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Atlanta Decoded

Construction halted on historic Atlanta site with racist past

Atlanta may be the home of MLK, but the city's history is just as vile and racist as any other American city.


In the late 1800's and early 1900's, in northwest Atlanta sat a million dollar construction company called, Chattahoochee Brick Co. The brick company, owned by former Atlanta Mayor James English, relied on forced convict labor to churn out thousands of bricks a day, which helped rebuild Atlanta after the Civil War.

The workers were mostly Black men arrested for petty crimes. They were whipped, starved, fed rotting food, and forced to live in filth. Many of them died while working, and were buried on company grounds.


Norfolk Southern, the national transportation company who's moving their headquarters to Atlanta soon, announced last fall that they were building a rail transfer terminal on the grounds in order to move materials like ethanol, oil and other commodities. The announcement upset members of the local community, as well as many environmental groups.


Last week, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms filed a legal petition with the federal Surface Transportation Board to stop Norfolk’s construction on the site, which brought even more public scrutiny to the project.


“Our administration will do everything it can to protect the sanctity and significance of this property,” Bottoms said in a statement. “A site of such historic and environmental importance needs careful consideration before even limited development occurs.”

Grounds of the former Chattahoochee Brick Co.

Norfolk's CEO, James Squires says that the company has attempted to be responsible with the development of this rail line. He says they held several meetings with neighbors, and vowed to build a memorial to recognize the history of the land. Despite these efforts, he's decided not to battle the city in court.


“We believe our project presented an opportunity to create a long-overdue memorial to the painful legacy of the site, and at the same time reshape its future by building new river trails and putting the long-abandoned land back into productive use in a way that benefits the regional economy," Squires said in a company press release.


“We pride ourselves on being a good corporate citizen in the communities where we operate. In this case, that means walking away from the project despite our very best efforts to work with the community on the responsible development of the site.”


The atrocities that happened at Chattahoochee Brick Co. can be read in more detail in Douglas Blackmon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Slavery by Another Name.”

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