culturally rich tapestry of Buttermilk Bottom, as they sought new opportunities and created a close-knit community in the urban center of Atlanta.
Black migrants who came to Atlanta established neighborhoods with the necessities for everyday living. By 1911, Buttermilk Bottom appeared on the Sanborn map. Churches served as the principal structures, and schools, meeting houses, and community services began to take root. The Storr's School for Colored Children, part of the First Congregational Church, opened on 110 Houston Street, now John Wesley Dobbs intersecting with Courtland Avenue, in 1865. 77 The story of Buttermilk Bottom has since become a part of the cultural zeitgeist. The neighborhood is memorialized in novels, autobiographies, and music, making it one of Atlanta’s most celebrated neighborhoods. The group Spirit of Atlanta, featured a song about Buttermilk Bottom, on their album, “The Burning of Atlanta.” The track entitled with the neighborhood’s name, ‘Buttermilk Bottom’ is a soulful song with funk rhythms which is part of Atlanta’s music history, punctuated by horns, weaving tales of hardships and struggles focusing on the experiences of people living in Buttermilk Bottom. Underscoring the isolation many felt in Buttermilk Bottom because of segregation, lyrics like, trying to do what was right", highlighted the economic oppression. Some people turned to gambling and found the joys of the nightlife. Racial segregation established systemic conditions that deprived the entire community of basic city services, police assistance, access to public recreation and green spaces, adequate educational facilities, and sufficient employment. Songs like Spirit of Atlanta's "Buttermilk Bottom" remind us of the importance of uncovering the humanizing narratives of people’s experiences to understand and collaboratively build community. 78 An event that significantly altered the landscape of The Fourth Ward was The Great Fire of 1917. On May 21, 1917, Great Fire burned 1,938 buildings to the ground and covered 300 acres of land. 79 There are conflicting accounts over how the fire began. One account said the fire began near Grady Hospital on Butler Street, another at Fort and Hillard Street, and the Sanborn insurance map of 1917 indicates the fire flamed at the intersection of S. Fort Street and Decatur Avenue. How the fire began is “unknown” and suspicions point to racial violence and terrorism, as there was the active presence of the Klu Klux Klan as they relaunched in 1915, after the screening of The Klansman in the White House and the release of Birth of A Nation. Additionally, three other fires blazed across Atlanta, stretching resources– man and water thin. The fire department was not mechanized, and homes were made of wood and provided kindling to keep a fire ablaze. The fire’s path of destruction began south in Auburn Avenue
77 KGuestH, “Storr’s School for Colored Children”, Forgotten Atlanta Public Schools, https://apsforgottencom.wordpress.com/2021/05/19/storrs-school-for-colored-children/.
78 Claude Hawley, "The Meaning Behind the Song: Buttermilk Bottom," Old Time Music, December 3, 1977. https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-buttermilk-bottom-by-the-spirit-of-atlanta/.
79 Auburn Avenue Chronicle 1 , 1978.
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