John Wesley Dobbs – Georgia Black History

You know that odd looking MLK bust near John Wesley Dobbs Dr. between Edgewood and Auburn Ave, in downtown Atlanta, just one exit up from the Georgia Capitol?  That is not Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  That is a bust of John Wesley Dobbs, the “mayor” of Auburn Ave.

John Wesley Dobbs was a Georgia political leader who lived between 1882 – 1961).  After graduating from Atlanta Baptist College (now Morehouse College) Dobb was married and had six daughters.

Dobbs led voter registration drives in 1936 in hopes of registering more than 10,000 African American voters.  Dobbs began the Atlanta Civil and Political league and Atlanta Negro Voters League.  These groups were form with the intent of overturning the laws that prevented African Americans from voting.

Dobbs was integral to convincing Atlanta Mayor William Hartsfield to integrate the Atlanta Police Department in 1948.  Dobbs’ grandson later became the first African American mayor of Atlanta, Maynard Jackson.

Learn more about John Wesley Dobbs here: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/john-wesley-dobbs-1882-1961