Atlanta is ever-changing. Since the 1990s, the city’s population has been exploding, changing its ethnic diversity and highlighting cultural diversity. With more people, also comes the need for more industrial change to help the city adapt. However, we have never really known if citizens residing in the area can also adapt to the environment’s constant change.
Nick Stone, 16, responds to the rapid change in racial variety, saying, “It gets a little overwhelming when you stop to think about how many different people and cultural practices there are. But with that comes a little sense of comfort knowing that nobody is the same.” Being a mixed boy from a Black father and a white mother, as he grew up and interacted with different cultures, Nick shares how “Atlanta feels both vast and close” since his peers make Atlanta feel like home.
Atlanta was a deeply segregated city when Jim Crow Laws were implemented, which enforced racial separation and restrictions. In the early 1960s, Atlanta adopted a policy of integrated schools, which many intended to help unify the population into a single school system. One of the first Black elementary teachers to integrate into white schools, Janet Watkins, said this while describing the process of integration. “Eventually, the white school became a Black school. Of course, so then after I had him [her first son], I went to another white school. That became a Black school shortly after. And as time went on, more and more people started showing up.”
The diversity in Atlanta schools is predominantly African American, according to U.S. News, comprising 71.9% of the student body. In comparison, white students make up 15.9%, Hispanics/Latinos comprise 7.8%, and students of other races account for the remaining 4.5%. Not only have schools been growing, though.
Since the 1900s, the city of Atlanta has been spread to be 47% African American, 38% White, 6.3% Hispanic or Latino, 5% Asian, with the remaining 8.7% population consisting of two or more races, according to Data USA.
A shift in cultural events accompanied the surge in population.
Atlanta United published a post exploring how the city’s culture shifted, noting that the 1990s marked the beginning of Atlanta’s culture embracing different forms of art. The article included activist, actor, and Atlanta rapper, Killer Mike, sharing that, “Atlanta has been about the business of being better and being ahead of the curve. What the 90s gave us was the opportunity to fulfill the expectations of the civil rights movement. And the expectations were for us to take every opportunity we had to be better educated.”
Genres such as R&B, Hip-Hop, and Soul were gaining more attention, which ultimately led to the Atlanta rap duo OutKast winning the award at the 1995 Source Awards. It was then that rapper Andre 3000 gave his famous “The South got something to say” speech – a phrase that has since become a defining motto for creatives, fans, and visionaries across the metro area.
The 1996 Olympics also helped Atlanta’s culture gain recognition, which opened up new doors, leading to a total of 197 different national committees from all over the globe.
Shaylay Brown, 16, stated, “Atlanta has some of the best music and art in the game, in my opinion. The constant trend change and events keep this area up there. The energy and the vibe that also comes along with the place is unmatched.”
Art has had a significant impact on Atlanta and its people, and performance arts colleges have gained widespread popularity, such as the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Atlanta campus, which, on average, receives about 15,000 applicants per year seeking a challenge to express themselves.
Atlanta is ever-changing and ever-adapting. Just like trends, nothing stays the same in Atlanta. Art always becomes the outlook for ourselves, fashion defining our emotions and comfort, and the people that make up the soul of Atlanta. Constantly changing, and yet it always seems right.
