The Old Fourth Ward — between downtown and Inman Park — was Martin Luther King Jr.'s neighbourhood, the historically Black district that included Sweet Auburn and a large segment of the African American working class. The 1965 Atlanta riots happened on its streets; the long decline that followed bottomed out in the 1990s.
The neighbourhood is one of the city's clearest gentrification stories: it now contains Ponce City Market, the Historic Fourth Ward Park (a 17-acre BeltLine showpiece), and a wave of expensive new apartments. The historic core around the King sites remains intact and worth a walk.