Lightning

Lightning Neighborhood Profile, April 1967

The neighborhood of Lightning was one of Atlanta’s earliest communities. Located just west of downtown Atlanta, it was home to a Black working-class community. Similar to other Black neighborhoods, this area was a slum area with houses and streets in bad condition. Lightning was one of the last neighborhoods to get paved roads and electric power. And due to these conditions and its location, it became a causality of the Georgia World Congress Center expansion and construction of the Georgia Dome.

Community Relations Commission Public Hearing in Vine City and Lightning, April 6, 1967

In the 1980s, there were attempts at urban renewal in the neighborhood that never got off the ground. By the late 1980s, Lightning became a target of the State of Georgia for the Georgia Dome. By the early 1990s, the neighborhood had been demolished and the residents displaced. Today, Lightning is remembered by its former residents and is an example of the impact of urban renewal projects on Black neighborhoods.