Atlanta Through Different Lenses
Chanh Nguyen & Ashlynn Gannon
Atlanta Street Art
Atlanta's Diverse Population Defines the Character of the City
One of the many ways in which one can view the character of this city is through the art and murals that decorate many of the streets within the city. One hub of this street art can be found in Cabbagetown, where there are many displays of this art, and where this art has a big impact on culture of the district. When walking down the streets of Cabbagetown it's not hard to find a mural on the walls of many different colorful buildings. Even around the cotton mill, which has now been converted into apartments, there is street art lining the walls, and adding more color to each step one may take in the town.
Krog Street Tunnel
One of the main attractions is the Krog Street Tunnel. As one drives their car, or even walks through the tunnel, they would be met with paint and artwork covering every single piece of the tunnel. Murals that different street artists have created to showcase their interests and skill.
Forward Warriors
Another art display is called the Forward Warriors Mural, which is a collection of murals on display along the walls of Wylie Street and Tennelle Street. The murals all come from the Forward Warriors event which is held every year. Artists come together to create and paint these murals while some spectators watch, and this art is free to be enjoyed year round.
Techlanta
#1 Metro Area Tech Hub (Business Facilities, 2020)
#4 State for Percent of Female Workers in Tech Occupations (CompTIA, 2020)
#4 Metro Area Cyber City (Business Facilities, 2020)
#1 City for Startups That is Not New York or San Francisco (FitSmallBusiness.com, 2018)
"Business Friendly" Atlanta
Atlanta is business friendly". It ranked top in the lowest cost city for startups with a wide assistance of bonds, loans, tax credits, grants, investments, etc. Considering the competition in other prominent cities, Atlanta becomes a golden spot for business to settle. 33% of Atlanta's jobs come from startups and entrepreneurship.
Geographic Advantage of Atlanta as a Tech City
Jackson - Hartsfield Airport is the busiest airpot in the United States. Geographically, since the area is easily accessible between different countries and states, it becomes one of the factors that contribute to Atlanta's success as a business attraction spot. Atlanta's reputation grew which made Atlanta become more easily recognized (from hosting the Olympics in 1996 to its appearances in the Hollywood industry). This growth in reputation is one of the pull factors that attract business to invest in the city.
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Growing population and diversity creates a promising laboring pool in Atlanta
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A few startups in Atlanta: Aveanna Healthcare, Buckle, CharterUP, Flourish Software, Greenzie, SAFETRIP, Sifted, SimpleShowing, Instacart, Mailchimp, etc.
Mosaic Society
Atlanta embodies diversity and inclusivity. Around the city, it is easy to draw geographic lines where certain minority groups are concentrated. These areas become communities for people from a specific background and ethnicity. These different communities and life styles naturally blend into one another and create a beautiful and rich cultural mosaic art.
Atlanta is a Hot Spot to Settle Down
People of almost every ethnicity chose Atlanta to be a settling space so that recently the facilities/cultural spots started to spread out even more to meet up with the constantly changing living standard. The effort to bring food and ingredients from all over the world and create an opportunity for people of different origins to continue to live their lifestyle proves that Atlanta strives to embrace cultural and personal values
The Taste of the Diverse Atlanta
The Great Wall Market in Duluth, 20 minutes aways away from the center of Atlanta, becomes a hotspot for most Asian households if they want to find authentic and fresh ingredients from their origins. The colorful fresh fruit and vegetable section covers 1/3 of the market. It is "magical" to see all of these ingredients being available to you in the Atlanta area. Roaming around other prominent supermarkets, such as Walmart, it is almost impossible to find such "rare" products for other countries. Since the area is predominately occupied by Chinese and Chinese descendant, Mandarin is mainly used. People communicate in their mother tongue as if they are in their hometown. However, the market also has English descriptions to aid other groups of customers.
Atlanta's Dark Past
Although Atlanta is a city bursting with culture from its captivating art scene, to its melting pot of diverse residents, to its technological growth, it is also a city with a dark past and a dark underbelly of unsolved crimes and prejudice within its justice system. There are two infamous cases called the Leo Frank case in 1913 and the Atlanta Child Murders which occurred between 1979 and 1981.
The Leo Frank Case
On August 26th, 1913, a little girl named Mary Phagan was found dead within the walls of the pencil factory which she worked at. A jewish man named Leo Frank was the last person who saw her alive, and was inevitable the one lynched by an angry mob for her murder. The fat that he was jewish made it easier for the people in Georgia to scrutinize the man, as antisemitism was running quite rampant at the time.
The Atlanta Child Murders
The Atlanta Child Murders were a series of murders. The victims of these murders were commonly black children, and sometimes black adults who all lived around the same neighborhood. These murders never properly got linked to a killer until recently when a crime show covered the case. While in 1913 the murder of a young white girl, Mary Phagan, caused uproar all around Georgia that ended with a mob lynching, these murders of children seemed to be ignored and almost “swept under the rug.” In both of these cases, prejudice blinded the
justice as the guilty man was never properly punished, due to negligence.
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