Sweet Auburn, Atlanta Georgia
In 1956, Fortune referred to Auburn Avenue as “the richest Negro street in the world.” The historic district of Atlanta was named Sweet Auburn by John Wesley Dobbs to reflect African American community triumph. Prior to the civil rights movement, the former Auburn Avenue catered to the underserved Black population and boasted a concentration of retail trade and wealthy business owners.
The area’s business district included restaurants, lawyers’ and doctors’ offices, insurance companies, banks, lodges, churches, funeral homes, shoeshine stands, clubs, drugstores, and other businesses. Citizens Trust Bank extended credit to Black homeowners and entrepreneurs who were rejected by the city’s white lending institutions. Alonzo Herndon, a freedman who was considered the city’s first Black millionaire, founded Atlanta Life Insurance Company and a Texan named Heman Perry built the second Black insurance company at the time, called Standard Life. Sweet Auburn was also home to the nation’s first African American daily newspaper, the Atlanta Daily World, established in 1928 by W.A. Scott.