Holy Family and Southwest Community Hospital

Healing the Divide: A Comprehensive History of Southwest Atlanta Hospital

Chapter 1: The Seeds of a Mission (1940–1957)

The institution that would ultimately become known as Southwest Atlanta Hospital began not as a sprawling medical center, but as a modest, community-driven effort to address the severe inequities in healthcare and social services available to African Americans in the Jim Crow South. In 1940, a dedicated group of Catholic laywomen, acting under the guidance of the local diocese, established a recreational center for African Americans known as the Colored Mission Center.¹ This early initiative quickly revealed a profound need for more robust community support, particularly in the realm of medical care.

In response to this glaring lack of adequate healthcare in southwest Atlanta, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church collaborated with the Society of Catholic Medical Missionaries in 1941 to formally establish the Catholic Colored Clinic. A key figure in the clinic’s medical foundation was Dr. John R. Walker, a prominent local surgeon and former chief of staff at Crawford W. Long Memorial Hospital, who became one of the institution’s primary founders.² On Sunday, December 14, 1941, Bishop Gerald P. O’Hara of the Savannah-Atlanta district formally dedicated and blessed the new Catholic Colored Mission Center at 348 Forrest Avenue, N.E. The mission was initially placed under the direction of Miss Sarah Fahy.³

Operating entirely on a charitable model, the Catholic Colored Clinic provided its services for free, relying heavily on the volunteer efforts of physicians, many of whom were not Catholic themselves.⁴ By the end of 1942, the mission and clinic had expanded its facilities so rapidly that it formally consolidated its work at the Forrest Avenue location. Director Sarah Fahy noted that the mission provided not only medical attention, medicine, and food, but also operated a bureau of employment, a day nursery, and a domestic science training school.⁵

The Medical Mission Sisters and Explosive Growth
A significant turning point in the clinic’s professionalization occurred in the fall of 1944 with the arrival of Mother Anna Dengel. As the founder of the Catholic Church’s Medical Mission Sisters, Mother Dengel, a former lay doctor who spent years in India before establishing the order in Washington, D.C. in 1925, visited Atlanta to conduct the mission and oversee the clinic’s operations.⁶ She was accompanied by Sister Mary Xavier, Sister Mary Clare, and Sister Mary Regina, who helped integrate the Atlanta clinic into a broader national network of Catholic medical training schools and institutes.

By this time, the staff of the Catholic Colored Clinic included a robust roster of early medical professionals, such as Dr. Joseph Hines, Dr. Conway Hunter, Dr. John Hines, and Dr. Marshall Sims.⁷ These early practitioners laid the groundwork for what would become a haven for Black medical excellence. Over the ensuing decades, the institution would attract and nurture a vanguard of trailblazing physicians. This esteemed group included Dr. Albert Davis, Dr. Otis Smith, Dr. Clinton Warner, Dr. Booker Poe, Dr. Asa Yancey, Dr. Lee Shelton, Dr. James Densler, Dr. John Hall, Dr. Warner Meadows, Dr. Bernard Bridges, Dr. James Palmer, Dr. Delutha King, Dr. Herbert Jones Sr., and Dr. Calvin McClarin. While some of these men joined the staff in later years, they all built upon the foundation of dignity and service established at the Forrest Avenue clinic.

Under the guidance of the Medical Mission Sisters, the clinic’s capacity grew at an explosive rate. In 1945, the clinic treated 5,287 patients. By 1946, that number surged to 8,522, and in 1947, 8,730 patients availed themselves of the clinic’s services. In its first three years of full operation under the Sisters, the clinic served a staggering 22,539 patients.⁸ By August 1946, the clinic boasted an up-to-date surgical room equipped for major and minor surgeries, entirely donated by the doctors on staff. In early 1946, local citizens and doctors generously donated a much-needed sterilizer for the operating room, allowing the Sisters to perform more complex procedures.⁹

Community Mobilization and Grassroots Support
To sustain these free services, local Black and Catholic citizens mobilized relentlessly. Grassroots fundraising became a staple of the clinic’s survival. The Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Medical Mission, led in 1945 by Reverend W.H. Borders as president, frequently hosted “Silver Teas,” rummage sales, and benefit luncheons to gather donations.¹⁰ In May 1947, Mrs. Luchi Bacote chaired a massive membership drive to secure ongoing support for the clinic’s development.¹¹

The early Auxiliary faced immense challenges. Supporting a tiny clinic comprised of just a four-bed ward and a small operating room, the women worked diligently to raise funds through turkey dinners and spaghetti suppers. They even operated a Thrift Shop on Hunter Street to generate revenue. When an old house was purchased to serve as a residence for the Sisters, Auxiliary members personally scrubbed the floors and woodwork, tore off old wallpaper, and repainted the walls to make the home habitable.¹²

The community’s devotion to the clinic spawned entirely new civic organizations. In January 1949, a group of young women, including former patients, friends, and off-duty nurses, organized “The Blessed Martin de Porres Club,” named after the 16th-century Afro-Peruvian Dominican saint. The club hosted benefit teas to raise funds and introduce the public to the clinic’s vital work.¹³ The community’s gratitude was frequently tangible. In November 1953, a group of laywomen and sponsors presented Sister Mary Jacob, the Sister Superior of the clinic, with a brand new 1953 Plymouth automobile to assist with her duties.¹⁴

For the residents of Jim Crow Atlanta, the clinic was more than just a medical facility; it was a sanctuary of respect. Decades later, locals would fondly recall the striking sight of the Catholic nuns in their full habits walking the neighborhood, and the deep sense of pride the community felt in a medical facility that treated African Americans with unwavering dignity.

A Vital Safety Net: The 1954 Nicolas Crisis
Because it operated outside the rigid municipal bureaucracies of segregated Atlanta, the Catholic Colored Clinic frequently acted as a last-resort safety net, even for white patients caught in administrative red tape. This was dramatically illustrated in January 1954. Theodore Nicolas and his wife, a white couple stranded in Atlanta due to financial distress while traveling from California to Brooklyn, found their six-month-old infant suffering from severe dysentery and a 106-degree fever. Seeking help at Grady Hospital, Nicolas was turned away because of a strict policy that limited admission to residents of Fulton and DeKalb counties, barring “extreme emergencies.”¹⁵

Desperate, the couple encountered Father Philip McConville, a Catholic chaplain on detached service from the paratroopers. Recognizing the infant’s critical condition, McConville rushed the family not to a white hospital, but to the Catholic Colored Clinic on Forrest Avenue. There, Sister Mary Jacobs took immediate action. While the couple’s five other children were sheltered and fed at the clinic, Sister Jacobs bypassed the municipal red tape and arranged for a private physician to have the infant formally admitted to Egleston Memorial Hospital through a Catholic charity organization. The incident sparked a massive outpouring of charitable support from Atlantans and highlighted the indispensable, flexible nature of the clinic’s mission.¹⁶

Formalizing Leadership and the First Push for Expansion
By the mid-1950s, the clinic began formalizing its corporate and civic leadership. In 1954, under the direction of Sister Mary Jacob, the clinic served 8,391 patients, with roughly one-third receiving hospitalizations and the remainder treated through clinic visits.¹⁷ Recognizing its growing footprint, the clinic formed a formal Board of Trustees in 1956. Sister Mary Jacob was elected president, Monsignor Joseph Cassidy as vice president, Dr. H. Kenneth Fitzgerald as secretary, and L.D. Milton, president of the Black-owned Citizens Trust Company, as treasurer. Other trustees included Sister Declan, Dr. Reese Coleman Jr., and Dr. Richard Hackney.¹⁸

The clinic’s leadership also began integrating into broader regional health planning. Sister Mary Jacob was appointed treasurer of the newly organized Suburban Atlanta Hospital Advisory Council, tasked by the State Health Department to survey hospital needs in Fulton, DeKalb, and surrounding counties to secure federal Hill-Burton construction funds.¹⁹

It was during this period that the first concrete plans to transition from a clinic to a full-fledged hospital were laid. In November 1954, attorney Henry L. DeGive petitioned the Municipal Board of Adjustments for a use permit to establish a clinic, infirmary, convalescent home, and school on a proposed 70-acre tract on Harwell Road near Collier Drive in Northwest Atlanta. Sister Mary Jacob and Monsignor James Grady spearheaded this multi-million dollar development project, signaling the institution’s transition from a small neighborhood clinic to a major regional medical facility.²⁰

Chapter 2: The Dream of Holy Family and the Shift to Fairburn Road (1958–1964)

As the 1950s drew to a close, the physical limitations of the 348 Forrest Avenue location were undeniable. Operating under a new corporate identity, Holy Family Hospital and Medical Center, Inc., the institution’s leaders formally unveiled their breathtakingly ambitious plan in January 1959. They proposed the construction of a $2,500,000, community-type general hospital.²¹

Initially, the hospital was slated to be built on an 82-acre tract purchased at Harwell Road and Collier Drive near Delmar Lane in the Collier Heights area, following up on the zoning petitions initiated in 1954. Operated by the Medical Mission Sisters, who by this time managed dozens of hospitals globally, the Atlanta project was spearheaded locally by Sister M. Theophane. Initial plans called for a 150-bed facility featuring general nursing, surgery, maternity, pediatric, and orthopedic wings, alongside an outpatient clinic.²²

The Million-Dollar Campaign
Financing such an endeavor required a monumental civic effort. A target of $1,250,000 in local pledges was established, which would be matched by federal funds through the Hill-Burton Act.²³ The hospital assembled a powerhouse executive committee of local civic and business leaders. Sam Phillips McKenzie, a prominent attorney and former vice president of Catholic Social Services, was named general chairman of the building fund campaign.²⁴ L.D. Milton and W.S. Cannon spearheaded the General Gifts Division, rallying the Black business community to support a project they described as a dream backed with the most unwavering faith they had ever seen.²⁵

The campaign reached deep into the community. In April 1959, a major recruitment and report rally was held at the Butler Street YMCA. Dr. Harry V. Richardson, president of Gammon Theological Seminary, addressed the campaign workers, and Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, the legendary president of Morehouse College, spoke passionately on “The Need for the Hospital in Our Community.”²⁶ The medical community threw its full weight behind the project as well. In February 1959, the Fulton County Medical Society passed a resolution wholeheartedly approving the establishment of Holy Family Hospital and authorizing the solicitation of funds from its member doctors.²⁷

The Pivot to Fairburn Road
However, as the project moved from the fundraising phase to the logistical realities of construction, a major geographic pivot occurred. The original site at Harwell Road and Delmar Lane inside the Atlanta city limits was ultimately deemed unsuitable for the massive scope of the planned medical campus. The State Health Department and independent engineering experts concluded that the entry roads to the Harwell site were too narrow and winding for emergency ambulances. Furthermore, the planned North-South circumferential expressway was designed to funnel traffic directly through the area, clipping away 27 acres of the hospital’s property.²⁸

In late November 1960, attorney Henry L. DeGive filed a new petition with the Atlanta-Fulton County Joint Planning Board. The hospital requested a rezoning to authorize the construction of the Catholic hospital and medical center on a new, sprawling tract at Fairburn and Sewell Roads in Southwest Fulton County, just outside the city limits. The new site fronted 3,170 feet on the west side of Fairburn Road and was 2,100 feet deep.²⁹ On December 7, 1960, the Fulton County commissioners officially granted the use permit to allow the construction of the 150-bed Holy Family Hospital on what was now a 130-acre site at Fairburn and Sewell roads.³⁰

