Heritage Facts & History

Heritage and History
Explore the impact of African-Americans and other minority groups on Atlanta's and this nation's history at these museums:

• African American Panoramic Experience (APEX) Museum www.apexmuseum.org presents history from an African-American perspective to tell the contributions of African-Americans to America and the world.
• The Atlanta History Center www.atlantahistorycenter.com chronicles the city's diverse heritage in permanent exhibits about the Civil War and on Atlanta history, as well as hosting the annual Nothin' But the Blues concert series (February-May). The $10 million Centennial Olympic Games Museum addition opened July 2006.
• The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum www.jimmycarterlibrary.org honors Carter's life with a permanent display on his presidency, including a life-sized Oval Office replica and section on the Camp David Peace Accords, as well as special programs and exhibits.

Atlanta's Jewish Heritage

• The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum www.thebreman.orgin Midtown features galleries on the Holocaust and history of Jews in Georgia.
• Marcus Jewish Community Center www.atlantajcc.org in northeast Atlanta also hosts various programs and events, from theater to literary festivals to art exhibits.

Did You Know?

• Atlanta is the nation's most popular city for African-American travelers, according to the Travel Industry Association of America's most recent report entitled, "The Minority Traveler."
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. loved Monopoly and his grandmother's home cooking. He also was a notorious mischief-maker as a boy who, with his brother, removed all the screws from the piano seat to avoid his lessons. Find out more during free tours of his Birth Home. www.nps.gov/malu.
• Famed artist Hale Woodruff established the first art departments at all-black Atlanta University and Spelman College, but when he taught, segregation still was legal. He and his students were only allowed to visit the High Museum of Art after hours when a progressive curator let them in discreetly.
• Atlanta is the nation's "top city for African-Americans," according to "Black Enterprise" magazine (July 2004), which ranks cities based on entrepreneurial opportunities, earnings potential, diverse cultural offerings, business, housing and education.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
• The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday was first celebrated in 1985.
• In 1974 Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth's record.
• Shirley Franklin became Atlanta's first female African-American mayor in 2001.
• Morehouse College was once called Atlanta Baptist Seminary and moved to Atlanta from Augusta, Ga. in 1878.
• Booker T. Washington High School, the city's first black public high school, opened in 1924.
• Maynard H. Jackson Jr. became Atlanta's first African-American mayor in 1973. The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is named after him and another mayor, William B. Hartsfield.