MAK District Lecture Tomorrow at Noon
Decatur Metro | March 23, 2009Scott Leith forwards this note…
On Tuesday, March 24, the DeKalb History Center is hosting a lecture on Decatur’s MAK Historic District. Guest speaker Scott Leith will describe how this south Decatur neighborhood has stood at the intersection of many key events and transitional eras. The lecture will include a look at the late Leila Ross Wilburn, a groundbreaking architect and a longtime resident of MAK. The event will examine MAK’s connections to Agnes Scott College, from the benefits provided by the school to major challenges that, at times, threatened many homes in MAK. Finally, the lecture will look at the impact of desegregation, white flight and, in later years, gentrification and the creation of a historic district.
The March 24 event is free and starts at noon at the DeKalb History Center, inside the old DeKalb County Courthouse.
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I went to this and it was quite good. Most interesting was the overview of how Agnes Scott responded to white flight in the surrounding neighborhood during civil rights. Not what you would expect from the highly-liberal arts institution it is today. Weird times, for sure, where attempts to “stabilize” neighborhoods, when viewed historically, seem downright nefarious.
Are you referencing Agnes Scott’s purchase of every single home in its immediate and not-so immediate vicinity?
Pretty amazing how different things were back then, huh?
Indeed. If you were white and fleeing, they’d buy your home. Once they owned it, I’ll give you one guess as to the type o’ folk they end up renting it to…