A new mural on the side of the Atlanta Daily World building in Historic Sweet Auburn is sparking conversation and inspiration. The image depicts Roslyn Pope, a member of Atlanta’s first all-Black Girl Scout troop, which met upstairs in that same building.
The Atlanta Daily World building at 145 Auburn Ave. is a site of significance and an important historical marker for the Civil Rights movement. Located just blocks from the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr, this building was home to the oldest Black-owned newspaper in Atlanta.
When the paper was launched in 1928 there was little in the way of news coverage for Black educational institutions, businesses, entrepreneurs, churches, and related stories. Founder William Alexander Scott II, who was only 26 at the time, changed history forever by launching Atlanta Daily World, which would grow from semi-weekly to daily by 1931.
From the earliest days of the Girl Scouts, founder Juliette Gordon Low was insistent that the Girl Scouts should be inclusive and welcoming to all. The first troop was launched in 1912, and in 1913 the first integrated troop debuted in Massachusetts, with the first all-Black troop launching in 1917. However, it wasn’t until 1943 that Atlanta had its own all-Black troop.
Established by Bazoline Usher, the formation of the District V Troop was born from a place of hope. Despite lawful discrimination and segregation, the girls of District V became strong contenders in the community and even tied for second place city-wide with cookie sales during their first year. In the years that followed, District V Girl Scouts continued making history and one even became the first to integrate an Atlanta public school.
For Developer and Preservationist Gene Kansas, who now owns the Atlanta Daily World building, it was important to not only preserve the building’s rich history but also to highlight the trailblazers who came before.
One former Troop V Girl Scout in particular, Roslyn Pope, had an impact on the Civil Rights Movement that Kansas felt should not be forgotten. In 1960 at the age of 21, Pope gathered with students from the Atlanta University Center and penned An Appeal for Human Rights, a Civil Rights Manifesto. The document initially ran as a paid full-page advertisement in local newspapers including The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
In the manifesto, Pope listed seven areas of inequality within Atlanta: education, jobs, housing, voting, hospitals, movies, concerts, restaurants, and law enforcement. Each point was supported by a commentary that explained the inequality that persisted at the time.
After its publication, the manifesto received negative backlash from segregationists including Georgia’s Governor Ernest Vandiver, who condemned the piece as being anti-American, despite the fact that it was written by American youth. In contrast, Atlanta mayor William B. Hartsfield penned a response for the AJC that supported the points outlined in An Appeal for Human Rights, and commended the students for their commitment to nonviolence.
The manifesto was also later sent to Jacob Javits, a Republican senator from New York, who requested that the manifesto be entered into the Congressional Record. An Appeal for Human Rights was also later run in both The New York Times and Los Angeles Times.
When Kansas assumed ownership of the Atlanta Daily World building, he expressed a commitment to retain not only the architectural details of the building itself but also to find ways to honor its significance as a place of Black innovation and joy during the Civil Rights movement and beyond.
When Leslie Gilliam and the Girls Scouts of Greater Atlanta reached out to Kansas with an idea to honor the Girl Scouts Troop V, it was a no-brainer. Kansas reached out to The Loss Prevention team, Maggie White and Sean Schwab, who worked with graphic designer Brian Simons to come up with a colorful, vibrant, and joyful mural dedicated to the story of Pope and her fellow Girl Scouts.
The Loss Prevention received a $5000 Creative Industries Grant from Invest Atlanta, and they in turn brought in Emily Cadena, an artist from New York City, who painted the mural this summer. The connection was deepened even further when Kansas discovered that Helen McGaughy, a member on his team, was also a former Girl Scout. McGaughy became a co-lead on the project.
“If you don’t have a visual or conspicuous reminder of history you are not going to have the conversation,” Kansas said during an interview. “It is so much bigger than the preservation of any one building. This entire district, Sweet Auburn, was declared a historic landmark in 1976. Since then around 47% of the buildings have been lost.”
That just doesn’t sit right with Kansas, who is deeply committed to the importance of place throughout history. He believes it is important to use art as a means of adding necessary understanding and context to buildings with historical relevance, as is the case with the Daily World building. He’s also a big advocate for highlighting forgotten historical figures, particularly women, so when it was time to dress up the external wall of this building he wanted to ensure it was a lesser-known female change-maker. And that’s how they landed on Roslyn Pope.
“It’s to demonstrate what’s possible,” Kansas said with an enthusiasm that practically filled the room. “We are helping to share the story about women’s rights, Black history, and the Sweet Auburn Historic District. It is worthwhile to preserve it and recognize it, and for these buildings to be representative of Atlanta’s DNA and the future.”
“I am placing a lot of emphasis on that; there are a lot of others in this district who are doing great work, but we need to know about the people who helped create it.”