March 2008

Walk Auburn Avenue with Andrew Young
CCHR Partnership Offers Original Podcast for Walking Tours

The Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR) Partnership has released “In Their Words: Andrew Young on Auburn Avenue,” an original podcast to guide walking tours along Downtown Atlanta’s historic corridor. Over the course of the 45-minute audio tour, former Atlanta mayor, U.N. Ambassador and civil rights leader Andrew Young shares personal experiences during the Civil Rights Movement while retelling some of the rich history of Auburn Ave. The free podcast is available to download at www.cchrpartnership.org or iTunes.com, or it can be accessed via phone by calling 408-794-3709 and pressing 1#.

The CCHR Partnership premiered the podcast Monday by hosting a special tour for civil rights, political and business leaders, as well as students from Georgia State University. The tour concluded with remarks from individuals representing the legacy of Auburn Ave. referenced in the recording. Speakers included Jessie Hill Jr., one of Atlanta’s most prominent civil rights leaders and businessmen; Atlanta City Council President, Lisa Borders, whose grandfather, William Holmes Borders Sr., pastored Wheat Street Baptist Church for more than 50 years; John Calhoun Jr., son of the late civil rights leader and Atlanta City Councilman, John Calhoun for whom a park was dedicated in the Sweet Auburn district; and Alexis Scott, publisher of the Atlanta Daily World, a newspaper founded on Auburn Ave. by her grandfather in 1928.

Stories included in the podcast range from Ambassador Young’s first encounter with John Wesley Dobbs to voter registration efforts in Georgia in the shadow of the Ku Klux Klan. His personal recounts are intertwined with historical information about the people and places that made Auburn Avenue a key hub of African American commerce, leadership and religion. The tour begins at the Auburn Avenue Research Library, where Young’s papers are housed, and concludes at the Martin Luther King Jr. Birth Home, covering a distance of just less than one mile. The recording is chaptered to allow the listener to tour at his or her own pace.

“It’s an honor to offer this engaging new audio tour to residents and visitors alike. We believe everyone will appreciate this unique opportunity to hear Ambassador Young’s memories as well as learn about the seminal importance of Auburn Ave. in the history of Atlanta and the Civil Rights Movement,” said Doug Shipman, executive director of the CCHR Partnership. “We are especially grateful to Ambassador Young for sharing his compelling stories with us all.”

The “Andrew Young on Auburn Avenue” podcast is the first in the planned “In Their Words” series presented by the CCHR Partnership. Future podcasts may include first-person reflections on the student movement in Atlanta and the role of women in the Civil Rights Movement.

Ambassador Young was a top aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement, was involved in its inception, and served as Vice President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He presently serves on the Board of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change.
The Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, scheduled to open in 2010, will commemorate the groundbreaking contributions of Atlantans and Georgians to the historic struggle for African-American freedom and equality, and also serve as a living center for ongoing contributions to human rights struggles around the world. The Center will be a space for ongoing dialogue, study and contributions to the resolution of current and future freedom struggles of all people at the local, national and international level.

For more information, visit www.cchrpartnership.org.