Editing Atlanta (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Atlanta}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of Atlanta}}

===Native American settlements===
For thousands of years prior to the arrival of European settlers in north Georgia, the indigenous [[Muscogee|Creek people]] and their ancestors inhabited the area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chieftainstrail.com/ |title=Northwest Georgia's Native American History |publisher=Chieftains Trail |access-date=June 27, 2011 |archive-date=July 8, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708144206/http://chieftainstrail.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Standing Peachtree]], a Creek village where [[Peachtree Creek]] flows into the [[Chattahoochee River]], was the closest Native American settlement to what is now Atlanta.<ref name=buckhead>{{cite web|url=http://www.buckhead.net/history/fort-peachtree/index.html|title=Fort Peachtree | website=Buckhead.net | access-date=February 19, 2017}}</ref> Through the early 19th century, European Americans systematically encroached on the Creek of northern Georgia, forcing them out of the area from 1802 to 1825.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ngeorgia.com/history/indianla.html |title=Land Cessions of American Indians in Georgia |publisher=Ngeorgia.com |date=June 5, 2007 |access-date=June 27, 2011}}</ref> The Creek were forced to leave the area in 1821, under [[Indian removal|Indian Removal]] by the federal government,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/CitiesCounties/Counties&id=h-2335 |title=New Georgia Encyclopedia, "Fulton County" |publisher=Georgiaencyclopedia.org |access-date=June 27, 2011}}</ref> and European American settlers arrived the following year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1403 |title=New Georgia Encyclopedia, "DeKalb County" |website=Georgiaencyclopedia.org |date=June 19, 2008 |access-date=June 27, 2011}}</ref>

===Western and Atlantic Railroad===
[[File:Marietta-Street-Atlanta.jpg|thumb|left|Marietta Street, 1864]]

In 1836, the [[Georgia General Assembly]] voted to build the [[Western and Atlantic Railroad]] in order to provide a link between the port of [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]] and the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]].<ref name="W&ARR">{{cite web|title=Creation of the Western and Atlantic Railroad|work=About North Georgia|publisher=Golden Ink|url=http://ngeorgia.com/railroads/warr01.html|access-date=November 12, 2007|archive-date=October 3, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071003030525/http://ngeorgia.com/railroads/warr01.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The initial route was to run southward from [[Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga]] to a terminus east of the [[Chattahoochee River]], which would be linked to Savannah. After engineers surveyed various possible locations for the terminus, the "zero milepost" was driven into the ground in what is now Foundry Street, [[Five Points, Atlanta|Five Points]]. When asked in 1837 about the future of the little village, [[Stephen Harriman Long]], the railroad's chief engineer said the place would be good "for one tavern, a blacksmith shop, a grocery store, and nothing else".<ref>{{Cite news|last=McQuigg|first=Jackson|date=9 January 2022|title=Atlanta didn't build the railroad - The railroads built Atlanta|page=6|work=The Atlanta Journal - Constitution}}</ref> A year later, the area around the milepost had developed into a settlement, first known as ''Terminus'', and later ''Thrasherville'', after a local merchant who built homes and a [[general store]] in the area.<ref name="ThrashervilleHistoricalMarker">{{cite web|title=Thrasherville|url=http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/fulton/thrasherville|website=Georgia Info|access-date=February 6, 2017}}</ref> By 1842, the town had six buildings and 30 residents and was renamed ''[[Marthasville, Georgia|Marthasville]]'' to honor Governor [[Wilson Lumpkin|Wilson Lumpkin's]] daughter Martha. Later, [[John Edgar Thomson]], Chief Engineer of the [[Georgia Railroad and Banking Company|Georgia Railroad]], suggested the town be renamed ''Atlanta''.<ref name="NGEAtlanta">{{cite web|last1=Ambrose|first1=Andy|title=Atlanta|url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/atlanta#Population-Patterns|website=New Georgia Encyclopedia|publisher=Georgia Humanities Council|access-date=February 6, 2017}}</ref> The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29, 1847.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/date/December_29|title=Georgia History Timeline Chronology for December&nbsp;29|publisher=Our Georgia History|access-date=August 30, 2007}}</ref>

