Intro & History

Railroad network expansion in the early 1900s, World War I, and the continued growth of highway infrastructure in the early-20th century helped establish East Point as a regional hub for manufacturing. After World War II, the City expanded its boundaries in every direction, creating new industrial parks and becoming the fastest growing industrial city in Georgia by the 1950s.

Legal residential segregation began in East Point as early as 1912. In response to White citizens pressing the East Point City Council to take action in response to Black families living on Chattahoochee Avenue (currently Connally Drive), the Council passed an ordinance that legally restricted African-Americans from purchasing or renting homes along Main Street, Church Street, East Point Street, and streets that crossed through downtown East Point west of the railroad. It also designated that African-Americans live in a specific section of the City. As a result, the East Washington community, an undesirable area of the City located next to fertilizer, oil, and steel plants, was intentionally created that same year as an African-American residential community.

Nationally, the New Deal established the federal Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) in 1933 to refinance home mortgages to prevent foreclosure. HOLC assessed homes for credit-worthiness by color-coding communities by race, thereby introducing redlining, which led to residential segregation in cities all across the country. The oldest parts of the City in its now easternmost sections were marked by these designations of investment risk, setting the stage for low valuation of residential land bordering industrial uses.

In 1934, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), was established to insure mortgages for single family properties, multifamily rental properties, hospitals, and residential care facilities. FHA mortgage insurance protected lenders against losses from loan defaults and foreclosures while incentivizing them to offer more mortgage loans due to the lowered risk. FHA also facilitated access to affordable mortgage credit for first-time homebuyers, low and moderate-income families as well as the construction of rental properties, hospitals and residential care facilities across the country. The combination of HOLC and FHA policies and practices rated industrial land as the least desirable in many cities, and designated adjacent residential areas as highest risk, establishing de facto racial segregation zones where Black communities had been relegated.

While a local East Point ordinance had already created a segregated city, HOLC and FHA ensured the long-term calcification of segregation. From 1934 until 1968, Black families were devastated by decades of HOLC-FHA color-coded racial redlining policies and mapping, and denied the ability to create generational wealth.

Across the country, the urban renewal projects and “slum clearance” of the 1950s disturbed and displaced low-income communities of color; one of these areas was the Martel Village. Throughout the next two decades, increasing residential integration tied to the forced integration of schools drove many White city-dwellers to flee to the suburbs. White East Point residents were no exception, leaving behind vacancies that became opportunities for Black residents to move into Sumner Park, Jefferson Park, Colonial Hills, and later into the newer communities being built in Ward D.

While the Fair Housing Act was enacted in 1968 to outlaw discriminatory lending and housing practices, it was rarely enforced, and the legacy of earlier policies remains. Generations of Black communities were concentrated in poverty and exposed to unmitigated environmental hazards associated with industrial businesses -- also referred to as environmental racism. While at the same time, the protection of assets, creditworthiness and wealth building for White residents was protected.

East Point’s history also includes significant organizing movements that have defined the politics and community structure still seen today. For instance, the civil rights group the Atlanta Summit Leadership Council (ASLC) facilitated a meeting between the East Point Council and a group of Black residents in July 1964 to consider a few proposals from the group, which included setting up both a Human Relations Council for police and others in contact with the public as well as a biracial committee to work on ongoing issues in the City.

Additionally, a coalition of Black leaders (the East Point Action Committee, or EPAC) organized in 1980 to ensure fairness in the election process for City Council seats. Despite a Black population of 42% at the time, no Black candidate had ever won a Council seat. EPAC ended up proposing a ward-based Council election process rather than a citywide one. That year, a biracial task force re-drew the City’s ward lines to more accurately reflect the City’s population.

In 1982, Joe Johnson was confirmed as the first Black City Manager, and Joe Heckstall was elected the first Black Councilman. In 1993, Patsy Jo Hilliard became the first woman and Black mayor of East Point (and the state of Georgia). Mayor Deana Holiday-Ingraham is now the 34th mayor of East Point, and she has shown demonstrated a commitment to equity throughout her tenure.