Commune with the past at the Atlanta History Center, Georgia State Capitol and museums preserving the legacies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Jimmy Carter
When I travel, it’s all about finding those attractions that feed my passion for history, tradition and nostalgia. My radar leads me to museums, historic homes and places honoring famous people.
So, on my recent trip to Atlanta, I had two stops high on my checklist—Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park and Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. Just as captivating were the Atlanta History Center and Georgia State Capitol, a pair of discoveries that wildly exceeded my expectations and kept me there much longer than I had anticipated.
Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta
The King campus, administered by the National Park Service, preserves places in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood where civil rights icon Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was born, grew up, worked, worshipped and is buried. My visit began with a 28-minute movie in the visitor center’s theater, and then I explored the six exhibit areas, or pods, in “Courage to Lead: The Life of Martin Luther King Jr.” Videos show MLK leading demonstrations for equal rights, excerpts from his powerful “I Have a Dream” speech delivered in 1963 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and the funeral that followed his assassination in Memphis in 1968. (It all brought back a flood of memories from the time I stood 10 feet away from MLK as he addressed a small rally on a sweltering summer day at Soldier Field in Chicago.)
Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King
A gallery on segregation practices in the South has archival photos of Ku Klux Klan members burning crosses, drinking fountains and waiting rooms marked by “Whites Only” and “Colored” signs, and graphic images of lynchings. Text reminds museum-goers that hanging black Americans was a common form of entertainment for white townspeople in the century between the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement that King led.
One wall chronicles the Atlanta pastor’s opposition to the Vietnam War long before anti-war sentiment became widespread. He argued that U.S. involvement claimed a disproportionate number of black soldiers and drained billions of dollars that could have been used to help poor people at home.
The exhibition “Georgia’s Global Leaders: The Carter and King Legacy” spotlights the men’s belief in equality for all. Both Carter and King were raised in the segregated South, came from strong faith traditions, received active support from their spouses and became champions of human rights.
On park grounds, visitors can stand in the footprints of honorees enshrined on the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame. Names include Presidents Jimmy Carter and Lyndon B. Johnson, baseball great Hank Aaron, and entertainers like Lena Horne, Sidney Poitier and Sammy Davis Jr.
More to See in King’s Atlanta Neighborhood
Across Auburn Avenue from the visitor center and open for tours three times a day is historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where MLK served as co-pastor in the 1960s with his father, Daddy King.
Next door, surrounded by a reflecting pool fed by tiers of a cascading stream, resides the tomb of MLK and his wife, Coretta Scott King. Inscribed on the blue-tiled pool are these words: “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Rev. King’s epitaph alludes to the memorable climax of his “I Have a Dream” speech: “Free at last, Free at last, Thank God Almighty, I’m Free at last.” Steps away, the King Center for Human Rights and Eternal Flame are reminders of the Kings’ undying commitment to their beloved community.
One block from the tomb, Historic Fire Station No. 6, an Auburn Avenue landmark dating from 1894, shows “Sweet Auburn: Street of Pride,” a 15-minute video about the neighborhood, once the richest black enclave in America. Exhibits on firefighting history include a restored 1927 LaFrance fire engine.
The King Birth Home, a few doors down the street, preserves the house where MLK was born on January 15, 1929 and lived for his first 12 years. It currently is closed for renovations. Across the street, private residences restored by the National Park Service have signposts that tell who lived in each.
President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter at an inaugural ball in Washington, D.C.
Jimmy Carter: From Peanut Farmer to President
Spread across 37 landscaped acres in East Atlanta, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum is linked to the MLK sites by a 1.5-mile-long path through Freedom Park. The trail symbolically celebrates the lives of two Georgians who, using different paths, pursued a common goal—freedom and justice for all people. The Jimmy Carter museum neighbors the Carter Center, founded in 1982 by Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, to advance health, resolve conflicts and foster human rights worldwide.
