Community Analysis
Atlanta, Georgia is the largest city in the “The Peach State”. Atlanta is the most important commercial transportation center in Southern United States, making the city the states capitol. According to city-data.com, Atlanta is “located in the foothills of the southern Appalachians in the north-central part of the state, Atlanta has a mild climate that rotates through all four seasons.” The city has an average climate of 64F. The summers aren’t too hot and the winters aren’t that cold. Atlanta has a population of 420,003 people, according to the most recent census. Surburbanstats.org recorded that Atlanta has a population of 226,894 African Americans, which makes up 54% of the city. 38% is White, 5% is Latino, and only 3% is Asian, the rest consist of mixed races or some other race. The city is filled with 50% men and 50% men, combined only 65% is religious. Majority of the people living in Atlanta are Baptist (10%). 11% of the practice other Christian-like things like Buddhism, and 10% are Catholic.
Atlanta was first founded as a city named Terminus in 1837, then “later became incorporated as Marthasville in 1843 in honor of ex-governor Wilson Lumpkin’s daughter Martha”. (www.infoplease.com) Two years later, in 1845, it was named Atlanta and incorporated into a city in 1847. John Edgar Thompson was the one who suggested the name Atlanta, stating that the name was the feminine version of the word Atlantic. Myths say that ex-governor Lumpkin was still satisfied because his daughter’s middle name was said to be Atalanta. “Atlanta owes its origins to two important developments in the 1830s: the forcible removal of the Native Americans from northwest Georgia and the extension of railroad lines into the states interior. Both of these actions sparked increased settlement and development in the upper Piedmont section of the state and led to Atlanta’s founding.” (www.georgiaencyclopedia.org) Freed and slaved African Americans made up a small portion of Atlanta in the early 1860s. Though some of the slaves were free they still had strict rules, laws and curfews to abide by. Free African Americans couldn’t even live within city limits without the permission of the city council. Atlanta joined Confederacy and became and rapidly became an important city for the Southern cause. General William T. Sherman and his troops took over Atlanta for two months and attempted to burn the city down. The acts of Sherman secured the presidency of Abraham Lincoln and Atlanta was almost completely burned and destroyed because of it. Post-Civil War many railroads expanded allowing the city to rebuild and grow rapidly.
Over the past decades Atlanta has showed a great amount of population and economic growth. Atlanta’s economy is close to the government agencies, transportation and the hospitality/ convention industry. Did you know that Atlanta has the largest concentration of federal agencies outside Washington, D.C.? According to The New Georgia Encyclopedia, “The city is, by most measures, the business capital of the Southeast.” (www.georgiaencyclopida.com) Atlanta is the headquarters for some of the world’s best-known companies like Coca-Cola, CNN, UPS, Home Depot, and Delta Air Lines. More than four-fifths of the nation’s largest businesses maintain branch offices in Atlanta, including headquarters for the Dobbins Air Reserve Base, the Naval Air Station Atlanta, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tourism, convention industry, and even the hospitality has also been the key element to Atlanta economic growth. Over 3 million people visit conventions in Atlanta a year.
Atlanta’s government consist of a mayor, a governor, a City Council President, and one councilman for each of the 12 districts. Kasim Reed is an African American man who happens to be one of the most influential men in the nation, in addition to being the Mayor of Atlanta. Kasim has received numerous awards for his accomplishments with the community. His civic leadership has been nationally recognized in many television programs such as CNN, FOX, and MSNBC. Kasim has majorly increased the core city services and decreased the city’s spending during the worst recession. According to Atlantaga.gov, “he successfully initiated a series of sweeping reforms to address the city’s $1.5 billion unfunded pension liability,” with the help of the city council men. (www.atlantaga.gov) Shortly after being reelected in
