Prince Hall Masonic Building

For many years this building was a center of influential voices in Atlanta's black community. Here, as grand master of the Prince Hall Masons and unofficial mayor of Sweet Auburn, John Wesley Dobbs devoted countless hours to local civil rights causes and neighborhood improvements. From studios here, WERD, the first black-owned radio station in the United States, broadcast music and news for the community. Here too, in his Southern Christian Leadership Conference headquarters, Martin Luther King, Jr., developed civil rights campaigns with Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, and other leaders, and he had his offices directly under the radio station, allowing speeches to be relayed by microphone through the windows.

Atlanta, Georgia · United States