Bankhead Courts

Bankhead Courts was a public housing complex located in Bankhead, Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was demolished in 2011,^[2] with the ultimate plan of redevelopment into a mixed-income community, although as of 2018, development has not yet occurred.

Bankhead Courts
Public housing
Bankhead Courts in 2007
Bankhead Courts Show map of Georgia Bankhead Courts Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 33°47′34″N 84°30′8″W
Country	United States
State	Georgia
County	Fulton
Elevation	774 ft (236 m)
GNIS feature ID	1705132[1]

Built in 1970 over a former landfill in the city's far northwest corner, it is surrounded by warehouses and light industry. It was poorly built and the authority moved tenants out of some apartments because of chronic sewage backups. By the late 1980s, out of 1,700 residents, 1,025 were under 19 years old. Ninety-eight percent of the households were headed by women, and the average age of grandmothers there was 32. Cynthia Hoke, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta Housing Authority, said records indicated that only 42 of the residents held jobs. Crime was so rampant at the Bankhead Courts that the mail carriers had to have a police escort making rounds. ^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

For several years, rapper Lil Nas X resided in the housing complex with his mother and grandmother.^[8]

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Bankhead Courts
2. Cardinale, Matthew Charles. "Council Committee Seeks AHA Eviction, Relocation Data". Atlanta Progressive News. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
3. "Atlanta Journal: Loss of mail jolts tenants into action". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
4. "Postman resumes rounds in crime-plagued area". UPI. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
5. "Housing Project is So Tough That Letter Carriers Have Police Escorts".
6. "Mail Gets Through With Police Escort". Los Angeles Times. 1988-12-15. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
7. Times, Ronald Smothers: Special To the New York (1989-01-03). "Atlanta Journal; Loss of Mail Jolts Tenants Into Action (Published 1989)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
8. Petrusich, Amanda (2019-06-24). "Lil Nas X Is the Sound of the Internet, Somehow". ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-08-11.