Gentrification Isn’t Peachy: Former GA Residents Seek Neighborhood Justice

Social Justice

By Briasia Russ Published: December 8, 2021

Gentrification Isn’t Peachy: Former GA Residents Seek Neighborhood Justice

This photo shows the University of Georgia. Former residents of the Linnentown community say their beloved Black town was discarded to build the school. (Photo: University of Georgia)

In Summary

The previous residents of Linnentown want leaders in Athens to acknowledge the thriving Black community discarded to build the University of Georgia.

Former homeowners in Linnentown are demanding community leaders pay after destroying their neighborhoods and replacing it with the University of Georgia.

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Former resident Hattie Thomas Whitehead had a childhood filled with memories in the 22-acre neighborhood. “We were happy children,” Whitehead said. “It was a close-knit community in the Deep South before integration. We had a play area that the teenagers built for us. We had family Easter egg hunts. We had community baseball games. We played all over the community. Until urban renewal hit.”

Per NBC News, Linnentown was once a Black neighborhood consisting of plumbers, electricians, construction workers and beauticians. During the 1960s, the beloved memory-filled town was replaced with the University of Georgia, according to Athens-Clarke County documents.

Whitehead and other former residents developed the Linnentown Project in 2019 with a goal to push the leaders of the community to acknowledge and compensate them for the loss. Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz and the Clarke County Commission support the effort; however, officials of the University of Georgia are giving the former residents a hard time.

The group’s request to have one of the university’s residence halls name changed to Linnentown Hall and to create a wall of recognition was denied.

“We’ve had some resistance. UGA has not acknowledged us as a team,” Whitehead said. “We asked to put a wall of recognition down where Linnentown was… They would not allow us to put it on their property. They are not at the table with us. I have written letters to President [Jere] Morehead. Initially they were completely silent, then they replied but with nothing that would bring them to the table. They have continued to ignore the team.”

Although the university is playing hard to get, the county has agreed to acknowledge the harm done to the community. It will also work with the university to get a wall of recognition memorial and a center on slavery, Jim Crow and the future of Black communities in Athens.

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