Buttermilk Bottom, also known as Buttermilk Bottoms or Black Bottom, was an

African-American neighborhood African-American neighborhoods or black neighborhoods are types of ethnic enclaves found in many cities in the United States. Generally, an African American neighborhood is one where the majority of the people who live there are African America ...

in central Atlanta, centered on the area where the

Atlanta Civic Center The Atlanta Civic Center was a theater located in Atlanta, Georgia. It closed in 2014. The theater, which seats 4,600, regularly hosted touring productions of Broadway musicals, concerts, seminars, comedy acts, and high school graduations and ...

now stands in the Old Fourth Ward. It was considered a slum area, having unpaved streets and no electricity. The name may refer to *the downward slope of the sewers in the area, which caused the backed-up water to have a buttermilk smell *residents being unable to afford "sweet" milk, or fresh milk, and instead drinking sour, older milk, which was cultured to add longevity and shelf life to the product in the era prior to modern refrigeration

History

Most of Buttermilk Bottom was razed in the 1960s to make way for urban redevelopment projects, most notably Atlanta's convention center (built 1967), now the

Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center The Atlanta Civic Center was a theater located in Atlanta, Georgia. It closed in 2014. The theater, which seats 4,600, regularly hosted touring productions of Broadway musicals, concerts, seminars, comedy acts, and high school graduations and ...

. After the destruction of Buttermilk Bottom the area was rechristened

Bedford Pine The Old Fourth Ward, often abbreviated O4W, is an intown neighborhood on the eastside of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The neighborhood is best known as the location of the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site. Geography The Old Fourth Wa ...

. However, most of the land remained empty until the mid-1980s when new, mostly mixed-income projects were built on the land. Some of the land was used for today's Renaissance Park and

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

References

External links

Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture
accessed May 16, 2010
Atlanta Housing Authority map of Buttermilk Bottoms-North Avenue Redevelopment Area, 1965

* Images of Buttermilk Bottom, 1959, from

Life magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

Images of Buttermilk Bottom from 1960, ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' photo archive
at

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the largest institution of hig ...

digital collections
"Tour of Buttermilk Bottoms", 1956

Frost Illustrated
accessed May 16, 2010 {{coord, 33.76705, -84.38032, type:landmark_region:US-GA, display=title African-American history in Atlanta Former shantytowns and slums in Atlanta Urban renewal in Atlanta Old Fourth Ward

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links