Change is needed in Sweet Auburn. Not in interpreting its rich history, but in navigating its questionable future.  Twice named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s “Endangered List” (1992, 2012), and twice listed on The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s “Places in Peril” (2006, 2013), we find ourselves in a continuing state of jeopardy, a national treasure targeted in the crosshairs, an international legacy hanging in the balance.  

These stories — and places — in peril represent history and culture and community and business and love and war and song and dance and art and favorite foods and politics and peace and civil rights and the struggle of a people and the movement Dr. King dreamed would lead to the realization of the beloved community.  But what if the remaining buildings, and the history and culture surrounding them, were to crumble, burn, or be bulldozed to the ground like so many before them?  With that, we would lose our way, our identity, and cumulatively our path forward.