Archive Atlanta

This week, I’m excited to share my interview with Dr. Mandy Swygart-Hobaugh, as she describes the late 1800s red light district of Collins Street, prostitution in early Atlanta, the madams, the prostitutes, the "houses of ill repute", the scandalous headlines and what brought the district down in 1910.
Historic Harlots
 
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

In more modern history, Atlanta is known as an epicenter of Black tattoo artists, but I was looking to see how far back our story with tattooing went - and surprisingly it wasn’t very far and it centered around one man and one shop.
https://doi.org/10.57709/8896714
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

The Butler Street YMCA (22 Jesse Hill Jr Drive) is my favorite building in Atlanta. Why? Because this one building has Black history, Jewish history, white history, and it’s the embodiment of The Atlanta Way - created by a bi-racial, upper class coalition that wanted this building to serve as a symbol of Atlanta’s progress and an answer to the issues of crime in the poor Black Atlanta class. It was funded and built in the midst of WWI, the Great Atlanta fire of 1917 and a whole host of other issues.
This week, I’ll also share the story of Atlanta's African American YMCA, it’s first offices, the promises of funding a new building, the campaign to raise the money, the architecture, the utility and the many, many famous programs and people that have worked and played inside it’s walls. 
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

This week’s mini episode is about a forgotten, short-lived chapter of the early 1900s reform movement - a group called the Men and Religion Forward Movement. Between 1911-1912, 76 major US cities, and 1,083 small towns began chapters of this group…so what was it all about? Who formed it in Atlanta? What did they do here? 
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

It has been a wild week, where I have over-committed myself in all realms of my life - so I am re-releasing an episode that I did just over two years ago, all about Atlanta’s small Chinese Community.
In 1890, the entire state of Georgia had only 1.78% of residents with foreign patronage, so I wondered what brought Chinese men to Atlanta in the 1880s? What work did they do? What were their names? How did the South embrace them? Today, we’re covering all those questions and more.
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

This week I am sharing the first oral history recording I did, which happened in June of 2021. At the time of this recording, Wesley Johnson was 89 years old and his wife Patricia, a year younger. He was born and raised in South Atlanta, taking the streetcar, attending Booker T Washington and later David T Howard and then college at Morris Brown before joining the Air Force. Patricia joined us later in the conversation and gave us the juicy bits - like how they started dating and some incredible stories about the Fox, Lincoln Country Club and the Waluhaje. 
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
 

Just over one month after NYC’s Stonewall Riot, Atlanta had its own version, when, on August 5, 1969, a movie at the Ansley Mall Mini-Cinema was raided by police. In this week’s mini episode, I’m covering what led to the raid, the details of the event and what it inspired going forward. 
Gayle Dose Podcast
Smithsonian Article
Atlanta History Center
Documenting Queer History Archives
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
 

The Dixie Hills Riot, a days-long community uprising, born out of the frustrations of a whole host of issues that we’ll cover, happened exactly 55 years ago today. 
In 1950, Dixie Hills residents were without running water, paved roads and proper sewers. By the 1960s, 45% of the city’s population was Black, yet were only legally allowed to live in 22% of it’s housing. There was overcrowding, segregation, income inequality, unemployment, poverty - so many of the exact same issues we have today.
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
 
 
 

Hey everyone! I am currently taking my yearly podcast summer break and using this time to finish new episodes, work on new ideas and record some amazing interviews. In the meantime, catch up on previous episodes and we'll be back on June 17th!
 

Forward Atlanta was a multi-million dollar marketing campaign launched by the City of Atlanta in the 1920s that is still influencing the city in 2022. I hope by the end of this short episode you can understand how important this campaign was, how it ties into the reason that Atlanta today is so quick to forget and suppress its past, and how we are still in the big business of selling our city to outside industry.
 
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter