Welcome to Atlanta
As the largest city in southeast and the unofficial capital of the south, Atlanta is home to over 4 million people, half the population of Georgia. By coming to Atlanta groups will have the chance to see much more than the wealth and prosperity created in one of United States fastest growing cities. Hidden behind the shadow of the Fortune 500 companies are neighborhoods that have suffered from years of racism, drugs, violence, prostitution, and homelessness.
As the major connecting point of the Confederate States during the Civil War, Atlanta became a target for General Sherman’s army. On their fiery march through Georgia to the coast, Sherman’s troops destroyed all but one building in the city of Atlanta. Since 1865 Atlanta has been rebuilt and during the past 40 years the city has become a melting pot of people from all over the world. The city has grown so fast that native Atlantans make up only 48% of the population, a minority in their own city. Mixed together with all of the “new” Atlantans of the past four decades are the legacies of some of our nation’s greatest leaders during the 20th Century: Martin Luther King Jr., Hosea Williams, Ralph David Abernathy, Benjamin E. Mays, George Washington Carver, and Jimmy Carter.
Coinciding with the rise in population has been Atlanta’s reputation as a great place to do business. Several major corporations and social service agencies serve the world from their headquarters in Atlanta. Coca-Cola, Delta, UPS, and Home Depot head the list of many Fortune 500 companies based out of Atlanta, creating jobs for a large percentage of the population. The King Center and the Carter Center provide world-renowned resources on issues of nonviolence and disease control to people and agencies across the globe. And as the Olympics showed in 1996, Atlanta is truly a world-class city.
While Atlanta has thrived during the past 40 years, it has not always been at the forefront of United States cities. Prior to the 1960’s, Atlanta suffered from the stigma of racial hatred that divided the city. Schools, neighborhoods, streets, stores, bathrooms, and parks were all segregated. It was not until Atlanta-born Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and several others began resisting segregation laws that progress was made on treating all people as being created equal. While institutional racism in the form of segregation is a thing of the past, the burden of hundreds of years of racism can still be felt as Atlanta forges ahead into its future. By visiting the King Center museum, groups will be able to reflect upon the state of our nation today as we continue to grapple with issues of race and justice.
Embedded in the past of Atlanta are many of the great human questions of war and peace, of justice and oppression, of defeat and rebirth. By coming to Atlanta, we hope our groups will have a positive experience serving and learning in an urban context. Opportunities to serve in Atlanta may include interacting with homeless people at shelters and soup kitchens, making and delivering meals for homebound AIDS and cancer patients, working at summer day camps for children in economically impoverished neighborhoods, sorting food and clothes at distribution centers, visiting with senior citizens and hearing the stories of the civil rights movement, or just walking through neighborhoods and becoming acquainted with people and places.
Our hope is that groups will be able to see the face of God in the city of Atlanta and leave pondering some of the same questions that are embedded in Atlanta’s history. The church in the city of Atlanta is making a valiant witness even when many Christians have fled to the suburbs. Realistically it is the church - and the faith to which it gives witness - that sustains hope for those who have been left behind.