The Bottom. Lickskillet.
We may never have heard these names before, but they were once thriving Black neighborhoods in downtown Athens.
That changed with urban renewal in the 1960s. The R-51 urban renewal project led to the demolition of both neighborhoods and the displacement of hundreds of Black families. Just as in Linnentown, these neighborhoods were erased and nearly forgotten until recently.
After years of work, researchers organized by Mayor Kelly Girtz have uncovered the wider impact of urban renewal in Athens, beyond Linnentown. This project, co-led by Claire Hagan of Historic Athens and Dr. Jerry Shannon from the UGA Geography Department, focuses on the R-51 urban renewal project, which dramatically reshaped the area just north of downtown Athens in the late 1960s.
This research has been made available to the public through a new interactive website that contains archival data, photographs, maps and other primary documents.
R-51 resulted in the displacement of nearly 400 households and the demolition of numerous structures. As in many communities affected by urban renewal projects across the country, displacement disproportionately impacted Black Athenians, who comprised 60% of the residential households affected by this project. Almost all displaced Black households were located within the neighborhoods of Lickskillet and The Bottom. Homes, businesses and community gathering places were also eliminated.
“My priority from the beginning has been to highlight the impact that R-51 had on Athens at the individual level. This census starts with resident names rather than addresses and attempts to paint an honest picture of each person using the limited information available in the archives,” said Claire Hagan. “We also encourage viewers to keep in mind that this data may not tell the full story of R-51. Our bias as researchers and the urban renewal agents’ interpretation of each household may not match up with how these Athenians would have described their own experiences. We’ve done our best to show the information that’s there and make space for what isn’t.”
Visitors to this site can explore and download spreadsheets of resident and property records. Additionally, the website includes interactive maps showing the locations of households included in this project, aerial photos showing the extent of the redevelopment, photos taken of the properties during their assessment and archival maps related to project planning.
This project extends an effort that began in 2019 with the contribution of Charlene Marsh and Ammishaddai Grand-Jean, who worked to digitize records from the R-50 area surrounding Baxter Street that included the Linnentown neighborhood. Research on the R-51 project began in 2023 with initial support from Mayoral Fellow Dayle McCallar. It continued under Claire Hagan, also a mayoral fellow at Historic Athens at the time. Beginning in late 2024, the Community Mapping Lab in UGA’s Department of Geography added additional support. Today, the project continues with contributions from Community Mapping Lab members Liam England and Keagan Croom, as well as Historic Athens SPIA Fellow Faith Tucker.
“While we know we still need more voices at the table to tell the story of R-51,” Dr. Shannon said, “the work done thus far is a great example of collaboration between the ACC government, Historic Athens as a non-profit, and my group at UGA. We’re excited to present the initial phase of this work.”
Four times as many households were impacted by R-51 compared to the earlier urban renewal project along Baxter Street, but until now no research has been done on its effects on residents and businesses. A primary goal of this project is to start conversations with individuals who experienced urban renewal firsthand, as well as family members and loved ones, to learn how this redevelopment impacted their lives.
You can view the interactive map of the R-51 urban renewal project here.
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