===Civil War===
[[File:United States Colored Troop enlisted African-American soldier reading at 8 Whitehall Street, Atlanta slave auction house, Fall 1864- 'Auction & Negro Sales,' Whitehall Street LOC cwpb.03351 (cropped).tif|alt=|left|thumb|[[George N. Barnard]]'s 1864 photograph of a [[Slave-trader|slave trader's]] business on Whitehall Street, Atlanta, [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], shows a [[United States Colored Troops|United States Colored Troop]] infantryman (corporal) sitting by the door.]]
By 1860, Atlanta's population had grown to 9,554.<ref>{{cite web|last=Storey|first=Steve|title=Atlanta & West Point Railroad|publisher=Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage|url=http://railga.com/atlwp.html|access-date=September 28, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Atlanta Old and New: 1848 to 1868|work=Roadside Georgia|publisher=Golden Ink|url=http://roadsidegeorgia.com/city/atlanta02.html|access-date=November 13, 2007|archive-date=October 21, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021093026/http://roadsidegeorgia.com/city/atlanta02.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> During the [[American Civil War]], the nexus of multiple railroads in Atlanta made the city a strategic hub for the distribution of military supplies.<ref>{{cite web |title=Atlanta's Role in the Civil War |url=https://www.americaslibrary.gov/es/ga/es_ga_atlanta_1.html |website=americaslibrary.gov |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=January 12, 2022 |quote=Because of its location and commercial importance, Atlanta was used as a center for military operations and as a supply route by the Confederate army during the Civil War. Therefore, it also became a target for the Union army.}}</ref>

In 1864, the [[Union Army]] moved southward following the capture of Chattanooga and began its [[Atlanta campaign|invasion of north Georgia]]. The region surrounding Atlanta was the location of several major army battles, culminating with the [[Battle of Atlanta]] and a four-month-long siege of the city by the Union Army under the command of General [[William Tecumseh Sherman]]. On September 1, 1864, [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] General [[John Bell Hood]] decided to retreat from Atlanta, and he ordered the destruction of all public buildings and possible assets that could be of use to the Union Army. On the next day, Mayor [[James Calhoun (politician, born 1811)|James Calhoun]] surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, and on September 7, Sherman ordered the city's civilian population to evacuate. On November 11, 1864, Sherman prepared for the Union Army's [[Sherman's March to the Sea|March to the Sea]] by ordering the destruction of Atlanta's remaining military assets.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civilwarlibrary.org/sherman-s-march-chronology.html|title=Sherman's March Chronology|website=civilwarlibrary.org}}</ref>

===Reconstruction and late 19th century===
After the Civil War ended in 1865, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt during the [[Reconstruction era]]. The work attracted many new residents. Due to the city's superior [[rail transportation]] network, the [[List of U.S. state historical capitals|state capital]] was moved from [[Milledgeville, Georgia|Milledgeville]] to Atlanta in 1868.<ref>{{cite web|last=Jackson|first=Edwin L.|title=The Story of Georgia's Capitols and Capital Cities|publisher=Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia|url=http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/capital.htm#anchor671763|access-date=November 13, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009145856/http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/capital.htm|archive-date=October 9, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the 1880 Census, Atlanta had surpassed Savannah as Georgia's largest city.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Beginning in the 1880s, [[Henry W. Grady]], the editor of the ''[[Atlanta Constitution]]'' newspaper, promoted Atlanta to potential investors as a city of the "[[New South]]" that would be based upon a modern economy and less reliant on agriculture. By 1885, the founding of the Georgia School of Technology (now [[History of Georgia Tech|Georgia Tech]]) and the [[Atlanta University Center]], a consortium of [[historically black colleges]] made up of units for men and women, had established Atlanta as a center for higher education. In 1895, Atlanta hosted the [[Cotton States and International Exposition]], which attracted nearly 800,000 attendees and successfully promoted the New South's development to the world.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/06/08/102515577.pdf|title=The South: Vast Resources, Rapid Development, Wonderful Opportunities for Capital and Labor&nbsp;...|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 8, 1895}}</ref>

===20th century===
[[File:Peachtree1907.jpg|thumb|left|In 1907, Peachtree Street, the main street of Atlanta, was busy with streetcars and automobiles.]]