To accommodate the nursing nuns who would staff the new facility, the hospital acquired the historic Wilson House located on the new property. Built between 1856 and 1859 by Judge William Asbury Wilson, the two-story antebellum plantation house still bore the scars of Minie balls from the Civil War and had served as a temporary headquarters for General William T. Sherman’s troops during the Battle of Atlanta. This historic structure would serve as the nuns’ residence as they oversaw the hospital’s development.³¹

Federal Support and a Vow of Racial Justice
The relocation did not slow the project’s momentum. In January 1962, Senators Richard Russell and Herman Talmadge announced that the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare had approved a Hill-Burton grant of nearly $1 million to pave the way for construction at the new West Fulton County site.³² By August 1962, Sister Theophane officially signed the construction contract with Beers Construction Company of Atlanta, based on designs by the architectural firm Aeck Associates.³³

As construction progressed, the social landscape of Atlanta was shifting, and Black leaders demanded assurances that the new facility would not replicate the discriminatory practices of the past. In early 1962, Dr. Clinton Warner and Dr. A.M. Davis of the ACCA Health Council publicly pressed the hospital for a clear non-bias policy regarding patient segregation and the recruitment of Black staff. Dr. Warner was not just a concerned physician; he was the very same civil rights pioneer whose courageous home purchase on Fielding Lane sparked the Peyton Road Wall crisis in nearby Peyton Forest. Sister Theophane initially stated she could not answer specific questions regarding racial policies, noting only that “there will be facilities for everyone.”³⁴

This uncertainty was definitively resolved in March 1963, when Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan of the Archdiocese of Atlanta made a landmark announcement regarding the integration of Catholic institutions. Having already integrated Catholic schools in 1962, Hallinan decreed that all Catholic hospitals in the diocese, including the under-construction Holy Family Hospital, would operate with a strict open-admission policy. “No citizen, white or Negro, can be in doubt about the church’s teaching on racial justice,” Hallinan stated, ensuring that patient placement would be based entirely on medical need rather than race.³⁵

Dedication and a New Era
Holy Family Hospital was designed with progressive patient care in mind. Its maternity ward was particularly innovative for the era, featuring a “social center” for convalescing mothers and nurseries built directly adjacent to mothers’ rooms. This allowed parents to view their infants through a window between the bedroom and nursery. This specific feature was heavily supported by the local community. In March 1964, the Lockheed Employees’ “Buck of the Month Club” donated $2,880 specifically to equip these newborn nurseries.³⁶

To guide the hospital’s opening, a formal Lay Advisory Board was established. In April 1964, Judge Sam Phillips McKenzie handed the gavel to incoming president Edgar E. Schukraft, leading a board of prominent citizens that included R.F. Gammans, Robert F. Schorr, and Alex W. Smith Jr.³⁷

On Sunday, September 13, 1964, the $2.5 million Holy Family Hospital was formally dedicated at its new Fairburn Road campus. A crowd of 4,000 people attended the ceremony, which featured a welcoming address by Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. and a principal address by Archbishop Hallinan. Mother Anna Dengel traveled from Rome to attend the dedication of what was now the 35th medical institution opened by her Medical Mission Sisters. The facility opened with 128 beds, categorized into 16 intensive care beds, 68 intermediate care beds, and 12 self-care beds. Dr. H.B. Stillerman was named the first chief of staff, overseeing 17 sisters and 45 doctors.³⁸

Shortly after the hospital opened its doors to patients, leadership transitioned. In October 1964, Sister Mary Jacob, who had previously managed the Forrest Avenue clinic, returned from an assignment in Philadelphia to replace Sister Theophane as the hospital’s administrator. Mother Benedict lauded Sister Theophane’s courage and hard work in building the hospital, noting she had successfully concluded her monumental task.³⁹

For the residents of Southwest Atlanta, the opening of the Fairburn Road campus was nothing short of a revelation. For generations of African Americans accustomed to the indignities of segregated waiting rooms and unequal care at other facilities, the new hospital felt like a sanctuary. Community members would later recall the absolute magic of walking the pristine halls and seeing nothing but Black doctors, nurses, technicians, and administrators operating a state-of-the-art facility. It was a place of profound civic pride, right down to the daily comforts of visiting “Momma Hammonds’ Gift Shop” or eating in the hospital cafeteria, which locals swore served some of the best food in the city. Holy Family Hospital had arrived, and it would anchor the neighborhood for decades to come.

Chapter 3: A Beacon of Integration and Community Care (1964–1971)

Operating a newly integrated hospital in a rapidly changing demographic area presented immediate challenges, but Holy Family quickly established itself as a cornerstone of Southwest Atlanta. The hospital’s commitment to integration was formalized on a federal level in June 1966. At that time, Holy Family was among the first local hospitals officially cleared for Medicare participation by demonstrating strict compliance with Title VI civil rights requirements, bypassing the political scrutiny that delayed clearance for several other major Atlanta institutions. Sister Mary Jacob proudly reported to the federal government that the hospital’s primary purpose was to care for the sick regardless of race, color, or national origin.⁴⁰

By the late 1960s, Holy Family was widely recognized by the Black medical community as a rare success story in a city where many hospitals still practiced de facto segregation. A 1968 retrospective on Atlanta’s hospital integration efforts highlighted Holy Family as a “lone ray of sunshine.” The medical staff was genuinely integrated, boasting 160 members, 57 of whom were Black. The hospital’s patient population maintained a roughly equal racial balance, and Black physicians were appointed to high-ranking leadership roles based purely on merit.⁴¹

The Trailblazing Physicians: Dr. Shelton and Dr. Poe
A driving force behind this integration was Dr. Lee Raymond Shelton. Born in Pittsburgh and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, Shelton was a trailblazer long before he arrived in Atlanta. In 1941, he became one of the legendary Montford Point Marines, the very first African Americans allowed to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. After his service, he utilized the G.I. Bill to attend Howard University, supplementing his income by playing the trumpet in local bands. He even turned down a recruitment offer from famous bandleader Fletcher Henderson to stay in medical school.⁴²

After completing his surgical residency at the Tuskegee Veterans Administration Hospital, where he actively participated in the Montgomery civil rights boycotts of the late 1950s, Dr. Shelton relocated to Atlanta. He became instrumental in desegregating the staff of Holy Family Hospital. Thanks to the efforts of pioneers like Dr. Shelton, the facility became the first hospital in the Southeast to allow Black and white doctors to work together seamlessly in 1964. Dr. Shelton would later transition to emergency medicine, running the hospital’s emergency room for decades. He broke barriers outside the hospital as well. In 1962, he was one of the first two African American doctors admitted to the Fulton County Medical Society, and in 1963, he and his wife Deloris integrated Herren’s, a downtown power-broker restaurant.⁴³

Another monumental figure to join the staff during this era was Dr. Booker Taliaferro Washington Poe. A pioneering pediatrician and former Captain in the U.S. Air Force, Dr. Poe moved his young family to Atlanta in January 1969, opening a private practice on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. At a time when there were fewer than 100 Black physicians in the entire state of Georgia, Dr. Poe joined the staff at Holy Family and became a mentor to hundreds of young doctors. Dr. Poe was a fierce advocate for health equity. He spearheaded the fight to establish the Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) program in Georgia, ensuring Medicaid patients could access preventive health services in private offices rather than being relegated solely to public health centers.

A Hub for High-Profile Patients and Frontline Trauma
Because of its location and its reputation for equitable care, Holy Family became the hospital of choice, or necessity, for many of the city’s most prominent figures. In November 1968, Reverend Ralph Abernathy, who had succeeded Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), was admitted to Holy Family for a severe bout of pneumonia.⁴⁴ Abernathy would return to the hospital in March 1973 for a “check-up and rest” following a terrible bout with the London flu.⁴⁵ In September 1970, Lonnie King, a prominent civil rights activist and candidate for Congress, sought treatment at the hospital after being bitten by a dog while canvassing in Adamsville.⁴⁶ Even Vice Mayor Maynard Jackson utilized the facility, checking in for his yearly routine physical in January 1973, and returning frequently throughout his tenure as Mayor.⁴⁷

Most notably, the hospital became the final resting place for one of the South’s most legendary journalists. On the evening of February 3, 1969, Pulitzer Prize-winning publisher Ralph McGill suffered a massive heart attack while dining at a friend’s home in northwest Atlanta. He was rushed to Holy Family Hospital but was tragically pronounced dead on arrival, marking the end of an era for Southern journalism.⁴⁸

Beyond treating dignitaries, Holy Family served as a frontline trauma center for the escalating urban violence and accidents of the era. The emergency room routinely handled local tragedies, from fatal traffic collisions and 100-mph police chases on Cascade-Palmetto Road to devastating domestic accidents and armed robbery shootouts.⁴⁹ In one horrific incident in May 1967, several young boys hitching a ride on the outside of a city bus were crushed against a truck just a block from the hospital. A nursing sister from Holy Family rushed into the street to render aid, though one of the boys tragically died in her arms.⁵⁰ The hospital also treated its own. In December 1970, Dr. R. Lewis Ricks, a 34-year-old gynecologist on staff, was rushed to Holy Family’s emergency room after being shot in his office by his ex-fiancée.⁵¹

Cultural Footprint and Community Engagement
The Medical Mission Sisters brought more than just medical expertise to Atlanta; they brought a vibrant, progressive culture. In the late 1960s, the hospital gained unique local fame thanks to the musical talents of its staff. Sister Miriam Therese Winter, a Medical Mission Sister and recording artist who composed contemporary folk-style religious music, frequently performed in Atlanta alongside Sister Jane Pellowski, Holy Family’s director of personnel, and Sister Lucy Whalen. The trio, armed with acoustic guitars, helped popularize the use of contemporary folk music in Catholic worship across the city, drawing large crowds to local parishes and even the Cathedral of Christ the King.⁵²

The hospital was also highly progressive in its patient care. In 1971, Holy Family was recognized as the only hospital in the area practicing the Lamaze method of natural childbirth, offering comprehensive classes to expectant couples and allowing fathers into the delivery room, a rarity for the era.⁵³

To support this vital work, the hospital relied heavily on its dedicated volunteers. The Holy Family Hospital Auxiliary, often referred to as the “Pink Ladies,” were relentless fundraisers. They hosted spring festivals featuring art displays and student tours.⁵⁴ In June 1967, they hosted their first Luncheon Fashion Show at the Henry Grady Hotel, netting $4,500 to purchase X-ray equipment. They also organized formal Sherry Luncheons with elaborate driftwood centerpieces,⁵⁵ and held annual dinner dances at the Atlanta Cabana Motor Hotel to purchase specialized laboratory and anesthesia equipment.⁵⁶

The hospital also utilized local youth as “Candy Stripers,” a program inaugurated in June 1967. Local teenagers proudly donned the red and white pin-striped dresses to assist nurses with patient care and run errands throughout the beautifully landscaped campus, creating lifelong memories of civic service for the neighborhood’s youth.

The hospital was so deeply embedded in the local consciousness that it even became the subject of an urban legend. In April 1972, a rumor swept through Atlanta and as far as Chicago that a newborn infant had opened its mouth on the delivery table at Holy Family Hospital, predicted the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and promptly died. The hospital’s switchboard was flooded with calls from terrified citizens, forcing administrators to issue public denials of the “End of the World Baby.”⁵⁷

The Crucible of Neighborhood Transition
While the hospital flourished medically, the surrounding neighborhoods of Cascade Heights and Audubon Forest were experiencing the intense friction of racial transition. As Black middle-class families moved into these previously all-white enclaves, unscrupulous real estate agents engaged in “blockbusting,” stoking racial panic to encourage white flight.

