Archive Atlanta

Atlanta Botanical Garden

This week, we explore the long and winding history behind the creation of a Botanical Garden in Atlanta - a dream that took more than 50 years to become reality. The story begins with Eugene Schofield Heath, who first pushed for a garden in the city in 1918. From ambitious Works Progress Administration projects along the Chattahoochee River to stalled plans caused by World War II, Atlanta repeatedly tried, and failed, to establish a permanent botanical garden. It wasn’t until the 1970s, when civic leaders and garden advocates rallied around a new site in Piedmont Park, that the idea finally took root. Want to support this podcast? Visit here [https://www.patreon.com/archiveatlanta] Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com [thevictorialemos@gmail.com] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/archiveatlanta] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/archiveatlanta/]

Tennis

This week, we trace tennis from its 12th-century French origins to its rise in Atlanta, where elite clubs, segregated courts, and growing public facilities shaped the sport’s local identity. From the founding of ALTA by Bitsy Grant to the 1961 desegregation battle at the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center, Atlanta’s tennis story reflects the city’s broader fights over access and equity. We also look at the Olympic spotlight at Stone Mountain Park in 1996 and how Atlanta grew into one of the country’s largest recreational tennis hubs. Want to support this podcast? Visit here [https://www.patreon.com/archiveatlanta] Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com [thevictorialemos@gmail.com] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/archiveatlanta] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/archiveatlanta/]

Atlanta Student Movement - REPLAY

When people think of sit-ins, they think Greensboro. But the movement didn’t start, or stop, there. This episode looks at how the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins inspired Atlanta’s Black college students to challenge segregation in a city that called itself “too busy to hate.” From An Appeal for Human Rights to coordinated sit-ins across downtown, arrests under newly written laws, and the protests that landed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in jail. Atlanta’s Student Movement reshaped the civil rights fight and even influenced a presidential election. Want to support this podcast? Visit here [https://www.patreon.com/archiveatlanta] Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com [thevictorialemos@gmail.com] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/archiveatlanta] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/archiveatlanta/]

Time Zones

Atlanta gets nearly an extra hour of evening sunlight compared to cities east of us—and it turns out that’s no accident. In this episode, we unravel how railroads invented time zones, why Georgia was once split between Central and Eastern Time, and how Atlanta spent decades fighting over what time it should be. From business interests and newspaper deadlines to full-page ads promising more sleep for children, the battle over the clock was surprisingly intense. This is a story about power, commerce, civic identity, and a deceptively simple question that once divided a city: what time is it, really?   Want to support this podcast? Visit here [https://www.patreon.com/archiveatlanta] Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com [thevictorialemos@gmail.com] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/archiveatlanta] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/archiveatlanta/]

Oakland City + Bush Mountain

In this episode, we follow the land from rural farmland to an independent city with its own mayor, streetcars, schools, and sharp racial divides. You’ll hear how Bush Mountain became a vital Black community, how segregation shaped education and housing, and why progress so often bypassed certain streets. From Madea’s House to Negro League baseball fields, Klan activity, and environmental justice, this is a story of growth, conflict, and resilience layered into one small corner of the city.   Want to support this podcast? Visit here [https://www.patreon.com/archiveatlanta] Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com [thevictorialemos@gmail.com] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/archiveatlanta] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/archiveatlanta/]