During the first decades of the 20th century, Atlanta enjoyed a period of unprecedented growth. In three decades' time, Atlanta's population tripled as the city limits expanded to include nearby streetcar suburbs. The city's skyline grew taller with the construction of the [[Equitable Building (Atlanta 1892)|Equitable]], [[Flatiron Building (Atlanta)|Flatiron]], [[J. Mack Robinson College of Business Administration Building|Empire]], and [[Candler Building (Atlanta)|Candler]] buildings. [[Sweet Auburn]] emerged as a center of black commerce. The period was also marked by strife and tragedy. Increased racial tensions led to the [[Atlanta Race Riot]] of 1906, when whites attacked blacks, leaving at least 27 people dead and over 70 injured, with extensive damage in black neighborhoods. In 1913, [[Leo Frank]], a Jewish-American factory superintendent, was convicted of the murder of a 13-year-old girl in a highly publicized trial. He was sentenced to death but the governor commuted his sentence to life. An enraged and organized [[Lynching|lynch mob]] took him from jail in 1915 and hanged him in [[Marietta, Georgia|Marietta]]. The Jewish community in Atlanta and across the country were horrified.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Jewish Community of Atlanta|url=https://dbs.bh.org.il/place/atlanta|website=Beit Hatfutsot Open Databases Project|publisher=The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Teachinghistory.org|url=https://teachinghistory.org/history-content/beyond-the-textbook/25059|access-date=2022-01-06|website=teachinghistory.org}}</ref> On May 21, 1917, the [[Great Atlanta Fire of 1917|Great Atlanta Fire]] destroyed 1,938 buildings in what is now the [[Old Fourth Ward]], resulting in one fatality and the displacement of 10,000 people.<ref name=NGEAtlanta/>

On December 15, 1939, Atlanta hosted the [[premiere]] of ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'', the epic film based on the best-selling novel by Atlanta's [[Margaret Mitchell]]. The gala event at [[Loew's Grand Theatre]] was attended by the film's legendary producer, [[David O. Selznick]], and the film's stars [[Clark Gable]], [[Vivien Leigh]], and [[Olivia de Havilland]], but Oscar winner [[Hattie McDaniel]], an African-American actress, was barred from the event due to racial segregation laws.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Atlanta_Premiere_of_Gone_With_The_Wind|title=Atlanta Premiere of Gone with the Wind|publisher=Ngeorgia.com|access-date=April 5, 2010|archive-date=January 15, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115033241/http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Atlanta_Premiere_of_Gone_With_The_Wind|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Metropolitan area's growth===
Atlanta played a vital role in the Allied effort during [[World War II]] due to the city's war-related manufacturing companies, railroad network and military bases. The defense industries attracted thousands of new residents and generated revenues, resulting in rapid population and economic growth. In the 1950s, the city's newly constructed highway system, supported by federal subsidies, allowed middle class Atlantans the ability to relocate to the suburbs. As a result, the city began to make up an ever-smaller proportion of the metropolitan area's population.<ref name=NGEAtlanta/> [[Georgia Tech]]'s president [[Blake R. Van Leer]] played an important role with a goal of making Atlanta the "[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] of the South."<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40581436 | title=Engineering the New South: Georgia Tech, 1885–1985 | journal=The Georgia Historical Quarterly | jstor=40581436 | access-date=November 29, 2020| last1=Hair | first1=William I. | year=1985 | volume=69 | issue=4 | pages=509–517 }}</ref> In 1946 Georgia Tech secured about $240,000 ({{Inflation|US|240000|1946|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}) annually in sponsored research and purchased an [[electron microscope]] for $13,000  ({{Inflation|US|13000|1946|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}), the first such instrument in the [[Southeastern United States]] and one of few in the United States at the time.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://smartech.gatech.edu/handle/1853/26051|title=New Microscope For Experiment Installed at Tech|work=[[The Technique]]|date=January 19, 1946|access-date=January 26, 2010}}</ref> The Research Building was expanded, and a $300,000 ({{Inflation|US|300000|1947|r=-6|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}) [[Westinghouse Electric (1886)|Westinghouse]] [[Network analyzer (AC power)|A-C network calculator]] was given to Georgia Tech by [[Georgia Power]] in 1947.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.gtri.gatech.edu/our-history/ees-installs-%E2%80%9Celectro-mechanical-brain%E2%80%9D|title=EES Installs "Electro-Mechanical Brain"|publisher=[[Georgia Tech Research Institute]]|access-date=May 28, 2021}}</ref> In 1953, Van Leer assisted with helping Lockheed establish a [[research and development]] and production line in Marietta. Later in 1955 he helped set up a committee to assist with establishing a nuclear research facility, which would later become the [[Neely Nuclear Research Center]]. Van Leer also co-founded [[Southern Polytechnic State University]] now absorbed by and made part of [[Kennesaw State University]] to help meet the need for technicians after the war.<ref>W. L. Hughes, "A Brief Chronology of the Technical Institute Movement in America." The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), 1947.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/TimLenoir/SiliconValley99/ScientificAtlanta.pdf |work=Stanford|title=The Case of Scientific Atlanta|author=Richard S Combes|date=February 26, 1999}}</ref> Van Leer was instrumental in making the school and Atlanta the first major research center in the [[Southern United States|American South]]. The building that houses Tech's school of [[Electrical and Computer Engineering]] bears his name.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ece.gatech.edu/about/ece-buildings|title=Campus Map: Van Leer Building|access-date=May 20, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/30/sports/how-to-get-to-bowl-games-and-then-win-them.html |work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Bobby Dodd Interview|author=Bobby Dodd|date=December 30, 1984}}</ref>