Holy Family Hospital stepped directly into this civic fray, offering its facilities as a literal meeting ground for Southwest Atlantans for Progress (SWAP), a biracial organization dedicated to stabilizing the community and fostering integration. Throughout 1967, SWAP held bi-monthly meetings at the hospital, featuring guest speakers and open dialogues between white and Black residents.⁵⁸ Sister Mary Jacob was a vocal proponent of the group, urging white families to reject prejudice and remain in the neighborhood. “There is nothing worse than a decision made from fear,” she warned residents.⁵⁹

The neighborhood’s anxieties boiled over in late 1967 and early 1968 during a bitter zoning dispute. Developers proposed building massive public and moderate-income housing projects on Sewell and Fairburn Roads adjacent to Holy Family Hospital. Fearing that the projects would overwhelm local infrastructure and transform their newly integrated neighborhood into a segregated area, hundreds of Black and white residents packed City Hall to protest.⁶⁰ While some projects were rejected, the aldermanic board ultimately approved a 568-unit moderate-income apartment complex directly across from the hospital in January 1968, reflecting the intense pressure cooker of Southwest Atlanta’s housing politics.⁶¹

A Fateful Change in Leadership
In the midst of this civic turbulence, Holy Family underwent a critical change in administration. On October 7, 1968, the Medical Mission Sisters adopted new by-laws to officially turn over the management and control of the hospital to a Lay Board of Trustees. The expanded board included prominent laymen such as Alex Smith, Edwin Cross, R.R. Gammons, and Edgar Schukraft, alongside Sisters Miriam Hoover and Jane Pellowski. The medical staff was led by Chief of Staff Dr. D.S. Sowell and Vice-Chief Dr. J.B. Ellison.⁶² The hospital maintained its Catholic character, sending formal congratulations to the newly installed Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan in July 1968.⁶³

However, the day-to-day operations required new executive leadership. On August 1, 1967, Sister Mary Jacob was succeeded by Lee Frederick Nichols (L.F. Nichols), a layman from Michigan with two decades of hospital administration experience.⁶⁴ He was soon joined by Ross R. Borders, a former Navy officer and seasoned fiscal expert, who took over as the hospital’s business manager.⁶⁵

Upon his arrival, Nichols publicly pledged to continue the hospital’s support for SWAP, stating he wanted to be “as active as my job allows” in stabilizing the neighborhood.⁶⁶ The hospital also sought to expand its services, applying for federal funds to construct a community mental health center on its campus. However, bureaucratic failures by Fulton County caused the project to miss a critical 1971 federal grant deadline, stalling the expansion.⁶⁷

Despite Nichols’ early civic engagement, his tenure would soon be defined not by neighborhood stabilization, but by a catastrophic breakdown in internal labor relations. The very racial inequities that SWAP was fighting in the streets were festering within the hospital’s own administrative hierarchy, setting the stage for an explosive confrontation.

Chapter 4: Strike Fever and the Battle for Holy Family (1972–1974)

By 1972, the demographic realities of Holy Family Hospital stood in stark contrast to its power structure. While the medical staff was highly integrated, the hospital’s administration, now led by L.F. Nichols and his executive team, along with the clerical staff and Board of Trustees, remained overwhelmingly white.⁶⁸ Frustrated by racist employment practices, unequal pay, and a lack of upward mobility, Black employees at Holy Family began organizing to form a union.

The trouble began brewing on Valentine’s Day, 1972, when Administrator Nichols received a telegram from a group of employees stating their intentions to bring the hospital staff under a union.⁶⁹ An initial union vote was held, but the dissidents were defeated by a margin of 188 to 28. The losers immediately claimed the election was rigged by the administration.⁷⁰ Tensions boiled over on March 13, 1972, when twelve Black employees were laid off. Nichols publicly claimed the layoffs were temporary and due to a lack of patients in the hospital’s five-bed intensive care unit, insisting that only nine employees out of a staff of 357 were involved in the protest.⁷¹ The workers, however, maintained they were fired in direct retaliation for their organizing activities.

The dismissals sparked a fierce labor dispute that soon captured the attention of the city. On March 16, workers formally demanded Nichols’ resignation.⁷² On March 23, when four of the fired women attempted to approach Nichols to demand reinstatement and fair elections for an employee committee, Nichols refused to acknowledge them and immediately called the police, resulting in their arrest. When Nichols ordered the arrest of additional strikers on April 20, the protest expanded beyond the hospital’s campus. The following day, picketers descended upon the Citizens & Southern (C&S) National Bank, targeting Paul F. Brown, a bank vice-president who simultaneously served as the chairman of Holy Family’s Board of Trustees. Activists publicly accused the board of trying to close the hospital because they had not paid the mortgage in 18 months.⁷³

Recognizing that the workers were battling the same entrenched systemic inequalities they had fought in the 1960s, veteran civil rights leaders rushed to support the hospital staff. Hosea Williams, operating independently through the DeKalb-Metro Atlanta branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), joined forces with Reverend Joe Boone of the Metro Atlanta Summit Leadership Conference, Al McClure of the NAACP, and Reverend Arthur Langford Jr. of the Free For All Baptist Church. Langford, who had previously baptized members at his church on Lynhurst Drive in nearby Lynn Valley, was a rising local leader whose involvement deeply connected the neighborhood’s spiritual anchors to the labor fight.

The striking workers organized under the banner of “Holy Family Employees for Better Working Conditions,” led by registered nurse Patricia Ivey. They issued a strict three-point list of demands: immediate reinstatement with back pay and expunged records, the merging of the hospital’s grievance committee with their own representatives, and a fair election for an employee leadership group. Hospital counsel Alex W. Smith publicly dismissed Hosea Williams as a “chronic, pathological liar,” claiming the hospital had already offered to return the employees to work. Sister Jane Pellowski, representing the Medical Mission Sisters, declined to comment in depth but dismissed the picketers’ claims as “propaganda” that “any person in his right mind could not believe.”⁷⁴

Seven weeks into the strike, the civil rights leaders escalated the protest by erecting a tent on the hospital grounds, initiating a highly publicized fast and prayer vigil on April 27. “We are following in the footsteps of Rev. Martin Luther King,” Boone proclaimed. “We are taking the necessary step to drive the devil out of Holy Family Hospital.”⁷⁵

The medical staff, led by Chief of Staff Dr. Bernard Bridges, found themselves caught in the middle. Composed of 80 percent Black physicians, the medical staff issued a statement supporting the employees’ basic right to air grievances but “unalterably opposed” any actions that threatened the closure of the hospital.⁷⁶ Hosea Williams, however, was uncompromising, publicly demanding that if the Catholic Church closed the facility, they must “donate it to the black community for reparations.”⁷⁷

The Shootings and the Indictment
The demonstration took a violent and nearly tragic turn on the evening of April 27, 1972. As activists gathered at the encampment, gunfire erupted from a passing vehicle. Reverend Arthur Langford Jr. and long-time Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizer Willie Ricks were both shot and wounded.⁷⁸ The shooting sent shockwaves through the community, exacerbated by an anonymous and violently racist call to the police reporting “two dead [n-words] down there.”⁷⁹

The violent escalation forced the hands of both the hospital administration and the city’s moderate political establishment. Faced with a rapidly deteriorating public image and mounting civil unrest, the hospital’s Board of Trustees agreed to mediation led by Reverend Andrew Young, then serving as the chairman of Mayor Sam Massell’s Community Relations Commission. On May 1, 1972, a settlement was finally reached. The hospital agreed to rehire the striking workers, providing them with full back pay drawn from a community donation fund rather than hospital coffers. The hospital also conceded to allow employees to vote again on forming a grievance committee or joining a labor union in June.⁸⁰

However, the true bombshell dropped two days later. On May 3, the Board of Trustees abruptly suspended Administrator Lee Nichols, Comptroller Homer Brisendine, and Executive Secretary Mrs. George Yarian. The board’s attorney, Alex Smith, revealed that Atlanta police had informed them that “members of the administration had some knowledge about the shooting.”⁸¹

The situation escalated from a labor dispute to a criminal scandal. On Friday, May 5, 1972, a Fulton County grand jury formally indicted Administrator Lee F. Nichols on two charges of aggravated assault for the shootings of Ricks and Langford, as well as a charge of carrying a pistol without a license. Nichols surrendered himself to Fulton County Sheriff Leroy Stynchcombe and was released on a $5,000 bond.⁸²

The Trials of Lee Nichols
The legal proceedings against Lee Nichols were protracted and highly controversial. His first trial in late November 1972 was a sensational affair that laid bare the chaotic events of April 27. Testimonies revealed that Nichols, Comptroller Brisendine, and two private security bodyguards, Sgt. William S. McCord and George Ray Wright, were riding in a car near the encampment on the night of the shooting. Wright testified that Nichols was “pretty heavily intoxicated.”

According to the dramatic courtroom testimony of both Brisendine and McCord, Nichols held a pistol out of the rear window of the car. Brisendine testified that he heard at least one shot, turned, and saw Nichols facing the window. Brisendine claimed he grabbed Nichols, pulled him back, and demanded the gun, which he then took away.⁸³ Nichols took the stand in his own defense, flatly denying the shooting. He claimed he had turned down a drink because his stomach was upset, and testified that someone else had laid a pistol on a table in his office earlier that day, but that he had not touched it.⁸⁴

Despite the testimonies of his own staff and bodyguards, the first trial ended in confusion. On December 1, 1972, the all-white Fulton County jury deadlocked. Contemporary newspaper reports offered conflicting accounts of the exact verdict. Some claimed he was acquitted of assault but deadlocked on the weapons charge, while later reports clarified that the jury had deadlocked 6-6 on the aggravated assault charges, resulting in a mistrial.⁸⁵

Because of the mistrial, Nichols faced a second trial in January 1974. Once again, bodyguard William McCord took the stand, testifying under oath that he heard shots, turned around, and saw Nichols holding a gun out the window of the car. Nichols again took the stand to deny the charges. This time, an all-white jury deliberated for less than 90 minutes before fully acquitting the former administrator of all charges.⁸⁶ Outraged by the criminal acquittals, Arthur Langford Jr. filed a $150,000 civil lawsuit against Nichols and Holy Family Hospital in March 1974, seeking punitive and exemplary damages.⁸⁷

While the subsequent union vote in June 1972 ultimately failed by a margin of 167 to 79,⁸⁸ Hosea Williams declared the overall strike a watershed moment: “The Holy Family victory should say to the power structure of Atlanta that poor people won’t take it anymore.”⁸⁹ The strike at Holy Family served as a catalyst for a wave of wildcat strikes across Atlanta throughout 1972, but for the hospital itself, the racial strife and the shocking indictment of its administrator had permanently fractured the Catholic institution’s standing in the community.

