How these Black-owned businesses are keeping Atlanta trailblazer’s legacy alive

In southwest Atlanta, Black-owned businesses are keeping the history of their neighborhoods alive – and it all starts with a cup of coffee. Black-owned cafés and cooperatives in the area, many inspired by trailblazing local businesswoman Lottie Watkins, are creating spaces that help share stories about the city’s rich culture and promote Black entrepreneurship.  Atlanta was ranked the worst city for income inequality in a 2024 GOBankingRates report. Aaron Fender, co-founder of Portrait Coffee, wants to help bridge that gap and hopes his small shop can be a catalyst for the community.  Following a trailblazer’s footsteps He’s following in the footsteps of Watkins – the first Black woman in Atlanta to become a licensed real estate broker and founder of Lottie Watkins Enterprises in 1960, according to her obituary. She died in February 2017 at the age of 98. Watkins bought a building on Gordon Street, now Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard, known as the Lottie Watkins Building, and saved space for other minority-owned businesses to move in – like Portrait Coffee. Aaron Fender, co-founder of Portrait Coffee, stands outside his shop on Ralph David Abernathy Blvd in Atlanta.  Luis Giraldo “She was really a caretaker of our community,” Fender said...