Museum galleries trace Carter’s life from boyhood in the small towns of Archery and Plains, Georgia, to his stint as a naval officer on a nuclear submarine in the Pacific and remarkable rise from peanut farmer to the presidency of the United States.
Exhibits on his boyhood share that James Earl Carter grew up on a peanut farm, where he helped his father in the blacksmith shop and plowed fields behind a mule. The family had no running water or electricity until his teenage years. The future human rights advocate spent hours in homes of black children of tenant families living on the Carter and nearby farms. (In the 1920s and ’30s, only the Carters and one other family in Archery were white.) On display are such artifacts as Carter’s fourth grade arithmetic workbook, diploma from Plains High School and 1941 class ring.
Videos include clips of Carter’s 1971 inaugural address as governor of Georgia, beginning a term that would recognize black talent in state government and fight against prejudice. The speech’s most famous passage: “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over. The test of a government is not how popular it is with the powerful and privileged, but how honestly and fairly it deals with the many who must depend upon it.”
Visitors also hear excerpts of Carter’s acceptance speech as nominee at the 1976 Democratic National Convention and presidential inaugural address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. They will see the Bible used to take the oath of office on Inauguration Day (a gift from his mother, Miss Lillian) and the coats worn by the president, first lady and daughter Amy on their famous walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
A replica of the White House’s Oval Office is a star attraction at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. (Randy Mink Photo)
More to See at the Jimmy Carter Museum
Among the must-sees are “A Day in the Life of the President,” a 10-minute multi-media presentation chronicling events of a single day in the Carter presidency (December 11, 1978). A special exhibit on the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, considered Carter’s prime foreign policy accomplishment, features video commentary by Carter as he looks back at the challenges in negotiating the peace agreement.
Museum guests can view an exact replica of the Oval Office and, in another area, pose behind a podium emblazoned by the Seal of the President of the United States.
Showcased behind glass are Carter’s Nobel Peace Prize medals and gifts from foreign heads of states, including a gold box from the Shah of Iran, an amber-and-gold necklace from the president and wife of the Dominican Republic, and red leather sandals with hand-painted gold from India’s president.
The museum also sheds light on the accomplishments and influence of Rosalynn Carter, an active first lady who attended Cabinet meetings and is best known for promoting mental health awareness.
Those who want to learn about the 39th president’s talents as an artist and woodworker can pick up these books in the museum gift shop: The Paintings of Jimmy Carter and The Craftsmanship of Jimmy Carter.
Georgia State Capitol in downtown Atlanta. (Randy Mink Photo)
Georgia’s Capitol: Lots to See Around Every Corner
The gold-domed Georgia State Capitol in downtown Atlanta is full of things to see and kept me engaged for almost two hours. On the grounds are statues of MLK and former governors, including Carter.
Wandering the marble halls, I found portraits of King and Carter and busts of two prominent women: Atlanta’s Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind, and Savannah’s Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of the United States. Two of the most impressive artworks are huge portraits of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and General Andrew Jackson.
Exhibits on several floors spotlight important chapters in Georgia history. Studying the “White Primary” display, I was intrigued that only whites could vote in the state’s primary elections from the early 20th century until 1946; blacks could vote only in general elections.
The capitol’s fourth-floor museum features curiosities like a two-headed calf, two-headed snake and 219-pound meteor. The exhibit on state symbols divulges that the peanut is the state crop, Vidalia onion the state vegetable and “Georgia on My Mind” the state song.
When legislators are meeting, the upper galleries of the Senate and House of Representatives chambers are open to the public. I could only peek through the windows of each, but as I was leaving the capitol, I stopped for some political action as Gov. Brian Kemp and legislative leaders held a press conference on the first floor.
Atlanta History Center: Blasts from the Past
The big surprise of my Atlanta sightseeing was the scope of the Atlanta History Center, where each gallery and attraction emerged more engaging than the next. I couldn’t believe I’d spent over four hours soaking in stories of yesteryear, from the Civil War to the 1996 Summer Olympics. As I was about to leave, I found a whole gallery devoted to one of my favorite baseball players, Hank Aaron, and spent 25 minutes there. Located in the upscale Buckhead neighborhood, the campus covers 33 acres, encompassing gardens, a historic mansion and a pioneer farmstead.