Chapter 5: A Secular Rebirth and the Fight for Expansion (1973–1984)

The public relations disaster of the 1972 strike necessitated a fundamental reimagining of the hospital’s identity. Following Nichols’ suspension and indictment, Dr. Bernard Bridges was appointed acting administrator of the hospital, marking a profound shift in power.⁹⁰ By late 1972, the hospital brought in entirely new executive leadership, hiring Arnett W. Mumford of New Orleans as the new administrator, with Dewey L. Smith Jr. as his assistant and Robert M. Neal as comptroller.⁹¹

The Catholic Medical Mission Sisters recognized that their era of stewardship had ended. In October 1972, as a parting philanthropic gesture, the Sisters donated a $15,000 savings certificate with accrued interest to establish a scholarship and loan fund for hospital employees and local residents studying for careers in medicine.⁹² In April 1973, the Medical Mission Sisters formally transferred sponsorship of the hospital to the local community. Reverend Elias Hardge, the newly elected vice president of the board, noted that the ultimate goal was to make this the best health facility in the area.⁹³

The Transition to Southwest Community Hospital
By late 1973, the transition of power was complete. The hospital’s Board of Directors underwent a total turnover, electing a slate of prominent Black civic and business leaders. Ed Lomax, a pioneering Black commercial chemist who had served on the board since 1970, was named president. Joseph Limardo was named vice president, Dr. James B. Ellison as treasurer, and Rev. Elias S. Hardge Jr. as secretary. Paul F. Brown, the white bank executive who had been the target of the 1972 pickets, was relegated to immediate past president.⁹⁴⁹⁵ The activists who had bled on the hospital’s grounds also saw their stars rise. In October 1973, Arthur Langford Jr., leveraging his civil rights fame from the Holy Family shooting, was elected to the Atlanta City Council at the age of 24.⁹⁶ Langford’s meteoric rise would later be marred by a 1979 federal indictment for extortion and perjury, though he maintained his innocence, viewing the ordeal as a test of his religious faith.⁹⁷

To formalize this new era, the hospital hosted a festive anniversary picnic on its lawn on October 26, 1974. A crowd of 1,000 people gathered to enjoy music from the Southwest High School Band, horseback riding, and softball. During the celebration, Paul Brown dedicated a large plaque honoring the Medical Mission Sisters, specifically Sisters Estelle Demers, Miriam Hoover, Jane Pellowski, and Rita Engelhardt, for their foundational contributions. It was then announced that, effective January 1, 1975, the facility would officially be renamed Southwest Community Hospital.⁹⁸

Under its new identity, the hospital thrived as a vital epicenter of Black medical excellence and civic engagement. The medical staff was anchored by titans of the Black medical community, such as Dr. Clinton Ellsworth Warner Jr., who served as Chief of Surgery at Southwest and was instrumental in founding the Morehouse School of Medicine.⁹⁹ In January 1975, Dr. William Holmes Borders Jr. was elected Chief of Staff, succeeding Dr. James Densler.¹⁰⁰ The hospital’s board of trustees continued to attract Atlanta’s most influential civic and religious leaders, including R.F. Gammans Jr., who was elected board president in 1977, and the Rev. Dr. Walter L. Kimbrough Sr., the renowned pastor of Cascade United Methodist Church.¹⁰¹¹⁰²

The hospital continued to achieve remarkable medical milestones. In January 1974, Dr. James F. Densler performed a pioneering and delicate liver operation (biliary atresia) on a seven-month-old infant, saving her life without the need to travel to Tokyo, where the procedure had been pioneered.¹⁰³¹⁰⁴

The hospital also became deeply embedded in the civic fabric of Atlanta. It served as a training ground for the Atlanta Job Corps Center,¹⁰⁵ and its physicians, such as Dr. G. Fraser Williams, routinely partnered with the Medical Association of Atlanta to host free neighborhood health education forums.¹⁰⁶ The hospital’s leadership fiercely protected its environment. In 1975, Chief of Staff Dr. W.H. Borders Jr. successfully lobbied against placing a MARTA rapid transit station directly on Sewell Road, arguing the vehicular traffic would adversely impact the hospital’s operations.¹⁰⁷ The hospital even employed Tandi Gcabashe, the daughter of Nobel Peace Prize-winning South African anti-apartheid leader Albert Luthuli, before she transitioned to full-time international human rights work.¹⁰⁸

Southwest Community Hospital also demonstrated a willingness to police its own ranks to maintain high medical standards. In May 1975, the hospital’s administration suspended the privileges of Dr. Roosevelt Peter Jackson after an internal audit revealed he had failed to properly maintain medical records and had a high rate of surgical complications. The suspension proved prescient. A year later, Dr. Jackson was exposed in a major journalistic investigation for indiscriminately prescribing highly addictive Quaaludes to young drug abusers out of his private practice, a scandal that rocked the local medical community and ultimately led to his imprisonment.¹⁰⁹¹¹⁰

Because of its reputation, the hospital continued to be the preferred facility for Atlanta’s Black political elite. In May 1975, State Senator Julian Bond was admitted to Southwest Community Hospital for a series of medical tests.¹¹¹ A month later, Bernard Lee, the executive vice president of the SCLC and former constant companion to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was hospitalized there for severe pleurisy.¹¹² In 1978, State Representative David Scott was also admitted for observation.¹¹³

The Bitter Fight for Expansion
As the 1970s gave way to the 1980s, Southwest Community Hospital found itself bursting at the seams. By 1978, the 125-bed facility boasted a 95 percent occupancy rate (excluding the maternity ward) and a highly skilled staff of over 100 Black doctors. The hospital desperately needed to expand, proposing a $13.9 million, 75-bed addition that would also serve as a vital teaching facility for the newly founded Morehouse School of Medicine.¹¹⁴¹¹⁵

However, the hospital faced a massive bureaucratic roadblock. The State Health Planning and Development Agency (SHPDA), led by Director Patricia Leet, formally rejected the expansion proposal. The state argued that there were already 1,100 unoccupied hospital beds within a 10-mile radius of Southwest Atlanta, making the expansion economically unjustifiable.¹¹⁶

The state’s rejection ignited a firestorm of political backlash. Civil rights leaders, local politicians, and journalists publicly condemned the moratorium as an act of institutionalized racism. State Representative Henrietta Canty, whose district included the hospital, argued that the state’s rigid numbers ignored the real economics and social realities of Atlanta. She pointed out that forcing poor Black Atlantans to travel 15 to 20 miles to predominantly white, suburban hospitals placed an undue burden on families without reliable transportation.¹¹⁷¹¹⁸

Prominent civil rights leader Charles H. King Jr. echoed this sentiment, arguing that the empty beds in other facilities were the direct result of massive white flight of the 1960s. Denying Southwest the right to expand, he argued, was a deliberate discriminatory act that punished Black patients and prevented Black doctors from exercising their professional skills in their own communities.¹¹⁹ Dr. Frank S. Royal, incoming president of the National Medical Association (NMA), publicly lambasted the regulatory boards, citing Southwest’s struggle as a prime example of how health planning agencies acted as barriers to bringing care into Black neighborhoods.¹²⁰ Atlanta Constitution editor Hal Gulliver penned multiple editorials lambasting the state agency for its lack of imagination, noting that Southwest Community Hospital was a unique institution serving a specific demographic, and that its partnership with the Morehouse Medical School was too important to be derailed by rigid bureaucratic formulas.¹²¹¹²²

To circumvent the state’s financial roadblocks, the Fulton County Commission even explored creating a special hospital authority specifically to issue tax-exempt bonds to help private hospitals like Southwest finance their expansions independently.¹²³

The 1981 Bond Rollercoaster
The political pressure eventually forced the North Central Georgia Health Systems Agency to concede. In early 1981, the agency approved Southwest’s expansion, allowing the hospital to add a 12-bed psychiatric unit and renovate its emergency room, setting a precedent that statistical breakdowns of excess beds in white hospitals did not adequately serve Black communities.¹²⁴¹²⁵ On May 31, 1981, Mayor Maynard Jackson joined hospital officials for a triumphant groundbreaking ceremony for the new wing.¹²⁶

However, the victory was short-lived. Despite the political green light, the financial markets balked. Administrator Richard Green and the hospital’s board faced what appeared to be institutional redlining. The hospital attempted to sell $13.9 million in municipal bonds to finance the construction, but major national banks (including Bank of America and Chase Manhattan) and local Atlanta banks (such as C&S and Citizens Trust) refused to provide the necessary letters of credit to underwrite the bonds. Even after the hospital hired the Hospital Corporation of America to manage its operations and secured a BBB+ rating from Standard & Poor’s, traditional underwriters still passed. By October 1981, the expansion was declared dead in the water.¹²⁷

Then, a miraculous turnaround occurred. In December 1981, First Citizens Municipal Corp, an Atlanta-based brokerage house, stepped in to market the bonds through a network of independent brokers. To attract investors, they offered the bonds at a staggering 15 percent interest rate, the highest return for a municipal bond in Georgia history. The gamble worked; the high-yield bonds sold out rapidly, raising the necessary capital to save the project.¹²⁸

Yet, the drama was not over. Just hours before the formal agreement was to be signed on December 15, 1981, a $10 million malpractice lawsuit was filed against a group of staff physicians regarding a 62-year-old patient’s death, naming the hospital as a third party. The bond underwriters immediately postponed the signing, stalling the expansion once again.¹²⁹ Administrator Green also had to contend with internal administrative hurdles, inheriting a backlog of over $900,000 in patient refunds due to insurance overpayments that had to be cleared.¹³⁰

To keep the hospital afloat and fund necessary equipment during these delays, the community rallied. In March 1982, Southwest Community Hospital hosted its first formal fundraising ball at the Atlanta Apparel Mart, seeking to raise $40,000 for a portable ultrasound unit.¹³¹ The hospital also relied heavily on “FRIENDS of Southwest Community Hospital” (Fund Raising for Incentives, Education, Neighborhood and Departmental Services), a volunteer organization led by I. Owen Funderburg, president of Citizens Trust Bank, who took over the group in 1979 to ensure broad-based community support.¹³²

Despite these relentless obstacles, the hospital persevered. The financial and legal hurdles were eventually cleared. In 1983, the SHPDA issued a Certificate of Need for a new $1.15 million intensive care unit.¹³³ In January 1984, Southwest Community Hospital proudly dedicated its new 10-room intensive care unit. Mayor Andrew Young attended the dedication, praising the hospital officials for successfully expanding their facilities at a time when hospitals around the country were being forced to reduce offerings or close entirely.¹³⁴

Chapter 6: The Golden Era and the Community Anchor (1985–1999)

The mid-1980s represented a high-water mark for Southwest Community Hospital’s civic and medical influence. Following the successful dedication of the ICU, Administrator William L. Jackson announced an even more ambitious $8 million physical improvement program in December 1984. This included a new $5 million outpatient facility, a $200,000 emergency room renovation, and a $1.8 million professional office building that would serve as the base site for the Morehouse School of Medicine Family Practice Residency Program.¹³⁵ The hospital would share these residency training duties with the Hughes Spalding Pavilion, another historic Black medical facility that was undergoing its own revitalization.¹³⁶

The hospital’s leadership aggressively pursued new partnerships to ensure its financial viability. In August 1984, Southwest Community Hospital was selected to participate in a new Blue Cross “preferred provider” plan, a move Administrator Jackson hoped would significantly boost patient volume by offering discounted rates to the insurer.¹³⁷

The hospital also leaned into creative marketing, particularly for its maternity unit. Print advertisements boasted that Mayor Andrew Young’s son had been born at the facility, offering giveaways and a family-centric atmosphere to compete with larger downtown hospitals.¹³⁸ For the local community, the maternity ward was legendary. Decades later, mothers and children born at Southwest would fondly recall the exceptional care provided by doctors like Dr. Jule Pate Borders, and the luxurious touch of being served a celebratory steak dinner with wine in their rooms before being discharged.

