People. Places. Music. Memory.
Old Atlanta
The history behind the sound. The people who changed the city.
Read the WERD storyThe city, on the record
Stories worth keeping.
Three moments when ownership, evidence and collective action changed the shape of Atlanta.
ATLANTA / 1949Radio & culture
The station that put Black Atlanta on the air
Jesse B. Blayton, Auburn Avenue and the power of owning the microphone.
Read the story
ATLANTA / 1900Art & evidence
Atlanta made data beautiful.
Du Bois in Paris
ATLANTA / 1881Labor & community
The women who brought a city to the table.
The Washing SocietyFacts & their sources
A few defining moments.
The record matters. Each moment opens its public source.
1881Atlanta's Washing Society organized a strike for better pay.Smithsonian
1900Du Bois and Atlanta University students brought Black life to the Paris Exposition.Smithsonian
1949Jesse B. Blayton bought WERD, America's first Black-owned radio station.New Georgia Encyclopedia
Sweet AuburnPrince Hall's building housed WERD and the SCLC.National Park Service
The living archive
What do you remember?
A neighborhood, a voice on the radio, a photograph, a night that stayed with you. Your memory belongs in the record.