Summerhill sits directly south of downtown, one of the neighborhoods where Black Atlanta took root in the decades after the Civil War. By the early twentieth century it had Black-owned businesses, churches and a dense residential street grid, with a streetcar connection that made it part of the city's working life.

Cleared for the city's front porch

In the 1960s, the stadium that would host the Braves and the Falcons was built on cleared ground here, followed by the interstate work that cut through the south side. The neighborhood's population fell, and many of the families who left never came back. In 1966, a police shooting in Summerhill set off days of unrest that became a turning point in how the city policed Black neighborhoods.

Today

The stadium came down and Turner Field replaced it; when the Braves moved to Cobb County, Georgia State University converted the ballpark into its football stadium. The Southside BeltLine Trail now runs along the neighborhood's edge, and new development is arriving with it — again raising the question of who gets to stay.