Yet MGM's local distribution man in Atlanta was saying it could cause trouble. Surprisingly, however, Atlanta's African-American audiences contributed to the film's phenomenal success. Their study, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, begins with the 1895 Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, when motion pictures were first shown in the United States, and ends with the 1996 Olympic Games. Much of their work, which will culminate in a book, has focused on the era of public segregation in the city, when Atlanta's black and white moviegoers saw films at different times in different theaters. The story of Atlanta, they suggest, is reflected and illuminated in the story of its movie theaters and audiences.
Local pride is a big part of it.
People were concerned with race, but also with portrayals of the South. Key to the study, say White and Bernstein, are Atlanta movie theaters and their patrons through the decades, especially during the segregation era. Only the Fox and the Roxy theaters in downtown Atlanta permitted black patrons in segregated balcony seating. Then downtown Atlanta started changing and downtown theaters dying. The theater on that block was wiped out.