Located on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, the Chattahoochee Brick Company was founded in 1878 by former Atlanta mayor James W. English. The company was notorious for its extensive use of convict leasing, where hundreds of African American inmates were forced to work in deplorable conditions without regard to their safety, leading some scholars to refer to the convict leasing system as “slavery by another name.” The land is considered hallowed ground by many, including the descendants of those who labored there.
Keisha Lance Bottoms ended the development of the land considered industrial in 2022, and the property was obtained by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. The community is invited to a meeting to discuss the future of the site. Saturday, July 25th at 10:30AM at the Rosel Fann Recreation Center, 365 Cleveland Avenue, SE - Register here. Anthony Knight with the City of Atlanta and Staci Walker with Chrysalis Labs join us to talk about the work called the Chattahoochee Brick RiverLands
Staci Walker shares the history of the site, explaining that the principal owner, James English, became the Police Commissioner and instituted “convict leasing,” another term for slavery, at the site. The factory produced hundreds of thousands of bricks. There are many historic sites in our state, from cemeteries to churches and school buildings. If we don’t preserve our history, no one else will. I ask how this historic site compares. Anthony Knight speaks about the community meetings that have taken place and the upcoming meeting scheduled for July 25th. The city is actively seeking the community’s input on the future of the property meant to commemorate and honor the many forced to toil there and some who died working there.
We speak about the need to preserve these sites and to tell the stories so that everyone understands our nation’s history. For more information about the Chattahoochee Brick RiverLands