===Civil Rights Movement===
African-American veterans returned from World War II seeking full rights in their country and began heightened activism. In exchange for support by that portion of the black community that could vote, in 1948 the mayor ordered the hiring of the first eight African-American police officers in the city. Much controversy preceded the [[1956 Sugar Bowl]], when the [[1955 Pittsburgh Panthers football team|Pitt Panthers]], with African-American fullback [[Bobby Grier (Pittsburgh Panthers)|Bobby Grier]] on the roster, met the [[1955 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team|Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets]].<ref name=fcflu>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Cs9RAAAAIBAJ&pg=4796%2C5131560 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |last=Sell |first=Jack |title=Panthers defeat flu; face Ga. Tech next |date=December 30, 1955 |page=1}}</ref> There had been controversy over whether Grier should be allowed to play due to his race, and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia's [[List of governors of Georgia|Governor]] [[Marvin Griffin]]'s opposition to racial integration.<ref name="Mulé">Mulé, Marty – [http://www.blackathlete.net/artman/publish/article_01392.shtml "A Time For Change: Bobby Grier And The 1956 Sugar Bowl"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610185435/http://www.blackathlete.net/artman/publish/article_01392.shtml |date=June 10, 2007 }}. Black Athlete Sports Network, December 28, 2005</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Bobby Grier broke bowl's color line|url=https://old.post-gazette.com/pg/05280/584401.stm|access-date=2022-01-06|website=old.post-gazette.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Thamel|first=Pete|date=2006-01-01|title=Grier Integrated a Game and Earned the World's Respect|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/sports/ncaafootball/grier-integrated-a-game-and-earned-the-worlds-respect.html|access-date=2022-01-06|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> After Griffin publicly sent a telegram to the state's Board of Regents requesting Georgia Tech not to engage in racially integrated events, Georgia Tech's president [[Blake R. Van Leer]] rejected the request and threatened to resign. The game went on as planned.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/2019/11/14/20914927/rearview-revisited-segregation-and-the-sugar-bowl-georgia-tech-pittsburgh-bobby-grier-1955-1956-game |publisher=Georgia Tech|title=Rearview Revisited: Segregation and the Sugar Bowl|author=Jake Grantl|date=November 14, 2019|access-date=November 14, 2019}}</ref>

