Old Atlanta StoriesBusiness & Institutions
The station upstairs, the movement downstairs
On Auburn Avenue, a single building connected culture, enterprise and the civil-rights movement.
On Auburn Avenue, a single building connected culture, enterprise and the civil-rights movement.
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Prince Hall’s lodge was more than WERD’s address. The building gave Black organizations secure, centrally located rooms in a segregated city. Its tenants included a Madam C. J. Walker beauty school, WERD and, during the 1960s, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
That proximity collapsed the distance between organizing and broadcasting. Announcements could move from a meeting room to the air, while music and community news brought listeners back throughout the day. The building itself became communications infrastructure.
Keep the thread
Stories that connect.
Keep going through the people, places, and moments behind this story.
The places that made a neighborhood feel like home.
Open storyShared thread: Sweet AuburnSweet Auburn: A City's VoiceBlack business, faith and culture meet on Auburn Avenue.
Open storyShared thread: Sweet AuburnThe station that put Black Atlanta on the airBefore “Black radio” became a national industry, WERD proved that ownership could turn a local signal into cultural power.
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More from Issue 3
Before “Black radio” became a national industry, WERD proved that ownership could turn a local signal into cultural power.
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In 1881, Black laundresses organized for better pay as Atlanta prepared to welcome the world.
Music, worship, public affairs and neighborhood news shared the airwaves.