Culture Of Atlanta

The Culture of Atlanta, Georgia

Ansley Siebold
University of Kentucky

Authors Note
The content of this essay will discuss the overall culture in Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the
information in this essay was from

Culture Of Atlanta

The Culture of Atlanta, Georgia

The culture perceived by those who are not familiar with Atlanta may vary from someone
who has spent the majority of their life in the city or even the suburbs of Atlanta. Atlanta is
known as a hot spot for business men and women as well as people in the entertainment industry.
Atlanta is fluently known for the diversity in culture as well, which is why some question
whether Atlanta is really a part of the south. Through my interviews and conducted research
Atlantas culture was defined through the business world, diversity, lack of a southern accent,
education, and the lifestyle in the city.
Stereotypes
When I first met Erin and Connor, the two I interviewed, who are both in my Living
Learning Program, one of the first characteristics that stood out to me was that they both lacked
the southern accent that is prevalent in areas of Georgia and other surrounding Southern States. I
made the assumption that all those living in Atlanta lacked the Southern Drawl. When I asked
Connor or his view of the stereotype in Atlanta he gave an opposition of my thoughts when he
stated. I feel like people from out of state would think of Atlanta as a bunch of rednecks but its
really as much of a city as any other city in my opinion. I thought of Atlanta as one of the most
dominating cities in American because of abundance of major corporations, big businesses, and
vast entertainment industry. Erin noted that people come into Atlanta with the fear that because
its a big city, theres high chance for crime, which is partially accurate. Lastly, Atlanta stood out
to me as a place where African Americans could dominate in aspects of business, entertainment,
and politics.

Culture Of Atlanta

The real Culture

Erin and Connor revealed the real culture in Atlanta when they stated that the majority of the
people in Atlanta are accustomed to the city life. Everyone likes being close to any store or
product they need, and enjoy being busy and having places to go and things to do in their free
time. One of the biggest changes for Erin and Connor when transitioning from Atlanta to
Lexington was the fact that there was so much free space. They both agreed that they were
overwhelmed by the amount of grass and open fields in Kentucky. They were accustomed to
stores everywhere and a lack of space, whereas here someone would have to drive fifteen to
twenty minutes to get to the mall or even the grocery store.
They added that although the accent was not prevalent in the true city of Atlanta, the
areas surrounding Atlanta, like the suburbs, had people with the accent attached with the rest of
Georgia. It stood out me when Erin and Connor stated that people in the Northern part of
Georgia stay in up north and those from the Southern area typically stay south because it is
similar with the ways of Kentucky. People from Northern Kentucky do not even like to own up
to living up north but say they are from Ohio. There is also a definite difference in the accents
between northern and southern Kentucky.
Business in Atlanta
The business world in Atlanta controls the entire culture in Atlanta. It plays into the
aspect of the traffics, and also play into the point of why people in Atlanta lack the accent. Sack
(2001.) stated, The question is not an insignificant one in a city that drew 17 million tourists and
conventioneers last year. With people constantly coming in and out of Atlanta it would be hard
to define and accent where people from everywhere across the country are coming in for

Culture Of Atlanta

business. The accents mix and with Atlanta being so massive in the business world an accent
would not be picked up in the city. I believe the professional aspect also plays into the
deteriorating accent, business men and women want the vibe to be extremely professional and
some may feel that the accent is unprofessional. The stereotype of someone with a deep southern
accent is generally that they are uneducated and slow talkers. The Hartsfield-Jackson airport is
known as the hub for people of business. Connor described it as a nightmare when it came to
traffic. Atlanta is also home to corporations like Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Delta Airlines, as well
as Companies like At&t, Verizon, and CNN. The CDC headquarters is in operation of Atlanta,
which draws many people in for the health aspect.
Education
The education system in Atlanta was described by my interviewees as being quite.
Almost twenty different schools made up each county and come graduating classes ranged
anywhere from 300-100. Erin attended an all-girl private school and shared that public and
private schools were the same size. All schools in the Atlanta area are known to be large and are
typically located in the suburbs or surrounding areas of Atlanta, and there are about seventeen
different counties. Graduating classes in Atlanta were close to double the size of my entire high
school.
Erin confided that there was a strong push by school counselors to attend college in their
home state of Georgia. Students were often discouraged in going out of state. Erin came to the
University of Kentucky because her major was not offered in any university in Georgia. It
seemed that both Erin and Connor were relieved to be getting away from the people they had
been going to school with for the past several years. Connor stated, its really true, your entire

Culture Of Atlanta

high school goes to the same college so you wouldnt really meet anyone new, youre with the
same people would were with for the past 4-8 years depending on how long you knew them. I
expressed the same opinion when it came to choosing a school because there is a strong push for
students to attend Western Kentucky University, which is where the majority of seniors attended
that graduated from my high school.
Epicenter of Black Culture
According to TripAdvisor Atlanta is greatly commended for being one of the most
culturally diverse and accepting cities, stating that, Atlanta has typically exhibited a greater
degree of cooperation between the races, allowing both black and white residents to focus on
what the city does best: business. The article stated that Atlanta was also referred to as the
epicenter of black culure, saying that the majority of politicians, judges, and leaders were
known to be African American. When I asked Erin and Connor to back up that statement they
said they thought that a few judges were African American, but they were not fully exposed to
the political aspect of Atlanta.
Many remarkable historic figures are from Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta is home to one of
the most the renowned civil rights leaders, Martin Luther King Jr. His home is located in Atlanta
as well as the Lorraine, the hotel he was assassinated in. The hotel is now a Civil Rights
Museum, which has sparked controversy among some. Jaqueline Smith was known to have
camped out across the street for many years to protest the sacred ground of Martin Luther King
Jrs death sight to be violated and exploited as a museum.

Culture Of Atlanta