Atlanta native and veteran journalist Janita Poe has launched Black Atlanta Documented to help preserve Black history in Atlanta.

The project will feature oral histories and stories of people who have made a difference in Atlanta, from enslaved people to present-day leaders. The YouTube-based production launched on March 16 and will release one episode per month.

Poe said that recent actions by the Trump administration, such as the dismantling of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, and the removal of slavery exhibits, inspired her to highlight Black excellence.

Last month in Philadelphia, workers restored a slavery exhibit at the President’s House Site that had previously been ordered removed by the Trump administration. Last year, the administration ordered the removal of exhibits relating to slavery at national parks, including the well-known photo of a formerly enslaved man known as Peter, whose back is covered in scars.

“I thought, ‘What can I do to make a difference in my little world’,” Poe said. “My little world is Atlanta.”

To bring her project to life, Poe has assembled a team of nearly two dozen contributors who are volunteering their time and expertise. The only paid team member is producer and media personality Vince “The Voice” Bailey.

Contributors include Black historian and digital creator Joseph K. Bannerman; award-winning journalist Kim Betton; actor, entertainer and entrepreneur Julie Andrea Borders; and Atlanta-based historian Erica Brayboy Collier.

The project pairs interviewers with subjects intentionally, Poe said, matching personalities to create chemistry on screen.

Upcoming interviews include Collier’s conversation with Dr. Herman “Skip” Mason, president of the Interdenominational Theological Center, set to air in April. In May, media professional and content creator Araba Dowell will interview Apex Museum CEO Dan Moore Jr.

Veteran journalist Shelia Poole, the longest-serving African American reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution until 2024, will interview Alexis Scott, former publisher of the Atlanta Daily World.

Vocalist and storyteller Simone Webster will sit down with nightclub legend James Virgil, who owned the former Mr. V’s Figure 8 nightclub. Their interview will be filmed in the parking lot of the now-shuttered club, where they will be seated in director’s chairs. It’s vacant now, Poe said of the site, but back in the ’70s, there were strobe lights and limousines and velvet ropes outside the nightclub.

“I’ve got an amazing group of folks who are so eager to be a part of this,” Poe said.

Black Atlanta Documented will highlight a wide range of notable Atlantans, and Poe has a growing wish list of participants.

For now, she plans to release one profile per month, with production pauses during the height of summer and winter to keep the project financially sustainable. She is currently funding the project out of her own pocket and hopes to secure additional support.

Poe said the project is about preserving stories that are often overlooked and ensuring they are passed on to future generations.

She recently came across a historic image of a slave market on Whitehall Street.

“We have grown up in our homes hearing our parents and grandparents talk about Jim Crow, hearing relatives tell stories of a runaway slave,” Poe said. “Those stories are in our homes, and I don’t want anyone saying that is not true.”

“We are not a perfect country,” she added. “And you can’t be a good country if you don’t know all the facts — all the mistakes you’ve made [as a country].”

Poe said she hopes the project resonates across cultures,  including with people who are not of color.

“In a way, we are speaking to them, respectfully saying this is our truth, and you are going to hear it from the very people who lived it,” she said.

A native of southwest Atlanta, Poe said her own experiences helped shape the project’s vision. She was among the early wave of Black students to attend Woodward Academy, she said, and later earned a doctorate in mass communications and media studies from Georgia State University. Her journalism career includes work with the Chicago Tribune and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Some of her childhood memories are an integral part of Atlanta’s legacy, such as family visits to the original Paschal’s Motor Hotel Restaurant on West Hunter Street, now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

“I grew up going to Paschal’s with my family,” Poe said, of the historic gathering place for civil rights leaders. “My father was a pediatrician and very active in the medical association, and I remember attending a conference there. Everything was just fabulous — the bellhops, the atmosphere.”

Poe said she also wants to challenge negative perceptions about public housing communities, such as the former University Homes or Perry Homes, where many residents went on to become successful professionals with multiple degrees.

In honoring excellence in Black Atlanta, she said. “I feel like we are empowering ourselves by just documenting facts.”

The post Journalist, team capture oral histories to preserve stories of Black Atlanta appeared first on SaportaReport.