A Pillar of the Community
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Southwest Community Hospital remained deeply intertwined with the daily lives and tragedies of Southwest Atlanta. The hospital’s emergency room continued to treat victims of local violence, industrial accidents, and major transit disasters, such as a July 1984 collision between a MARTA bus and a freight truck that sent nine passengers to Southwest for treatment.^139140141 The hospital also continued to care for prominent local figures, including J. Lowell Ware, the publisher of the Atlanta Voice, who recovered there after a heart attack in 1984,¹⁴² sports broadcaster Othello “Chico” Renfroe, who underwent emergency surgery there in 1980,¹⁴³ and pioneering Black journalist Alvin E. White, who passed away at the facility.¹⁴⁴

The hospital’s profound impact was perhaps best illustrated by the miraculous story of Anthony Williams. In June 1983, the 10-year-old Chicago boy nearly drowned in an Atlanta motel pool while on a school band trip. He was pulled from the water and rushed to Southwest Community Hospital in a deep coma. The hospital’s staff, led by public relations officer Jackie J. Jones, launched a massive fundraising drive to fly the comatose boy back to his family in Chicago. An anonymous North Atlanta woman donated $5,000 to charter a pressurized jet ambulance, and Anthony was successfully transferred.¹⁴⁵¹⁴⁶ Miraculously, the boy recovered, and in January 1984, he returned to Atlanta to help dedicate Southwest Community Hospital’s new intensive care unit, the very unit that had saved his life.¹⁴⁷

The hospital’s survival was also buoyed by a vibrant network of philanthropic women. The “Pink Ladies” auxiliary continued their tireless work. By 1984, octogenarians Irene Atkins and Ollie Connally were still volunteering weekly, pushing snack carts through the halls to cheer up patients and raise funds.¹⁴⁸ The Dogwood City Chapter of Links, Inc., a prominent Black women’s civic organization, adopted the hospital as a major beneficiary, hosting “Harlem Renaissance” galas that raised tens of thousands of dollars for the facility.¹⁴⁹¹⁵⁰ The hospital even engaged in community outreach during Halloween, offering free X-rays of children’s candy to ensure it had not been tampered with.¹⁵¹

As the 1980s closed, the community recognized that Southwest needed ongoing financial support. In 1989, Bunnie Jackson-Ransom, the former wife of Mayor Maynard Jackson, helped organize a major fundraiser featuring Martha Reeves and the Vandellas to raise $30,000 for a new drug-treatment center at the hospital. “The hospital is in trouble and this community just can’t sit by and let it die,” she urged.¹⁵² By 1991, the hospital was facing severe headwinds due to Medicare and Medicaid cuts. Administrator Herbert Weldon launched a “Senior Prom” fundraiser to raise $80,000, noting the hospital had lost millions in the late 1980s but was striving to turn a profit through sound financial management.¹⁵³

As the 1990s progressed, the hospital remained the closest and most vital facility for the residents of Adamsville and surrounding neighborhoods. When a horrific mass shooting claimed seven lives in an Adamsville home in July 1999, community leaders lamented that Southwest was their only nearby medical lifeline.¹⁵⁴ The hospital’s staff was frequently praised by the community. In 1996, patient Angela Patterson publicly commended the ER and ICU staff, specifically Dr. Wendell Hackney, Dr. Awok Essien, Dr. Clyde Lord, and Dr. Jewell Fortenberry, for saving her life during an emergency surgery, urging the community to give this hospital a little more credit and recognition like we do other hospitals.¹⁵⁵ Local residents echoed this sentiment for years, remembering the exceptional care from doctors like Dr. Essien, who delivered countless babies, and the overall feeling of being treated like family.

The Passing of the Pioneers and Rising Financial Strain
However, the hospital also suffered profound losses during this era, mourning the deaths of foundational leaders like Dr. G. Fraser Williams, Dr. Howard Golden, and former Chief of Staff Dr. Otis T. Hammonds.^156157158 In 1993, the legendary civil rights leader Rev. William Holmes Borders Sr. passed away at Southwest Community Hospital at the age of 88.¹⁵⁹ In 1996, the hospital lost Dr. Nelson McGhee Jr., the former interim president of Morehouse School of Medicine who had co-founded the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia in 1972.¹⁶⁰ In 1997, pioneering real estate broker H.M. Holmes Jr. passed away at the facility,¹⁶¹ followed in 1998 by Dr. John Thomas Blasingame Jr., a surgeon who had helped integrate Georgia Baptist Medical Center in the 1960s before treating patients at Southwest.¹⁶²

Furthermore, the hospital faced continued regulatory battles. A joint venture with the Psychiatric Institute of America to build a 72-bed psychiatric wing was repeatedly rejected by the State Health Planning Agency throughout the mid-1980s.¹⁶³¹⁶⁴ In 1988, when the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority voted to close the historic Hughes Spalding Medical Center, Fulton County Commission Chairman Michael Lomax suggested merging it with Southwest Community Hospital. Atlanta Constitution editor Cynthia Tucker noted at the time that while Hughes Spalding was failing, Southwest Community Hospital was surviving precisely because it was located in a relatively affluent Black neighborhood.¹⁶⁵¹⁶⁶

Yet, the financial landscape was shifting ominously. The passage of the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) dealt a severe blow to the hospital’s finances. The legislation slashed Medicare reimbursements, costing Southwest Community Hospital $800,000 in a single year and forcing painful job cuts. Though the hospital managed to maintain a positive bottom line in the immediate aftermath, CEO Marie Cameron grimly noted the systemic threat: “If Congress’ intent is to close hospitals, they’re doing a pretty good job.”¹⁶⁷

Chapter 7: Bankruptcy, Resurrection, and Final Legacy (2000–2026)

Despite its hard-won expansions and its critical importance to the residents of Southwest Atlanta, the hospital struggled to maintain its financial footing as the American healthcare industry underwent massive corporatization in the 1990s and early 2000s. Serving a largely working-class and elderly demographic, Southwest Hospital relied heavily on government funding. As Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements shrank, staffing shortages worsened, and malpractice insurance costs rose, the hospital faced fierce competition from massive, heavily capitalized hospital networks operating in Atlanta’s affluent northern suburbs.

The hospital also lost its longest-serving advocates. In 2000, Eddie Lomax, the trailblazing chemist who had guided the hospital’s board through its tumultuous secularization in the 1970s, passed away from cancer.¹⁶⁸ Tragedy also struck the hospital’s own staff. In April 2001, Antonio Stephney, 41, was shot to death in his car in East Point while driving to his shift at Southwest Community Hospital.¹⁶⁹

To keep the struggling institution afloat, the hospital relied on creative financing from local Black-owned businesses. Capitol City Bank & Trust, led by George Andrews, viewed saving the hospital as a vital part of inner-city revitalization and provided crucial financial lifelines during these lean years.¹⁷⁰

The financial strain culminated in the fall of 2004. On September 9, 2004, Southwest Hospital and Medical Center, Inc. officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Northern District of Georgia, carrying a staggering $25 million debt.¹⁷¹ The final blow came when the government was forced to delay payments for the treatment of Medicaid and uninsured patients, the very core of Southwest’s demographic.¹⁷² By early January 2005, the hospital’s census had dwindled to a mere 32 patients.¹⁷³ Unable to sustain operations, the hospital officially closed its doors on January 8, 2005. At the time of its closure, fewer than one-third of its beds were occupied, and its equipment was severely outdated.¹⁷⁴

For the residents of Southwest Atlanta, the closure was a devastating blow. The community lost not only a medical facility but a profound source of Black pride. Former patients and employees mourned the loss of the pristine halls, the legendary cafeteria food, and the comforting presence of a hospital where they felt truly seen and respected.

The 2005 Community Rally and Legacy Medical Center
The closure of Southwest Community Hospital served as a massive wake-up call for Atlanta’s Black medical and civic establishment. In the spring of 2005, a grassroots movement swelled to resurrect the facility. Johnnie Clark, the chairwoman of the hospital’s board of trustees, delivered a powerful admonition to a new generation of younger, affluent Black doctors who had trained at Southwest but moved on to richer hospitals. She reminded them that Southwest had hired Black doctors when white institutions refused, and that they were now letting a vital piece of their heritage die. “You owe some rent,” Clark told the physicians, “and you ought to pay.”¹⁷⁵

The message resonated deeply. Dr. Michael Smith, an Atlanta heart and lung surgeon, and Dr. Christopher Edwards, backed by the Atlanta Medical Association, spearheaded an effort to buy and rebuild the hospital. “Before, it was an orphan. Now everybody wants to adopt it,” Smith noted. The movement drew massive public support, culminating in a rally of over 1,000 people at Frederick Douglass High School. Aaron Turpeau, a local businessman, solicited funds to print 400 T-shirts reading “Southwest Community Hospital: Support Our New Start.” The rally was attended by Mayor Shirley Franklin, State Attorney General Thurbert Baker, and baseball legend Henry Aaron, who headed the promotional committee.¹⁷⁶

The doctors’ group successfully merged their capital with an investment firm, and the hospital was briefly resurrected as a for-profit venture. By 2006, the facility at 501 Fairburn Road S.W. had reopened its 125 beds under a new name: Legacy Medical Center of Atlanta.¹⁷⁷ In April 2008, under the leadership of CEO Sandra Crayton and Chief of Staff Dr. Lynn Weaver, the hospital opened a new Urgent Care Center to fill the “doctor gap” in South Fulton, offering quick, low-cost primary care to the community.¹⁷⁸

The Final Closure and the Fate of the Wilson House
Unfortunately, the resurrection was short-lived. The systemic financial challenges of operating an independent, community-based hospital in a modern, consolidated healthcare market proved too great. In January 2009, citing insurmountable credit market conditions, Legacy Medical Center closed its doors permanently, ending over 40 years of continuous medical service at the Fairburn Road site.¹⁷⁹

The bankruptcy proceedings were protracted and painful, pulling back the curtain on the hospital’s desperate final attempts to remain solvent. A court-appointed Liquidating Agent, J. Michael Weathers, was tasked with unraveling the hospital’s tangled finances. Court records from 2007 highlight the bitter disputes that characterized the liquidation. In one such adversary proceeding, Weathers sued Precision Anesthesia & Associates, LLC to recover $81,700 in “voidable preferences,” payments the struggling hospital had made to the anesthesia group in the 90 days immediately preceding the bankruptcy filing. On June 13, 2007, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge James E. Massey ruled in favor of the hospital’s estate, ordering the anesthesia group to return the funds with interest, noting the vendor had “no colorable defense” for keeping the preferential payouts while other creditors went unpaid.¹⁸⁰

The physical structure and the institutional memory, however, refused to die entirely. In 2013, Arberg Properties LLC, managed by Eric Riesenberg, purchased the 75-acre tract. In October 2014, the renovated main hospital property found new life, reopening as the Atlanta Center for Medical Research (ACMR). The $25 million renovation transformed the facility into a 150,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art research center with 300 inpatient beds dedicated to clinical trials.¹⁸¹¹⁸² Under the leadership of CEO Eric Riesenberg, the facility, later known as CenExel ACMR, would go on to play a critical public health role, administering COVID-19 vaccines to the underserved Southwest Atlanta population during the 2021 pandemic.¹⁸³

Tragically, the historic Wilson House, the 1850s antebellum mansion that had served as the nursing nuns’ residence during the hospital’s founding, did not survive the transition. Following the hospital’s closure, the mansion fell into severe neglect. Vines overtook the structure, the foundation crumbled, and the roof partially collapsed. Despite the efforts of the Atlanta Preservation Center and local Neighborhood Planning Unit H (NPU H) to save the building, the stabilization costs were deemed too high. In January 2016, acting on a city demolition order citing severe safety hazards, the historic Wilson House was flattened into a pile of rubble. NPU H proposed turning the site into a community green space to honor its history, preserving the memory of the home where local children once slid down the grand banister and where a mysterious Civil War carving reading “Death to all traitors” once adorned a column.¹⁸⁴¹⁸⁵

A Lasting Legacy and a New Neighborhood
The community refused to let the legacy of the Catholic Colored Clinic, Holy Family, and Southwest Hospital fade into obscurity. Recognizing the generations of Black physicians who fought for equality and provided care when white institutions turned them away, the City of Atlanta took formal steps to honor the site’s history. On January 31, 2017, Mayor Kasim Reed, alongside City Councilmember C.T. Martin and Parks Commissioner Amy Phuong, broke ground on “Doctors Memorial Park.” Located adjacent to the historic hospital grounds at 500 Fairburn Road SW, the park was dedicated to the physicians and activists who, through decades of strikes, struggles, and selfless service, secured the wellbeing of Southwest Atlanta.