In the 1960s, Atlanta became a major organizing center of the [[civil rights movement]], with [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[Ralph David Abernathy]], and students from Atlanta's [[historically black colleges and universities]] playing major roles in the movement's leadership. While Atlanta in the postwar years had relatively minimal racial strife compared to other cities, blacks were limited by discrimination, segregation, and continued [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchisement]] of most voters.<ref name="kruse">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c5763Zgu4_oC&pg=PP1|title=White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism|author=Kevin Michael Kruse|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=February 1, 2008|isbn=978-0-691-09260-7}}</ref> In 1961, the city attempted to thwart [[blockbusting]] by realtors by erecting road barriers in [[Cascade Heights]], <!-- How was this supposed to work? -->countering the efforts of civic and business leaders to foster Atlanta as the "city too busy to hate".<ref name="kruse"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874660,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220123816/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874660,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 20, 2008|title=The South: Divided City|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=January 18, 1963|access-date=June 27, 2011}}</ref>

Desegregation of the public sphere came in stages, with public transportation desegregated by 1959,<ref name="NGEbusDesegregation">{{cite web|last1=Hatfield|first1=Edward|title=Bus Desegregation in Atlanta|url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/bus-desegregation-atlanta|website=New Georgia Encyclopedia|publisher=Georgia Humanities Council|access-date=February 6, 2017}}</ref> the restaurant at [[Rich's (department store)|Rich's]] department store by 1961,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1888|title=Rich's Department Store|encyclopedia=[[New Georgia Encyclopedia]]}}</ref> movie theaters by 1963,<ref>{{Cite news|title=Negroes Attend Atlanta Theaters|newspaper=[[Atlanta Journal]]|date=May 15, 1962}}</ref> and public schools by 1973 (nearly 20 years after the US Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atlantahighered.org/civilrights/essay_detail.asp?phase=3|title=APS Timeline|publisher=Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education|access-date=February 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113134157/http://www.atlantahighered.org/civilrights/essay_detail.asp?phase=3|archive-date=January 13, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1960, whites comprised 61.7% of the city's population.<ref name="census1">{{cite web|title=Race and Hispanic Origin for Selected Cities and Other Places: Earliest Census to 1990|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html|access-date=January 2, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812191959/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html|archive-date=August 12, 2012}}</ref> During the 1950s–70s, suburbanization and [[white flight]] from urban areas led to a significant demographic shift.<ref name="kruse"/> By 1970, African Americans were the majority of the city's population and exercised their recently enforced voting rights and political influence by electing Atlanta's first black mayor, [[Maynard Jackson]], in 1973. Under Mayor Jackson's tenure, Atlanta's airport was modernized, strengthening the city's role as a transportation center. The opening of the [[Georgia World Congress Center]] in 1976 heralded Atlanta's rise as a convention city.<ref name="GWCCfacts">{{cite web|title=Campus Development|url=https://www.gwcca.org/about-the-gwcca/campus-development/|website=gwcca.org|publisher=Georgia World Congress Center Authority|access-date=February 6, 2017}}</ref> Construction of the city's [[Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority|subway system]] began in 1975, with rail service commencing in 1979.<ref name=hist1970>{{cite web|url=http://itsmarta.com/about/history02.htm|title=History of MARTA – 1970–1979|access-date=March 2, 2008|publisher=Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050204222807/http://itsmarta.com/about/history02.htm|archive-date=February 4, 2005}}</ref> Despite these improvements, Atlanta lost more than 100,000 residents between 1970 and 1990, over 20% of its population.<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news|url=http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/do-olympic-host-cities-ever-win/|title=Do Olympic Host Cities Ever Win? |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 2, 2009|access-date=July 16, 2012}}</ref> At the same time, it developed new office space after attracting numerous corporations, with an increasing portion of workers from northern areas.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

