Atlanta had a major spot in the history of civil rights, including The AJC’s historical coverage of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement.

In 2014, a new Civil Rights Museum celebrating Atlanta's place as a tourist spot for civil right history opened up downtown.

In addition to exhibition rights for the King papers (the papers are actually owned by Morehouse College), the Center for Civil and Human Rights has seven portraits of human rights “heroes” by Atlanta painter Ross Rossin, a series of paintings of U.S. Rep. John Lewis by folk artist Benny Andrews and an exhibition titled “Without Sanctuary,” disturbing images of lynchings in America (many of them on postcards) collected by James Allen.

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An aerial view captures a large area under construction for a new data center campus on Thursday, May 29, 2025. Developed by QTS, the data center campus near Fayetteville is one of the largest under construction in Georgia. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez