Amid Proposed MARTA Name Changes, A Look At The History And Cultural Importance Of 'Bankhead'

Posted July 10, 2019

External Article: Georgia Public Broadcasting

Georgia Tech School of Literature, Media, and Communication Assistant Professor Joycelyn Wilson was interviewed in "Amid Proposed MARTA Name Changes, A Look At The History And Cultural Importance Of 'Bankhead'" by Georgia Public Broadcasting, July 10.

Excerpt:

MARTA is considering renaming five train stations in Atlanta. It's an effort to keep up with changes in the city and to reflect surrounding neighborhoods.

One station proposed to be re-christened: Bankhead. The area was named after the highway that ran through it, which was in turn named after an Alabama family. But the Bankhead name is perhaps more closely associated with the torrent of rap and hip hop that grew from Atlanta's Westside and nearby neighborhoods. So, what's in the name "Bankhead"?

The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit of Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Read the full article.