The museum’s greatest treasure is a 19th century cyclorama that dramatizes the 1864 Battle of Atlanta. In a narrated multi-media show, visitors to “Cyclorama: The Big Picture” not only learn about the Civil War battle but also the making of a cyclorama, a type of huge circular painting that immerses viewers in the scene as they stand or sit on a raised platform. Accompanied by lecturers, dozens of these panoramic extravaganzas entertained crowds in Northern cities, most illustrating Union victories over Confederate armies, before the art form fell out of favor in the mid-1890s.
The Atlanta History Center’s Cyclorama depicts the 1864 Battle of Atlanta. (Photo credit: Atlanta History Center)
The Battle of Atlanta, created by the American Panorama Company of Milwaukee in a domed, skylit building fitted with scaffolding towers, toured in Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Chattanooga from 1886-1891 before arriving in Atlanta in 1892. For its showings in Atlanta and other Southern cities, painters were hired to depict the battle as a Confederate victory.
Featuring cannon fire, wounded horses and thousands of soldiers, the painting measures 371 feet around and 49 feet tall. A diorama extends the scene into three dimensions. Plaster figures were installed in the foreground in the 1930s. See if you can spot the dead Union soldier made to resemble movie actor Clark Gable. It was added soon after Gable appeared at the Atlanta premiere of Gone with the Wind.
The Atlanta History Center owns one of only two surviving cycloramas from the period when these monumental works of art were the IMAX of their day, the other being The Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The Confederate Memorial Carving in Atlanta’s Stone Mountain Park is the subject of a fascinating documentary movie shown in the theater just off the museum’s lobby. Monument: The Untold Story of Stone Mountain includes interviews with people expressing divergent opinions on the continuing controversy surrounding the colossal granite carving of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. Larger than Mount Rushmore, the largest high-relief sculpture in the world spans three acres.
More to Explore at the Atlanta History Center
Sports fans will become engrossed in the museum’s extensive exhibition on the 1996 Summer Olympics and how the event affected the city’s development. Videos capture memorable moments like Muhammad Ali, trembling with Parkinson’s disease, lighting the cauldron at the opening ceremony as the crowd roared.
In “More than Brave: The Life of Henry Aaron” (on display until fall 2025), museum-goers can watch the Atlanta Braves slugger best Babe Ruth’s longstanding record by hitting his 715th career home run at Atlanta Stadium. Bobbleheads, baseball cards and other memorabilia fill display cases. Exhibits tell how Aaron fought racial hatred with determination and dignity.
In the signature gallery “Gathering Around: Stories of Atlanta,” some of the most riveting stories deal with race relations. In the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906, mobs of whites, afraid of blacks’ growing wealth and political power, stormed the streets, destroying black businesses. They beat, stabbed and hanged more than 100 until the state militia restored order four days later. Another exhibit spotlights the Washerwomen’s Strike of 1881, when black laundresses initiated the first American labor movement for service workers, demanding higher wages and immediate payment for services.
The Swan House resides on the wooded grounds of the Atlanta History Center. (Photo credit: Atlanta History Center)
In a ravine behind the main museum complex, trails lead to the historic Tullie Smith Farm, complete with gardens, livestock and log buildings, and the Swan House, a mansion furnished in styles fashionable in the 1920s and ’30s. Walking around this wooded area provides a break from indoor gallery-hopping.
I ran out of time to do the Civil War galleries justice, but they soon will close to make way for a new, large-scale installation with cutting-edge technology, immersive storytelling and newly acquired artifacts. I’ll just have to come back when this next-generation experience opens in summer 2026.
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By Randy Mink, Senior Editor
Lead Photo – “Georgia’s Global Leaders: The Carter and King Legacy” is a popular exhibition at Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park’s visitor center. (Randy Mink Photo)
