Atlanta’s progressive mayor literally walled off a Black neighborhood.

Evidence

Take Ivan Allen, Jr., the city’s white mayor from 1962 to 1970, who had previously run for governor on a segregationist platform. During Allen’s first term as mayor, a black graduate of Morehouse College moved into an all-white neighborhood in the southwest part of the city. Mayor Allen responded by signing legislation ordering barricades to be constructed across two of the city’s streets, in order to separate white from black neighborhoods. Dubbed “the Berlin Wall” by protesters, the road remained blocked until a judge ruled the barriers unconstitutional the following year. Less than two years later, Allen35 would cosponsor an integrated dinner celebrating the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Nobel Peace Prize. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 71

Categorization

• CANDY: A vivid, story-like fact — a ‘progressive’ mayor building a Berlin Wall and then two years later hosting a dinner for MLK — perfect for conversation.