a citywide celebration
of the civil rights leader’s birthday, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s “A
King Celebration” at Morehouse College, a collaboration
with guest artists and Morehouse and Spelman Colleges’ glee
clubs. Other events include a Commemorative Service at Ebenezer
Baptist Church and the annual Trumpet Awards honoring black
men and women for their contributions and accomplishments.
Atlanta
also is a popular convention destination for African-American
business groups. More than 3,000 attended last year’s
Power Networking Conference, Black America’s
largest networking convention sponsored by FraserNet, happening
in the summer.
The largest national event to encourage minority
participation in the lodging industry, NABHOOD
2007,
is an the annual International Multicultural Tourism/Minority
Hotel Ownership Summit & Trade Show, also taking place
in the summer.
Auburn Avenue
“Sweet” Auburn Avenue served as the center of African-American
enterprise in Atlanta from the 1890s to ’50s and a cradle
for the Civil Rights Movement. Today it’s undergoing
a renaissance.
The Martin Luther King Jr.
National Historic Site honors the life of the famous civil rights
leader and includes a Visitor Center; the civil rights leader’s Birth Home;
his tomb and that of his wife, Coretta Scott King at the
MLK Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change; and the traditional
and new sanctuaries of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King’s
family has preached for three generations.
Note: Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church is closed for renovations
starting Sept. 10, 2007 for about a year. Please call for
more information.
Also nearby are the Auburn Avenue
Research Library; Atlanta
Life Insurance Co., founded in 1905 by former
slave Alonzo Herndon; the national headquarters of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference; Big
Bethel AME Church, one
of the area’s oldest congregations; and the Sweet
Auburn Curb Market.
The Atlanta Preservation
Center has seasonal guided walking
tours of the district.
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