When a young Black woman in the community of West Fair became sick and passed away without anyone knowing, Lugenia Burns Hope believed it was due to the absence of neighborly sentiment. This incident led Hope to build a network of Black female reformers who would form the Neighborhood Union in 1908, an organization committed to providing social services to Black communities in Atlanta. Adopting the motto “thy neighbor as thyself,” the Union established branches throughout the city and offered a vast array of programs designed to promote personal enrichment and modern skills, from financial planning to basket weaving. While the Union provided countless services, the organization’s central purpose was to provide for the welfare of children. Union branches operated as community centers and provided space for kindergartens and nurseries, club activities, educational programs, adolescent health clinics, and recreational sports at a time when children in Black neighborhoods were largely excluded from the public resources granted to children in white neighborhoods. The Union also confronted racism that disadvantaged Black girls and boys by challenging the discriminatory policies of the city council and the board of education, campaigning for better conditions in schools, the ability to use public playgrounds, and even the construction of Atlanta’s first Black public high school in 1924.

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