Atlanta Through the Archives
Neighborhood Union
Summary
The Neighborhood Union was a network of black women who gathered to advocate
for the development of social programs in neighborhoods. After its development and growing presence
in the area, the City of Atlanta called on the NU to lead various campaigns and movements. The NU
continued to expand and led efforts to improve after-school programs for children, public facility
sanitation, and greater access to home-making skill classes.
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Lugenia Burns Hope began the Neighborhood Union in 1908. A black woman went missing, and the
neighborhood investigated to find her passed away in her home. Women were assigned to each district
of the West End to establish a communication network.
The Neighborhood Union purchased property on Lee Street, which runs through current-day Morehouse
College and Spelman College’s campuses. Officially, the NU was designated to serve the First Ward of
Atlanta. The physical location conducted economics and home-making classes, lectures, and
recreational activities for children. By 1911, the NU expanded to the First and Fourth Wards, South
Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Vine City.
Neighborhood Union became a taxed organization in 1911 and established its charter, its aim to
“develop among the people the spirit of [cooperation], group consciousness and mass movement for the
development of the neighborhood.” It described itself as an “outgrowth” of a community of black
women, operating under the motto “And thy neighbor as thy self.” The city of Atlanta turturnedns
over the majority of its social work needs to the NU. Five neighborhoods in majority black areas
became organized under the NU.
In 1914, the City of Atlanta called on NU to lead a sanitation campaign in black neighborhoods with
the help of the Atlanta Anti-Tuberculosis Association. In 1915, the NU established a health center
to serve the Black community in West Atlanta; “at the height of the depression.... over 4000 people
used the services of the Health center” (Lerner 69).
By 1924, the Neighborhood Union expanded to three locations: northeastern Atlanta, Summerhill, and
Atlanta’s west side. The union established
more departments, namely Better Housing, which conducted “house to house visitation and cooperation”
with the Board of Health and Sanitary Department, and Health and Sanitation, and Care of the Sick,
which provides health courses under the Red Cross.
During its time, the Union also significantly
contributed to the Carrie-Steele-Pitts Orphan Home, the Spelman College Nursery School, and the Gate
City Free Kindergarten Association.
SOURCES:
Neighborhood Union, 1911, 0000-0000-0000-0050, box 8, folder 2, Neighborhood Union Collection,
Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center, Inc. Repository, Atlanta, Georgia.
radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/auc.050%3A0210.
Neighborhood Union. Neighborhood Union Collection. Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta
University Center, Inc. Repository. Atlanta, Georgia.
Neighborhood Union Program, 1924, 0000-0000-0000-0050, box 5, folder 9, Neighborhood Union
Collection, Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center, Inc. Repository, Atlanta,
Georgia. radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/auc.050%3A0210.
Neighborhood Union. Neighborhood Union Collection. Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta
University Center, Inc. Repository. Atlanta, Georgia.
Lerner, G. (2005). The Majority Finds Its Past: Placing Women in History. UNC Press Books.