Atlanta, GA
‘Atlanta’s Berlin Wall’: One Atlanta neighorhood’s history of racial roadblocks
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Owning a home is part of the American dream many families are never able to realize because of the color of their skin.
This Black History Month, Atlanta News First anchor Tracye Hutchins sheds light on a little-known part of Atlanta’s history when a roadblock was used as a barrier for Black people.
Cascade Heights has been known as a home to Black prominence and power in Atlanta. Several notable politicians, sports figures and celebrities have settled in there, but only in recent history.
In the early 1960s, the neighborhood was on the brink of a major transition when a doctor named Clinton Warner bought a home there. The problem was Warner was Black and that area of Cascade Heights was all white.
It wasn’t long before Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., who was in office at the time, decided to keep the peace and keep more Blacks for moving in — a permanent barricade made of steel and wood built on Peyton Road. The barricade became known as the Peyton Wall, a symbol of segregation.
Dr. Ron Bayor, a retired Georgia Tech professor, said the Peyton Wall was Atlanta’s most blatant attempt to block Black migration.
“The whole effort was to push Blacks to the west side. But it was a travesty, this was the year after the Berlin Wall was built, and it was often referred to as Atlanta’s Berlin Wall,” Bayor said.
Bayor has written about Atlanta’s segregated history in his book “Race And The Shaping of Twentieth Century Atlanta.”
The existence of the Peyton Wall prompted multiple protests and negative national headlines, which became too much for Atlanta city leaders. A judge later ruled the barrier unconstitutional, and the Peyton Wall was torn down after 72 days.
Bayor said the wall’s impact is still being felt today.
“Generally, Atlanta is still a pretty segregated city, and this is a legacy of what happened before,” Bayor said.
Archie Emerson, the local board president of the Empire Board of Realtists, has seen the impact firsthand.
Emerson represents the same group of Black real estate brokers who fought to help Black homeowners in that neighborhood in the 1960s.
“In order for us to elevate to the next level, we must change our mindset and understand that we have the right of homeownership,” Emerson said.
But in 2025, there are still barriers for Black people, including historical prejudice, economic disparities and denied mortgages.
The most recent data from the Atlanta Regional Commission found that Black homeownership in Fulton County was 25% lower than white homeownership, even though Black people make up a larger percentage of the population.
“So why wouldn’t we continue to fight now? Unfortunately, we’re still fighting,” Emerson said. “So that we can continue to have growth in homeownership. It starts right here on Peyton Road.”
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The public is getting its first look at the two pandas that will be heading from China to Zoo Atlanta.
NBC’s Janis Mackey Frayer was able to visit female Fu Shuang and male Ping Ping before they make the nearly 8,000-mile flight. The giant pandas are both 6 years old and are headed to the United States as part of a new decade-long conservation agreement between China and the U.S.
Ping Ping’s keepers say he tends to follow them around, which is atypical behavior for a panda, but may be because of the food they have for him. Fu Shuang — which translates to “double happiness” — is playful, but nervous, and enjoys placing her chin on her paw. She also likes apples and has a penchant for finding them.
“Because we will hide pieces of apples, for example under the tree … she can find them everywhere,” panda keeper Wang Shun told Mackey Frayer, noting her “clever” behavior.
The pandas are part of an international cooperative research agreement on giant panda conservation between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, a renewal of panda diplomacy between America and China that began in 1972.
“Zoo Atlanta is delighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species and to partner with the China Wildlife Conservation Association on the continued conservation and research efforts that are the most important outcomes of this cooperation,” Zoo Atlanta President and CEO Raymond B. King said in a statement in April.
“We can’t wait to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and to welcome our Members, guests, city, and community back to the wonder and joy of giant pandas.”
Pandas are already at zoos in Washington, D.C., and San Diego. Zoo Atlanta maintained a panda agreement with China from 1999 until 2024, when Lun Lun and Yang Yang went back to their home country, along with their two youngest cubs.
Animal behaviorist James Ayala marvels at how pandas mature.
“You see cubs and they seem so cuddly and clumsy and cute. And then they grow up into these big, majestic bears,” he told Mackey Frayer.
Fu Shuang and Ping Ping will be transported further south into a mountainous region where they will be prepped to make the trip to the U.S. It is unknown when they will leave.
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