(APN) ATLANTA — Dr. Rita Jackson Samuels, a truly remarkable trailblazer and passionate advocate for civil rights and women’s rights, passed away on March 27, 2018 from congestive heart failure at the age of 72. She marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. many times, including the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. Samuels, inspired by the […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Pamm Burdett, the Executive Director of the Lloyd E. Russell Foundation, passed away on November 17, 2017. As the Director of the Lloyd E. Russell Foundation (LER), Burdett quietly made strategic investments to support the LGBTQI community, the BDSM leather community, and the progressive community in general. Lloyd Russell, was a media activist in the […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Ann Melissa Firestone, 79, a senior advocate who was well-known in Atlanta’s civil engagement community, passed away on April 10, 2017. In Firestone’s honor, the City Council of Atlanta adopted an ordinance, 17-O-1246, on May 24, 2017, to create a crosswalk outside of the Cosby Spear highrise. On October 30, 2017, the Melissa Firestone Crosswalk […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Rev. Darrion Fletcher, 54, an activist and spiritual counselor whose work focused on lifting up low-income people in some of Atlanta’s most distressed communities, Vine City and English Avenue, passed away on September 25, 2017. Fletcher had qualified to run against Atlanta City Councilman Ivory Lee Young (District 3) for at least the second time. […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — James Bell, a passionate and effective advocate for cannabis policy reform in Georgia, passed away of a sudden heart attack this morning, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. After decades of stagnation of cannabis (“marijuana”) policy reform in Georgia, Bell decided to form a new organization, Georgia CARE, to focus on lobbying, research, and education around medical […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Former State Sen. Ollisteen “Steen” Miles (D-Decatur), 70, who ran for U.S. Senate in 2014 and was an award-winning journalist with WXIA Channel 11 television news, passed away on Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Sen. Miles served in the Georgia State Senate from 2005 to 2007. “I think she got in and she had been a […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Retired Lt. Gen. David Bryan Poythress, 73, of Atlanta, passed away on Sunday, January 15, 2017 after decades of public service to the people of Georgia. Poythress held numerous positions in Georgia state government, twice sought the Democratic nomination for Governor, served in the United States Air Force, and practiced law in the Atlanta area. […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Cheryl Courtney-Evans, 61, a pioneering transgender activist in Atlanta, has passed away, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. She was the founder and Executive Director of Transgender Individuals Living Their Truth (TILTT), which hosts its meetings at the Phillip Rush Center. http://www.tiltt.org/ Courtney-Evans advocated for transgender equality issues at the local, state, and national levels. […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Doris Benit, 88, an activist and Grandmother for Peace, of Kennesaw, Georgia, passed away on, Wednesday, March 16, 2016, after spending time in hospice care in connection with heart issues. Benit focused not only on peace, in her opposition to U.S. invasions and occupations around the world; but on economic justice issues like health care and […]
Read more
Updated with birth date and viewing information below. (APN) ATLANTA — Cathy Richards, Chair of the Atlanta Planning and Advisory Board (APAB), who has been a civil leader in Atlanta for some 35 years, has passed away, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. Richards, who was 67 and worked for Emory Healthcare, devoted her spare time to making sure […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Cecilia Florence “Ceci” Mitchell, 63, passed away on April 26, 2015. Mitchell was known in Atlanta as a passionate advocate, working on such issues as equality, peace, and environmental justice. This is a belated obituary because Atlanta Progressive News only recently learned of her passing when a letter to her home from APN was returned from […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Horace Tribble, 77, a community activist with such organizations as the Concerned Black Clergy of Atlanta, the Open Door Community, and Fulton Atlanta Community Action Authority, was discovered in his home to have passed away, on yesterday, Wednesday, September 30, 2015. He was also an appointee by Fulton County to the Commission on Disability Affairs, a […]
Read more
Photograph by Eduardo Montes-Bradley. (APN) ATLANTA — Former State Sen. Horace Julian Bond (D-Atlanta), a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, has passed away, on Saturday, August 15, 2015, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announced this morning, Sunday, August 16. In 1965, Bond was one of eleven Black candidates elected to the Georgia House of Representatives after […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — David Gregory Walker, 70, an advocate for transparency, citizen participation, and ethics in government in Atlanta and beyond, has passed away on yesterday, Sunday, July 05, 2015. Walker was best known for his role as a citizen advocate at meetings of the Atlanta City Council and its seven Committees, where he would make public comment that […]
Read more
(APN) ATLANTA — Former Fulton County Commissioner A. Reginald Eaves, 81, has passed away. He was an activist, an elected official, and a journalist for People TV. Mr. Eaves served as Fulton County Commissioner from 1979 to 1987, and was the first Black person to serve as Public Safety Commissioner for the City of Atlanta, from 1974 to 1978. […]
Read more