===1996 Summer Olympic Games===
[[File:JO Atlanta 1996 - Drapeau.jpg|thumb|The Olympic flag waves at the 1996 games.|alt=]]
Atlanta was selected as the site for the [[1996 Summer Olympic Games]]. Following the [[Bids for the 1996 Summer Olympics|announcement]], the city government undertook several major construction projects to improve Atlanta's parks, sporting venues, and transportation infrastructure; however, for the first time, none of the $1.7&nbsp;billion cost of the games was governmentally funded. While the games experienced transportation and accommodation problems and, despite extra security precautions, there was the [[Centennial Olympic Park bombing]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Olympic Games Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., 1996|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica online|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-249564/Olympic-Games|access-date=January 2, 2008}}</ref> the spectacle was a watershed event in Atlanta's history. For the first time in Olympic history, every one of the record 197 national Olympic committees invited to compete sent athletes, sending more than 10,000 contestants participating in a record 271 events. The related projects such as [[Atlanta's Olympic Legacy Program]] and civic effort initiated a fundamental transformation of the city in the following decade.<ref name="nytimes1"/>

===21st century===
During the 2000s, city of Atlanta underwent a profound physical, [[human culture|cultural]], and [[demographics|demographic]] change. As some of the African American middle and upper classes also began to move to the suburbs, a booming economy drew numerous new migrants from other cities in the United States, who contributed to changes in the city's demographics. African Americans made up a decreasing portion of the population, from a high of 67% in 1990 to 54% in 2010.<ref name="spelman">{{cite web|url=http://www.spelman.edu/academics/enrichment/census/pdf/cicnewsletterjan2009vs2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208211609/http://www.spelman.edu/academics/enrichment/census/pdf/cicnewsletterjan2009vs2.pdf |archive-date=December 8, 2011 |title=The U.S. Census in the Past and Present|author=Tiffany Davis, B.A.|publisher=Spelman College|date=January 22, 2009}}</ref> From 2000 to 2010, Atlanta gained 22,763 white residents, 5,142 Asian residents, and 3,095 Hispanic residents, while the city's black population decreased by 31,678.<ref name="blogs.ajc.com">{{cite web|first=Jim |last=Galloway |url=https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/a-census-speeds-atlanta-toward-racially-neutral-ground/52AG4EFMIBARFCUHPNRKXAMWSE/ |title=A census speeds Atlanta toward racially neutral ground |work=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=June 4, 2021 }}</ref><ref name="nyt-031106">{{cite news |work=The New York Times |first=Shaila |last=Dewan |date=March 11, 2006 |title=Gentrification Changing Face of New Atlanta |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/national/11atlanta.html}}</ref> Much of the city's demographic change during the decade was driven by young, college-educated professionals: from 2000 to 2009, the [[Intown Atlanta|three-mile radius]] surrounding [[Downtown Atlanta]] gained 9,722 residents aged 25 to 34 and holding at least a four-year degree, an increase of 61%.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-04-01-1Ayoungrestless01_ST_N.htm |work=USA Today |title=Urban centers draw more young, educated adults |date=April 1, 2011}}</ref> This was similar to the tendency in other cities for young, college educated, single or married couples to live in downtown areas.<ref>{{cite news|last=Schneider |first=Craig |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/local/young-professionals-lead-surge-intown-living/4kQU4TmoIKuorXuV3FPDPP/ |title=Young professionals lead surge of intown living |newspaper=ajc.com |date=April 13, 2011 |access-date=June 4, 2021}}</ref>