The monument permanently etched the names of the institution’s foundational medical pioneers into the landscape. The honored roster included Dr. Albert Davis, Dr. Otis Smith, Dr. Clinton Warner, Dr. Booker Poe, Dr. Asa Yancey, Dr. Lee Shelton, Dr. James Densler, Dr. John Hall, Dr. Warner Meadows Jr., and Dr. Bernard Bridges. Through the fierce advocacy of local residents and historians, the city was also urged to include other vital legends of the hospital’s history, such as Dr. James Palmer, Dr. Delutha King, Dr. Herbert Jones Sr., and Dr. Calvin McClarin.¹⁸⁶

The human legacy of the hospital outlasted its brick and mortar, carried forward by the very pioneers honored in the park. In 2012, Dr. Clinton Ellsworth Warner Jr., the pioneering Chief of Surgery at Southwest and a founding member of the Morehouse School of Medicine, passed away at the age of 88, leaving behind a monumental legacy of medical excellence.¹⁸⁷

On September 7, 2024, Dr. Lee Raymond Shelton, the pioneering surgeon who had helped desegregate Holy Family Hospital in the 1960s and ran its emergency room for decades, passed away at his home at the age of 96. Just a year prior, in 2023, officials had tracked Dr. Shelton down to award him the Congressional Gold Medal for his service as one of the original Montford Point Marines. A quiet, private man who had arranged to donate his body to science, Dr. Shelton’s passing marked the end of an era.¹⁸⁸¹⁸⁹

The following year, on August 31, 2025, the community mourned the loss of Dr. Booker Taliaferro Washington Poe at the age of 89. Born in Eustis, Florida, Dr. Poe’s determination was evident early on; he spent his high school summers traveling to Atlanta to take biology and chemistry classes at Booker T. Washington High School because those courses were not offered to Black students in his hometown. After graduating from Meharry Medical College and serving as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, where he met Muhammad Ali, Dr. Poe moved to Atlanta in 1969. He became a tireless advocate for health equity, spearheading the fight to establish the EPSDT Medicaid program in Georgia and helping pass the state’s pediatric seat belt law. Named Father of the Year in Medicine by the Concerned Black Clergy of Atlanta in 2000, Dr. Poe left behind a legacy of treating poor patients with unwavering dignity.¹⁹⁰

By 2024, the vast 75-acre campus that once housed the hospital began its final physical transformation. D.R. Horton, through its land development arm Forestar Real Estate Group, acquired the excess parcels surrounding the medical research center, specifically 495 Sewell Road and Richard Allen Drive. The city issued land development permits for the construction of 110 new townhomes.¹⁹¹ By 2026, the site had been reborn as “Ashwood Springs,” a vibrant residential community sharing the historic footprint with the CenExel research center.¹⁹² Where nuns once walked and civil rights leaders once picketed, a new generation of Atlantans now makes their home, ensuring that the hallowed grounds of Southwest Hospital will continue to serve the community for decades to come.

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• Coffin, Alex. “Sewell Road Tract Okayed For Housing as 400 Protest.” The Atlanta Constitution, November 10, 1967, 1.
• Coleman, George M. “Holy Family Hospital Was Planned To Benefit Negro.” Atlanta Daily World, March 17, 1972, 1.
• Coleman, George M. “Leadership Role Of Doctors Aired At Clinic Dedication.” Atlanta Daily World, June 21, 1955, 1.
• Coleman, George M. “Needed Funds Was Key Trouble Of Hospital.” Atlanta Daily World, March 24, 1972, 1.
• Corvette, David, and Gary Hendricks. “Fulton funds Grady planning, withholds commitment on renovation.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 13, 1988, A14.
• Cyriaque, Jeanne, ed. “The Gate City as a Hub for Medical Services: Healthcare for African Americans in Atlanta.” Reflections: Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network 10, no. 1 (July 2011): 1-8.
• D.R. Horton. “Ashwood Springs.” Accessed July 21, 2026.
• Davis, Edwina. “Hospitals, Unlike Topsy, Don’t ‘Just Grow’.” The Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, January 25, 1959, 1E.
• Davis, Mark. “southern history – Antebellum home in a battle for life.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 2, 2015, D1.
• Davis, Mark, and Katie Leslie. “ARCHITECTURE – 1850s Atlanta mansion razed.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 4, 2016, D1.
• Davis, Yusuf. “AROUND TOWN – Gallery honors its supporters.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 26, 1998, JD1.
• Dickerson, Jeff. “Black Atlantans Hear the Call to Help Fight Poverty.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 3, 1989, A20.
• Diehl, Bill. “Hearts and Purses Opened For Stricken Baby Here.” The Atlanta Constitution, January 29, 1954, 1.
• Diehl, Bill. “Hospital Red Tape Imperils Baby’s Life.” The Atlanta Constitution, January 28, 1954, 1.
• Dolman, Joe. “After Meteoric Rise, Langford Faces Crisis.” The Atlanta Constitution, January 28, 1979, 1B.
• Earl, Francine. “SOUTHWEST COMMUNITY HOSPITAL’S FATE WILL BE DECIDED SEPT. 27.” Atlanta Daily World, September 14, 1978, 1.
• Fleming, Martha G. “Southwest Community Hospital’s Expansion Plans Win Approval.” Atlanta Daily World, April 21, 1978, 1.
• GlobeNewswire. “CenExel ACMR Offers Public Vaccinations for COVID-19 in Atlanta, Georgia.” April 20, 2021.
• Granum, Rex. “Gun Linked to Hospital Manager.” The Atlanta Constitution, November 29, 1972, 15A.
• Gray, Jim. “Guard Testifies to Seeing Nichols Pointing Pistol.” The Atlanta Constitution, January 30, 1974, 5A.
• Gray, Jim. “Nichols Acquitted In 2 Shootings.” The Atlanta Constitution, January 31, 1974, 23A.
• Grayburn, Kathryn. “New German Consul’s Wife Gives Formal Luncheon in Her Penthouse.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 10, 1966, 18.
• Grillo, Jerry. “Banking On A Sense Of Place.” Georgia Trend, June 1, 2004, 16.
• Gulliver, Hal. “Decision Needs To Be Reviewed.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 13, 1978, 4A.
• Gulliver, Hal. “Needs for Southwest Hospital.” The Atlanta Constitution, August 1, 1978, 4A.
• Hardy, Annie Lou. “Jagels To Entertain Alumni of Lehigh.” The Atlanta Constitution, July 21, 1955, 23.
• Harvey, Steve. “Borders, civil rights leader dies at 88.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 25, 1993, E1.
• Henderson, Barry. “Gunman Warns of Death–Then Is Badly Wounded by Storekeeper.” The Atlanta Constitution, May 7, 1974, 19A.
• Henderson, Tom. “It’s Touch and Go For Little N’Akeba.” The Atlanta Constitution, May 10, 1974, 8A.
• Hendricks, Gary. “Commission Eyes Hospital Authority.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 19, 1978, 1C.
• Holmes, Steven. “Rep. Scott Claims He’s ‘Worried’ By Opponent’s Tactics.” The Atlanta Constitution, July 27, 1978, 1C.
• Horn, Elaine. “Daughter Follows in Nobel Prize-Winning Father’s Footsteps.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 22, 1981, D9.
• Ibata, David. “SW Atlanta park to honor hospital’s doctors.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 22, 2016.
• In re: Southwest Hospital and Medical Center, Inc., Case No. 04-74967, Adversary No. 06-6381. United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division. June 13, 2007.
• Jaynes, Gregory. “Nichols Charged in Shooting.” The Atlanta Constitution, May 4, 1972, 1A.
• Justus, Lucy. “OUR CROWDED HOSPITALS: Shortages of Nurses, Beds or Personnel Likely to Intensify When Medicare Starts.” The Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, May 1, 1966, SM8.
• King, Charles H. Jr. “Expand Southwest Hospital.” The Atlanta Constitution, January 15, 1980, 5A.
• Krueger, Bill. “Hospital $836,000 Behind In Claims.” The Atlanta Constitution, December 17, 1981, 49A.
• Lamar, Hal. “S.W. Hospital’s New ICU Wing Dedicated.” Atlanta Daily World, January 19, 1984, 1.
• Langway, Lynn. “Boys Hunt Fun, Find Death.” The Atlanta Constitution, May 1, 1967, 24.
• Larkin, Amy. “Our Purported Letter From Nun Was False.” The Atlanta Constitution, July 3, 1965, 17.
• Le, Cuong. “Southern Hospitality and Care: The Story of Atlanta’s Hospitals.” Healthcare and Medical News for Atlanta Physicians, November 22, 2019.
• Lieberman, Paul, and Jim Stewart. “Quaalude Medic To Leave Prison Licensed.” The Atlanta Constitution, December 29, 1978, 1C.
• Linthicum, Tom. “Fulton Misses on Aid For Mental Health Unit.” The Atlanta Constitution, April 8, 1971, 10A.
• Markiewicz, David. “Life sciences industry growing Georgia roots.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 21, 2014, D1.
• McCarthy, Rebecca. “Dr. Lee Shelton blazed paths from Marines to hospitals.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Web Edition Articles, September 21, 2024.
• McCarthy, Rebecca. “Dr. Lee Shelton was one of first Black Marines.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 22, 2024, B11.
• Miller, Andy. “Medicare cuts: Industry taking a big hit.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 31, 1999, H1.
• Miller, Andy, and Patricia Guthrie. “Backgrounder: MEDICAID.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 13, 2005, C5.
• Miller, Pamela. “The Doctors Memorial Park opens in southwest Atlanta.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 27, 2017.
• Montgomery, Bill. “Compromise Seen In Hospital Dispute.” The Atlanta Constitution, March 19, 1972, 17B.
• Murphy, Reg, and Bob Hurt. “Ralph McGill Dies Here in 70th Year After Heart Attack.” The Atlanta Constitution, February 4, 1969, 1.
• Murray Brothers Funeral Home. “Booker T. Poe Obituary.” 2025.
• Newman, Evelyn L. “Southwest Hospital Wins Latest Expansion Battle.” Atlanta Daily World, January 17, 1980, 1.
• Orr, Sarah. “Borders Leaves As Hospital Chief.” The Atlanta Constitution, November 23, 1967, 13H.
• Patterson, Angela. “READERS’ LETTERS – Southwest Hospital was a life-saver.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 30, 1996, D10.
• PR Newswire. “Atlanta Center for Medical Research announces fall relocation to state-of-the-art research facility in southwest Atlanta.” July 9, 2014.
• Reeves, Alexis Scott. “Job Training Center Thanks Supporters.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 4, 1977, 7C.
• Reid, S.A. “Adamsville gathers itself.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 22, 1999, JD1.
• Rohrer, Bob. “New Face of Atlanta’s Government.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 17, 1973, 12A.
• Rohrer, Bob, and Jim Stewart. “3 Officials Suspended at Holy Family.” The Atlanta Constitution, May 3, 1972, 9A.
• Rutherford, Marjory. “All Hospitals Here Expect Approval.” The Atlanta Constitution, June 29, 1966, 3.
• Rutherford, Marjory. “‘Downtown’ Hospitals Holding Breath.” The Atlanta Constitution, June 24, 1966, 6.
• Rutherford, Marjory. “Today’s Expectant Mother Can Shop Around for Care.” The Atlanta Constitution, June 24, 1964, 21.
• Sailor, Ron. “Southwest Community Hosp. Overcame Many Obstacles.” Atlanta Daily World, November 23, 1978, 1.
• Sailor, Ron. “Southwest Community Hospital May Face Key Decision Monday.” Atlanta Daily World, October 8, 1978, 1.
• Schneider, Craig. “Community rallies to revive Southwest.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 27, 2005, C1.
• Scott, Kelleigh. “OBITUARIES – Dr. Nelson McGhee Jr., Morehouse medical school official.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 23, 1996, C8.
• Scott, Portia A. “Southwest Community Hospital Strives To Become Center Of Need, Excellence.” Atlanta Daily World, May 16, 1991, 1.
• Scott, Peter. “Southwest hospital dedicates new $900,000 care unit.” The Atlanta Constitution, January 26, 1984, 1D1.
• Scott-Brookins, Portia. “Community Supports Effort To Present 1st Charity Ball.” Atlanta Daily World, March 14, 1982, 3.
• Scott-Brookins, Portia. “Southwest Community Hospital Makes Ready For Second Charity Ball Here.” Atlanta Daily World, March 18, 1982, 1.
• Seddon, Bill. “Hospital Administrator Surrenders: Hospital Official Indicted in Shootings.” The Atlanta Constitution, May 6, 1972, 1A.
• Sherwood, Tom. “Mixing Called Up To Cascade Heights.” The Atlanta Constitution, June 23, 1967, 25.
• Sherwood, Tom. “State Open Housing Bill Promised Here.” The Atlanta Constitution, July 14, 1967, 6.
• South Metro Neighbor. “South Fulton research facility names new CEO.” June 2, 2018.
• Stephens, Gene. “Store Bandit Shot By Hidden Guard.” The Atlanta Constitution, February 25, 1971, 20C.
• Stephens, Gene. “Weekend Crime Swamps Atlanta.” The Atlanta Constitution, June 28, 1971, 9A.
• Stepp, Diane. “Hospital Beds Still No. 1 Need, Williams Says.” The Atlanta Constitution, February 21, 1967, 8.
• Stepp, Diane. “Singing Nun Makes Religion More Folksy.” The Atlanta Constitution, May 20, 1969, 8.
• Stewart, Jim, and Paul Lieberman. “Atlanta Doctor Supplies Abused Drug to Patients.” The Atlanta Constitution, July 12, 1976, 1A.
• Thomas, Diane. “Hospitals Planning 2,544 More Beds.” The Atlanta Constitution, April 18, 1966, 11.
• Tucker, Cynthia. “It’s past time for Hughes Spalding to find new role.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 26, 1988, A19.
• Washington, Alice H. “Christianity In Action Found At Catholic Colored Clinic.” Atlanta Daily World, January 22, 1950, 2.
• Waugh-Benton, Monica. “Strike Fever: Labor Unrest, Civil Rights and the Left in Atlanta, 1972.” Master’s thesis, Georgia State University, 2006.
• Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. “Southwest Atlanta Hospital.” Accessed July 20, 2026.
• Winter, Don. “Negro Home Painted Up–Race Incident or Prank?.” The Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, August 1, 1965, 43.
• Witherspoon, Roger. “Black Hospital Seeks $7.4 Million Revamp.” The Atlanta Constitution, February 2, 1981, 1C.
• Witherspoon, Roger. “Black Medical Leader Raps Hospital Regulator Boards.” The Atlanta Constitution, July 21, 1981, B1.
• Witherspoon, Roger. “Health Agency OKs Hospital Renovation.” The Atlanta Constitution, February 4, 1981, 2C.
• Witherspoon, Roger. “Hospital Expansion Fails.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 29, 1981, 1B.
• Witherspoon, Roger. “Malpractice Suit Stalls Hospital’s Expansion.” The Atlanta Constitution, December 18, 1981, 35A.
• Witherspoon, Roger. “Record High-Yield Bonds Being Sold By Black Hospital.” The Atlanta Constitution, December 11, 1981, 9C.
• Woodhead, Henry. “End of World Baby? —Just a Lot of Air.” The Atlanta Constitution, April 11, 1972, 8A.
• Wooten, Jim. “THINKING RIGHT: Chambliss, teacher pay, trust fund.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 7, 2005, A15.

