6 Atlanta neighborhoods have flipped from primarily Black residents to White, report finds

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – – Six Atlanta neighborhoods have flipped from having primarily Black residents in 1980 to primarily White residents in 2020, according to a new report by National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

Kirkwood, Edgewood, Old Fourth Ward, Reynoldstown, East Atlanta, and Grant Park all racially flipped in the last forty years, in a study that looked at racial turnover and displacement across the country.

In 1980, there were 6,749 Black people in Kirkwood. At the same time, there were 187 White people, according to the interactive map, published earlier this month.

By 2020, there were 3,177 White people and 1,411 Black people living in Kirkwood.

Relying on data from the US Census, the study found Atlanta, along with Washington, DC, New York City, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and the San Francisco Bay area were among the most impacted by neighborhood racial turnover and displacement.

“When I was a kid, it was all Black. Now, it’s mixed and new houses, it’s changed a lot,” said Bernard Brittain, in Edgewood on Thursday.

Brittain was helping with yardwork at his cousin’s house. He said his neighborhood in Bankhead has also seen drastic changes during the 60 years he’s lived there.

“It’s the same over there. They just built a big house, 500-thousand-dollar house next door to me. It’s the same – it’s Black, it’s White, everything is changing,” he said, in an interview with Atlanta News First.

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, found roughly 22,000 Black residents have left Atlanta since 1980 – the fifth-highest drop among U.S. metro areas.

In its conclusion, researchers urged local municipalities to develop with intentionality to help avoid the “worse impacts of gentrification.”

“Without these measures, gentrification risks deepening inequality, displacing vulnerable communities and erasing the cultural and historical fabric of neighborhoods,” according to the report.

Johnny Martinez, who owns the Joystick Gamebar in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood, said he’s seen gentrification in the communities all around him.

“You can see the change is happening. On Edgewood Avenue, in the Old Fourth Ward, in Kirkwood, where the homes change, the businesses changing, and it’s happening very quickly,” he said, on Thursday.

Martinez said, for the most part, businesses and residents have avoided major gentrification in Sweet Auburn because of the proximity to the King Center and the volume of local business owners.

“There has to be intentionality with it. There has to be the intent on the part of the developer and there has to be the intent from the people who live here,” he said, when asked how communities can grow responsibly.

To study gentrification, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition used median home value, median income, and a population’s education status.

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