Editing Atlanta (section)

===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}}