Photo: Special Collections & Archives, Woodruff Library, Emory University. From Newsweek collection (MSS629), box 2, folder "Post-Birmingham."

Reporting Civil Rights presents an intimate account of the struggle to end segregation in Atlanta. Through drafts of newspaper and magazine stories, press releases, photographs, reporters’ notebooks, letters, and other original artifacts, the exhibition documents how the long battle to integrate politics, public schools, public accommodations, and residential neighborhoods challenged the city’s carefully cultivated reputation for moderation in racial matters. The exhibition also highlights Atlanta’s role as the epicenter of a new journalism assignment, the "race beat," which was created specifically to cover

the emerging civil rights movement. Journalists assigned to this beat ended up covering what Walter Rugaber of The Atlanta Journal called, "The biggest damn story there is."

About the Exhibition

Reporting Civil Rights: Media and the Movement in Atlanta is a collaborative effort, drawing upon archives from across the Atlanta area. We are greatly indebted to the Atlanta History Center, the Atlanta University Center's Robert W. Woodruff Library, the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Herndon Home and the University of Georgia's Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. (extended description)

Sponsored by:

The African American Studies Program at Emory University
Friends of the Emory University Libraries
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Emory University
The Journalism Program at Emory University
The New York Times
Special Collections & Archives Division

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