1. Alice H. Washington, “Christianity In Action Found At Catholic Colored Clinic,” Atlanta Daily World, January 22, 1950, 2.
2. “Services Set Saturday For Dr. John R. Walker,” The Atlanta Constitution, April 1, 1977, 6F.
3. “Around Atlanta,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 12, 1941, 28.
4. Jeanne Cyriaque, ed., “The Gate City as a Hub for Medical Services: Healthcare for African Americans in Atlanta,” Reflections: Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network 10, no. 1 (July 2011): 1-8.
5. “Catholic Clinic For Negroes Is Expanded,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 22, 1942, 4.
6. “Mother Dengel Coming to Conduct Mission, Clinic,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 23, 1944, 5.
7. “Mother Dengel Coming to Conduct Mission, Clinic,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 23, 1944, 5.
8. “Open House Sunday For Colored Catholic Clinic,” Atlanta Daily World, March 11, 1948, 1.
9. “Catholic Clinic Aid Plans Are Announced,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 23, 1946, 23; “Catholic Clinic Helps Medical Needs Of Group: Surgical Ward Gets Sterilizer From Citizens,” Atlanta Daily World, January 20, 1946, 2.
10. “Catholic Colored Clinic Enlarges Its Services,” Atlanta Daily World, May 15, 1945, 5; “Silver Tea at Clinic,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 28, 1948, 5C; “Rummage Sale To Be Nov. 29,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 9, 1952, 5E.
11. “Colored Catholic Clinic Opens Membership Drive,” Atlanta Daily World, May 15, 1947, 5.
12. “Newly Organized Club At Catholic Clinic To Meet Sunday,” Atlanta Daily World, February 22, 1949, 3.
13. “Colored Catholic Clinic Launches Expansion Drive,” Atlanta Daily World, November 10, 1953, 2.
14. Bill Diehl, “Hospital Red Tape Imperils Baby’s Life,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 28, 1954, 1.
15. Bill Diehl, “Hearts and Purses Opened For Stricken Baby Here,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 29, 1954, 1.
16. “Sister Mary Jacob Again Heads Clinic,” The Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, January 16, 1955, 10B.
17. “Colored Clinic Officers Named,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 14, 1956, 35.
18. “Survey Need Of Hospitals Near City,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 18, 1955, 25.
19. “250-Bed Hospital Plans Told,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 5, 1959, 1.
20. Tina McElroy Ansa, “Southwest Atlanta Homes Survived War,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 1, 1979, 1B.
21. Edwina Davis, “Hospitals, Unlike Topsy, Don’t ‘Just Grow’,” The Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, January 25, 1959, 1E.
22. Edwina Davis, “Hospitals, Unlike Topsy, Don’t ‘Just Grow’,” The Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, January 25, 1959, 1E.
23. “McKenzie Leads Drive For Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 22, 1959, 43.
24. “Hospital Campaign Steering Committee Formulates Plans,” Atlanta Daily World, February 10, 1959, 1.
25. “Doctors Join Fund Drive For Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, February 19, 1959, 14.
26. “W. Fulton Hospital Granted a Million,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 6, 1962, 1.
27. “Catholics Let Pact for Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 4, 1962, 3.
28. “Catholics Integrate Hospitals: Archbishop Vows ‘Racial Justice’,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 23, 1963, 3.
29. Marjory Rutherford, “Today’s Expectant Mother Can Shop Around for Care,” The Atlanta Constitution, June 24, 1964, 21.
30. “Lockheed Fund Aids Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 18, 1964, 18.
31. Mark Davis, “southern history – Antebellum home in a battle for life,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 2, 2015, D1; Mark Davis and Katie Leslie, “ARCHITECTURE – 1850s Atlanta mansion razed,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 4, 2016, D1.
32. Marjory Rutherford, “All Hospitals Here Expect Approval,” The Atlanta Constitution, June 29, 1966, 3.
33. Marjory Rutherford, “‘Downtown’ Hospitals Holding Breath,” The Atlanta Constitution, June 24, 1966, 6.
34. Christena Bledsoe, “Hospital Integration: Don’t Rock the Boat,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 25, 1968, 6A.
35. “Catholics Integrate Hospitals: Archbishop Vows ‘Racial Justice’,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 23, 1963, 3.
36. “Lockheed Fund Aids Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 18, 1964, 18.
37. “130-Bed Catholic Hospital To Be Dedicated Tomorrow,” The Atlanta Constitution, September 12, 1964, 6.
38. “130-Bed Catholic Hospital To Be Dedicated Tomorrow,” The Atlanta Constitution, September 12, 1964, 6.
39. “NEW ADMINISTRATOR,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 10, 1964, 6.
40. Marjory Rutherford, “All Hospitals Here Expect Approval,” The Atlanta Constitution, June 29, 1966, 3; Marjory Rutherford, “‘Downtown’ Hospitals Holding Breath,” The Atlanta Constitution, June 24, 1966, 6.
41. Christena Bledsoe, “Hospital Integration: Don’t Rock the Boat,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 25, 1968, 6A.
42. Rebecca McCarthy, “Dr. Lee Shelton was one of first Black Marines,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 22, 2024, B11.
43. Rebecca McCarthy, “Dr. Lee Shelton blazed paths from Marines to hospitals,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Web Edition Articles, September 21, 2024.
44. “Abernathy Suffers Pneumonia Attack,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 28, 1968, 4C.
45. “Dr. Abernathy Is Hospitalized,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 27, 1973, 14A.
46. “Dog Bites Candidate,” The Atlanta Constitution, September 3, 1970, 9A.
47. “Jackson Gets Annual Check,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 31, 1973, 1C; “Cher Awarded $663,000 In Suit Over Interview / Jackson Gets Checkup,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 19, 1981, 2A.
48. Reg Murphy and Bob Hurt, “Ralph McGill Dies Here in 70th Year After Heart Attack,” The Atlanta Constitution, February 4, 1969, 1.
49. “Driver Flees After Chase And Crash,” The Atlanta Constitution, July 18, 1968, 3; Gene Stephens, “Weekend Crime Swamps Atlanta,” The Atlanta Constitution, June 28, 1971, 9A; “Truck Kills Pedestrian,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 16, 1970, 7C; Gene Stephens, “Store Bandit Shot By Hidden Guard,” The Atlanta Constitution, February 25, 1971, 20C.
50. Lynn Langway, “Boys Hunt Fun, Find Death,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 1, 1967, 24.
51. “Doctor Is Shot Here: Police Hold Ex-Fiancee,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 4, 1970, 18A.
52. Diane Stepp, “Singing Nun Makes Religion More Folksy,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 20, 1969, 8; “Nun Plans 2 Concerts In Atlanta,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 13, 1969, 12B.
53. “ACTION LINE,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 11, 1970, 1A.
54. “Holy Family Spring Festival Planned May 11,” The Atlanta Constitution, April 25, 1966, 25.
55. Kathryn Grayburn, “New German Consul’s Wife Gives Formal Luncheon in Her Penthouse,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 10, 1966, 18.
56. “Pink Ladies Set Dance For Nov. 17,” The Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, October 29, 1967, 9G.
57. Henry Woodhead, “End of World Baby? Just a Lot of Air,” The Atlanta Constitution, April 11, 1972, 8A.
58. “SWAP Lets Neighbors Talk It Out,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 14, 1967, 6.
59. “SWAP Lets Neighbors Talk It Out,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 14, 1967, 6.
60. Alex Coffin, “Sewell Road Tract Okayed For Housing as 400 Protest,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 10, 1967, 1.
61. Alex Coffin, “Aldermen Reject Housing on Sewell,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 21, 1967, 7; Alex Coffin, “568 Middle Income Apartments Are Approved for Fairburn Road,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 5, 1968, 13.
62. “L. F. Nichols Joins Hospital,” The Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, July 30, 1967, 10C.
63. Sarah Orr, “Borders Leaves As Hospital Chief,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 23, 1967, 13H.
64. “SWAP Lets Neighbors Talk It Out,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 14, 1967, 6.
65. Tom Linthicum, “Fulton Misses on Aid For Mental Health Unit,” The Atlanta Constitution, April 8, 1971, 10A.
66. Monica Waugh-Benton, “Strike Fever: Labor Unrest, Civil Rights and the Left in Atlanta, 1972” (Master’s thesis, Georgia State University, 2006), 45.
67. Bill Buchanan, “Nichols Denies Shooting,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 30, 1972, 29A.
68. Bill Montgomery, “Compromise Seen In Hospital Dispute,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 19, 1972, 17B.
69. “Employes Ask Director To Resign,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 16, 1972, 21A.
70. “Employes Ask Director To Resign,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 16, 1972, 21A.
71. Monica Waugh-Benton, “Strike Fever: Labor Unrest, Civil Rights and the Left in Atlanta, 1972” (Master’s thesis, Georgia State University, 2006), 46.
72. “Hosea Williams Group Pickets Against Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, April 22, 1972, 17B.