Between the mid-1990s and 2010, stimulated by funding from the [[HOPE VI]] program and under leadership of CEO Renee Lewis Glover (1994–2013),<ref name="trubey">{{cite news|url=https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/atlanta-housing-authority-chief-glover-sues-agency-for-legal-fees/XN8ny9KeM7eF52QesPbMzM/|last=Trubey|first=J. Scott|title=Ex-Atlanta Housing Authority chief Glover sues agency for legal fees|work=Atlanta Journal Constitution|date=August 6, 2018|access-date=August 29, 2019}}</ref> the [[Atlanta Housing Authority]] demolished nearly all of its public housing, a total of 17,000 units and about 10% of all housing units in the city.<ref name="oakley">{{cite web|url=http://urbanhealth.gsu.edu/files/gsu_public_housing_report1.pdf |author1=Deirdre Oakley |author2=Erin Ruel |author3=G. Elton Wilson |title=A Choice with No Options: Atlanta Public Housing Residents' Lived Experiences in the Face of Relocation |publisher=[[Georgia State University]] |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218203321/http://urbanhealth.gsu.edu/files/gsu_public_housing_report1.pdf |archive-date=December 18, 2014}}</ref><ref name="manhattan">{{cite web|url=http://www.iut.nu/members/USA/Georgia/ReinventingPublHous2009.pdf|first=Howard|last=Husock|title=Reinventing Public Housing: Is the Atlanta Model Right for Your City?|publisher=[[Manhattan Institute for Policy Research]]|access-date=July 16, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426052355/http://www.iut.nu/members/USA/Georgia/ReinventingPublHous2009.pdf|archive-date=April 26, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>US Census Bureau 1990 census – total number of housing units in Atlanta city</ref> After reserving 2,000 units mostly for elderly, the AHA allowed redevelopment of the sites for mixed-use and mixed-income, higher density developments, with 40% of the units to be reserved for affordable housing. Two-fifths of previous public housing residents attained new housing in such units; the remainder received vouchers to be used at other units, including in suburbs. At the same time, in an effort to change the culture of those receiving subsidized housing, the AHA imposed a requirement for such residents to work (or be enrolled in a genuine, limited-time training program). It is virtually the only housing authority to have created this requirement. To prevent problems, the AHA also gave authority to management of the mixed-income or voucher units to evict tenants who did not comply with the work requirement or who caused behavior problems.<ref name="husock"/>

In 2005, the city approved the $2.8&nbsp;billion [[BeltLine]] project. It was intended to convert a disused 22-mile freight railroad loop that surrounds the central city into an art-filled multi-use trail and light rail transit line, which would increase the city's park space by 40%.<ref name="BeltlineFacts">{{cite web|title=The Atlanta BeltLine in 5|url=https://beltline.org/about/the-atlanta-beltline-project/atlanta-beltline-overview/|website=Atlanta Beltline|publisher=Atlanta Beltline Inc.|access-date=February 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207033044/https://beltline.org/about/the-atlanta-beltline-project/atlanta-beltline-overview/|archive-date=February 7, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> The project stimulated retail and residential development along the loop, but has been criticized for its adverse effects on some Black communities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.curbed.com/2020/7/16/21315678/city-racism-urbanism-atlanta-beltline|title=Urbanism Hasn't Worked for Everyone|last=Walker|first=Alissa|date=July 16, 2020|website=Curbed|access-date=November 7, 2020}}</ref> In 2013, the project received a federal grant of $18 million to develop the southwest corridor. In September 2019 the James M. Cox Foundation gave $6 Million to the PATH Foundation which will connect the [[Silver Comet Trail]] to The Atlanta BeltLine which is expected to be completed by 2022. Upon completion, the total combined interconnected trail distance around Atlanta for The Atlanta BeltLine and Silver Comet Trail will be the longest paved trail surface in the U.S. totaling about {{convert|300|miles}}.<ref name="BeltlineFacts" />

Atlanta's cultural offerings expanded during the 2000s: the [[High Museum of Art]] doubled in size; the [[Alliance Theatre]] won a [[Tony Award]]; and art galleries were established on the once-industrial [[West Midtown|Westside]].<ref name="online.wsj.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704415104576250962970106874 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |first=Timothy W. |last=Martin |title=The New New South |date=April 16, 2011}}</ref> The city of Atlanta was the subject of a [[2018 Atlanta cyberattack|massive cyberattack]] which began in March 2018.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Perlroth |first1=Nicole |last2=Benner |first2=Katie |title=Iranians Accused in Cyberattacks, Including One That Hobbled Atlanta |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/us/politics/atlanta-cyberattack-iran.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/us/politics/atlanta-cyberattack-iran.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited |work=The New York Times |date=November 28, 2018 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> On June 16, 2022, Atlanta was selected as a host city for the [[2026 FIFA World Cup]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/media-releases/media-release-greater-than-fwc-2026-greater-than-host-cities-announcement|title=FIFA unveils stellar line-up of FIFA World Cup 2026 Host Cities|publisher=FIFA|date=June 16, 2022|access-date=June 16, 2022}}</ref>