Oakland Cemetery is the final resting place for many Atlantans who shaped their communities, Atlanta, and the region. These men and women founded schools, established places of worship, opened businesses, and created community groups. They confronted discrimination and worked to…
"We Shall Overcome: African American Stories from Civil War to Civil Rights," a tour led by HOF volunteer Jihan Hurse as part of Oakland Cemetery's Juneteenth 2020 celebration. “We Shall Overcome” became the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement of…
The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention in New York marked the first women’s rights convention, but the woman’s suffrage movement did not gain a foothold in Georgia until well after the Civil War. Before Emancipation, almost all suffrage advocates supported the…
On the second Sunday of May, we celebrate moms everywhere and honor different forms of motherhood. In honor of this Mother’s Day and all the ladies buried at Oakland, we’re going to focus on a few special Atlanta women. These…
In the early hours of April 12, 1862, Kentuckian James Andrews – along with a group of 21 Union soldiers from Ohio – initiated a plan of sabotage that became one of the most infamous events of the Civil War.…
A look back at the history of sports in Atlanta inevitably leads to Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. (1911-2003), a two-term mayor and Oakland Cemetery resident. Mayor Allen played a pivotal role in bringing several sports teams to Atlanta, but his…
Ales, lagers, IPAs, stouts, porters, and sours – Atlantans love their beer. There may be a new brewery popping up every month, but Atlanta’s love of brewing and all-things-beer goes back centuries. Read on for a few facts about Atlanta…
On a spring afternoon in 1866, a group of men gathered in a green field not far from the front gate of Oakland Cemetery. The devastated Atlanta skyline could be seen in the distance and red flags fluttered from homes…
Walking through Oakland Cemetery, you will notice phrases and statements inscribed on the grave markers of the dead. Funny, somber, uplifting, or tender—these epitaphs both memorialize those who have passed and establish a continuing dialogue between the dead and the…
Maybelle Stephens Mitchell is best remembered as the mother of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Margaret Mitchell. But this brilliant woman lived a life all her own - as a suffragist, club woman, and a progressive voice in her community. Born Mary…