Downtown Civil Rights Walk

Welcome to Woodruff Park, six acres in the heart of Downtown Atlanta, north of Edgewood Avenue between Peachtree Street and Park Place. The land was bought anonymously and donated to the city in 1971, and the park opened in 1973 as Central City Park. Only later was it revealed that the donor was Robert W. Woodruff, and in 1985 the park was renamed in his honor.

In 1995, in the lead-up to the Centennial Olympic Games, the International Peace Fountain was built here, and the park has been the site of many demonstrations and rallies over the years. Look for the bronze sculpture Atlanta from the Ashes, also called The Phoenix. It shows a woman releasing a phoenix, a symbol of Atlanta's rise after the city was burned by William T. Sherman's Union armies during the Civil War.

It was a gift of the Rich Foundation for the 100th anniversary of Rich's Department Store, made in 1969, and moved to this park in 1995 after being restored.

This is the APEX Museum. The name stands for African American Panoramic Experience, and it presents history from the black perspective. The museum was founded in 1978 by filmmaker Dan Moore Sr. Its mission is to interpret and present history from an African-American perspective, to help American and international visitors understand and appreciate the contributions of African-Americans to America and the world.

The museum sits in the John Wesley Dobbs building, built in 1910. It first housed the Atlanta Book Depository, and in the 1970s it was turned into a tire warehouse. After the E. R.

Mitchell Construction company renovated and restored the building, the museum moved in, and it has operated in the same space ever since. Its neighbors include the Auburn Avenue Research Library and many other African-American museums, businesses and historic sites, and the APEX Museum is listed as a site on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. Keep the name Dobbs in mind.

You'll hear it again at the next stop.