73. “Civil Rights Fast Begun at Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, April 27, 1972, 26A.
74. Monica Waugh-Benton, “Strike Fever: Labor Unrest, Civil Rights and the Left in Atlanta, 1972” (Master’s thesis, Georgia State University, 2006), 46.
75. Bill Montgomery, “Compromise Seen In Hospital Dispute,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 19, 1972, 17B.
76. Chuch Bell, “If Hospital Closes, Blacks to Seek It,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 1, 1972, 2A.
77. Monica Waugh-Benton, “Strike Fever: Labor Unrest, Civil Rights and the Left in Atlanta, 1972” (Master’s thesis, Georgia State University, 2006), 47.
78. Chuck Bell, “Holy Family, Workers Okay Terms to End 7-Week Strike,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 2, 1972, 12A.
79. Bob Rohrer and Jim Stewart, “3 Officials Suspended at Holy Family,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 3, 1972, 9A.
80. Gregory Jaynes, “Nichols Charged in Shooting,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 4, 1972, 1A.
81. Bill Seddon, “Hospital Administrator Surrenders: Hospital Official Indicted in Shootings,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 6, 1972, 1A.
82. Rex Granum, “Gun Linked to Hospital Manager,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 29, 1972, 15A.
83. Bill Buchanan, “Nichols Denies Shooting,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 30, 1972, 29A.
84. “Nichols Acquitted In Shooting Case,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 2, 1972, 2A.
85. Jim Gray, “Nichols Acquitted In 2 Shootings,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 31, 1974, 23A; Jim Gray, “Guard Testifies to Seeing Nichols Pointing Pistol,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 30, 1974, 5A.
86. Jim Gray, “Nichols Acquitted In 2 Shootings,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 31, 1974, 23A.
87. “City Councilman Sues Hospital Over Shooting,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 12, 1974, 2A.
88. “Hospital Workers Vote Down Union,” The Atlanta Constitution, June 9, 1972, 2A.
89. Monica Waugh-Benton, “Strike Fever: Labor Unrest, Civil Rights and the Left in Atlanta, 1972” (Master’s thesis, Georgia State University, 2006), 49.
90. “Health Board Role Sought by GSMA,” The Atlanta Constitution, June 8, 1972, 19A.
91. “Dinner Honors Staff, Board Of Holy Family,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 23, 1972, 4B.
92. “Indians Owe Big Housing Project Bill / Holy Family Starts Fund For Students,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 20, 1972, 4B.
93. “Dr. Broyles Named Chaplain / Rev. Hardge Cites Hospital’s Goals,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 25, 1974, 12A.
94. “Tokyo Rep Is Appointed,” The Atlanta Constitution, November 9, 1973, 16F.
95. Erin Behan, “OBITUARIES: ATLANTA: Eddie Lomax, 77, commercial chemist,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 16, 2000, E4.
96. Bob Rohrer, “New Face of Atlanta’s Government,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 17, 1973, 12A.
97. Joe Dolman, “After Meteoric Rise, Langford Faces Crisis,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 28, 1979, 1B.
98. “Holy Family Hospital Changing Name On January 1, 1975 To Southwest Community Hospital,” Atlanta Daily World, November 7, 1974, 1.
99. “Dr. Clinton Warner Remembered At Morehouse,” Atlanta Daily World, July 20, 2012.
100. “Dr. W. H. Borders Jr. Heads Staff Of Southwest Community,” Atlanta Daily World, January 30, 1975, 3.
101. “Southwest Community Hospital Elects Officers For 1977-78,” Atlanta Daily World, June 24, 1977, 3.
102. “Morris Brown College 137th Founder’s Day Convocation,” Atlanta Daily World, March 19, 2018.
103. “Miracle Workers,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 17, 1974, 4A.
104. Tom Henderson, “It’s Touch and Go For Little N’Akeba,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 10, 1974, 8A.
105. Alexis Scott Reeves, “Job Training Center Thanks Supporters,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 4, 1977, 7C.
106. “Display Ad 117 — No Title,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 9, 1977, 14G.
107. Chuck Bell, “Station Site Wins Approval,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 30, 1975, 17A.
108. Elaine Horn, “Daughter Follows in Nobel Prize-Winning Father’s Footsteps,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 22, 1981, D9.
109. Jim Stewart and Paul Lieberman, “Atlanta Doctor Supplies Abused Drug to Patients,” The Atlanta Constitution, July 12, 1976, 1A.
110. Paul Lieberman and Jim Stewart, “Quaalude Medic To Leave Prison Licensed,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 29, 1978, 1C.
111. “Bond Enters Hospital; ‘Just Feels Bad’,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 21, 1975, 3A.
112. “SCLC’s Lee Listed Fair,” The Atlanta Constitution, July 6, 1975, 15D.
113. “Maybe Next Time He’ll Try A Ferrari / Scott Hospitalized For Medical Tests,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 13, 1978, 2C.
114. “Southwest Community Hospital Protect Review Completed,” Atlanta Daily World, February 8, 1980, 2.
115. Hal Gulliver, “Needs for Southwest Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 1, 1978, 4A.
116. Frederick Allen, “Agency, Hospital Locked In Battle,” The Atlanta Constitution, September 11, 1978, 1C.
117. Steven Holmes, “Rep. Scott Claims He’s ‘Worried’ By Opponent’s Tactics,” The Atlanta Constitution, July 27, 1978, 1C.
118. Charles H. King Jr., “Expand Southwest Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 15, 1980, 5A.
119. Roger Witherspoon, “Black Medical Leader Raps Hospital Regulator Boards,” The Atlanta Constitution, July 21, 1981, B1.
120. Hal Gulliver, “Needs for Southwest Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 1, 1978, 4A.
121. Hal Gulliver, “Decision Needs To Be Reviewed,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 13, 1978, 4A.
122. Gary Hendricks, “Commission Eyes Hospital Authority,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 19, 1978, 1C.
123. Roger Witherspoon, “Black Hospital Seeks $7.4 Million Revamp,” The Atlanta Constitution, February 2, 1981, 1C.
124. Roger Witherspoon, “Health Agency OKs Hospital Renovation,” The Atlanta Constitution, February 4, 1981, 2C.
125. “Dockworker Feels Pain In His Reattached Feet / Hospital Expansion Planned,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 30, 1981, 4B.
126. Roger Witherspoon, “Hospital Expansion Fails,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 29, 1981, 1B.
127. Roger Witherspoon, “Record High-Yield Bonds Being Sold By Black Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 11, 1981, 9C.
128. Roger Witherspoon, “Malpractice Suit Stalls Hospital’s Expansion,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 18, 1981, 35A.
129. Bill Krueger, “Hospital $836,000 Behind In Claims,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 17, 1981, 49A.
130. Roger Witherspoon, “Fund-Raising Ball Scheduled For Hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 15, 1982, 15A.
131. “FUNDERBURG NAMED PRES. OF S.W. HOSP. ‘FRIENDS’,” Atlanta Daily World, November 30, 1979, 3.
132. “Certificate Of Need Issued Southwest Community Hospital,” Atlanta Daily World, March 17, 1983, 14.
133. Peter Scott, “Southwest hospital dedicates new $900,000 care unit,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 26, 1984, 1D1.
134. Bob Harrell, “Increased services goal of hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, December 6, 1984, 32A.
135. Rob Levin, “Hughes Spalding hospital having grand opening for new wing,” The Atlanta Constitution, July 1, 1984, 1D.
136. Charles Seabrook, “Blue Cross plan may spell profit, loss for hospitals,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 2, 1984, 1A.
137. Ann Wead Kimbrough, “Hospitals marketing ‘delivery’ services,” The Atlanta Constitution, undated (approx. 1984).
138. “Eleven hurt as MARTA bus, truck collide,” The Atlanta Constitution, July 10, 1984, 10A.
139. John Brady, “Wounded burglary suspect flees hospital,” The Atlanta Constitution, September 30, 1982, 1C.
140. Tracy Thompson, “1 Killed, 2 Shot In Alleged Robbery Try,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 27, 1982, 9A.
141. “Carson sues tabloid for $51 million / Atlanta Voice owner is ill,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 9, 1984, 3A.
142. “Chico’s Doing Better,” Atlanta Daily World, June 15, 1980, 6.
143. Lenn Sisson, “Alvin E. White, 90, journalist,” The Atlanta Constitution, undated (approx. 1980s).
144. Susan Howard, “Comatose boy is far from home: Hospital raising money for return,” The Atlanta Constitution, July 1, 1983, 19A.
145. Steve Harvey, “Birthday gift to boy in coma is trip home,” The Atlanta Constitution, July 3, 1983, 1A.
146. Pete Scott, “A happy return: Youngster comes back to dedicate new ICU,” The Atlanta Constitution, January 18, 1984, 10A.
147. Peter Scott, “In their 80s, these ‘pink ladies’ still cheer up hospital patients,” The Atlanta Constitution, May 17, 1984, 12K.
148. “Members only,” The Atlanta Constitution, undated (approx. 1980s).
149. Susan Harte, “Out & About,” The Atlanta Constitution, undated (approx. 1980s).
150. Martha Woodham, “Testing treats to make sure they aren’t tricks,” The Atlanta Constitution, October 31, 1984, 2C.
151. Bunnie Jackson-Ransom quoted in Jeff Dickerson, “Black Atlantans Hear the Call to Help Fight Poverty,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 3, 1989, A20.
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