Experience Diverse Atlanta Archives

Instead of simply reading or watching, this discussion group uses our city as a classroom by visiting different landmarks around Atlanta. Group members participate in the process of learning through experience, and more specifically, the learning through reflection of the experience. We utilize visible thinking routines to assist in our reflections. Some experiences include walking tours of historic streets, finding DEI inspired murals throughout the city, visiting local religious sites, or exploring the history of the community that surrounds Paideia. If you would like to join us for an experience (or work together to create an experience for your class), please contact ile@p.

2020-21 Experiences:

Experience #1: Auburn Avenue

Whether this is your first or 50th time strolling down Auburn Avenue, there's always new discoveries about Atlanta's diverse history to be made. You can find a guide to some of the more memorable spots along Auburn Avenue here. You can walk from the first stop to the last, or just focus your visit on a small section - whatever feels most meaningful to you. During your visit, we would like for you to visually collect words, symbols, and images that represent this part of our city.  You can snap photos, or record your words, symbols, and images in a journal. After your visit, choose the word, symbol, and image that you think are most meaningful. 

Experience #2: Buford Highway

We want to focus on food and explore how food can inspire us to learn about other cultures. What better place to see this than Buford Highway! With more than 1,000 immigrant-owned businesses, we can find food options from Korea, to Mexico, to Bangladesh to Somalia. 


Take a look at the Taste of BuHi food guide and pick at least one food item you are willing to try. Be sure to read about the restaurants and food items in the Behind the Bites pages of the guide. We would love for you to choose a restaurant you haven’t tried before and pick something that you have never had. This might be a bit out of your comfort zone, but we will leave that up to you. While eating a dish from the restaurant, participate in a reflective eating experience by filling out this form. 


If you are interested in learning more about Taste of BiHi, checkout the We Love BuHi website, and if you have any restaurant and food suggestions, please add to this doc.


Experience #3: Public Art

See how public art is used in Atlanta for DEI purposes. We would like you to visit the murals in Cabbagetown, choose one mural that you feel conveys a message about diversity in modern times, and complete the See, Think, Me, We thinking routine. Please also take a photo of the mural to share at the meeting.

Here is a map of the route, along with some basic information about the artists.

If you want to check out even more statement pieces throughout the city, walls from the Civic Walls Project and the Off the Wall project are less walkable, but also contain powerful images.



Experience #4: Atlanta's LGBTQ+ History

This experience focuses on the history of the LGBTQ+ community in Atlanta. Since this covers such a broad spectrum of locations and events, we decided to make this an online experience, although we encourage you to take notice of some of the landmarks the next time you are driving around town!

Listen to this 30 min. Archive Atlanta podcast about the Atlanta Eagle. Just down the road from Paideia, the Eagle Bar was designated as a historic landmark in December.

Read over this timeline of LGBTQ+ milestones in Atlanta.

Spend some time exploring the landmarks that are significant in LGBTQ+ history.


A variety of groups are working to get two markers placed in Virginia Highlands (Michael Hardwick's Apartment) and Old Fourth Ward Park (Second Sunday) to commemorate pivotal events in Atlanta's LGBTQ+ history.  After you have made all three stops on this online experience, determine where you would propose a third historic marker.  Be ready to talk about why you chose this location.

Experience #5: Choose Your Own Adventure

For our last experience of this year, we are asking you to find your own Atlanta specific experience that explores DEI. This could be focused on a topic that we have already discussed, or something brand new. This does not have to be a big excursion. Think about people, places, or things that you have heard about, or wondered about, but haven't had the chance to experience. Now is your chance!


During your experience, please take a few minutes and reflect on the following questions: