Sweet Auburn: The Foundation Everything Was Built On

To understand Atlanta's Black funeral home legacy, you have to understand Auburn Avenue. Running east from Peachtree Street through the heart of Atlanta, Auburn Avenue — officially renamed from Wheat Street in 1893 — became the economic and cultural center of Black Atlanta in the early 20th century.

By the 1950s, Sweet Auburn (a name coined by civic leader John Wesley Dobbs to celebrate the street's vitality) was home to over 140 Black-owned businesses. Fortune magazine described it in 1956 as "the richest Negro street in the world." At its peak, it was home to insurance companies, banks, churches, newspapers, hotels, and yes — funeral homes that served the entire Atlanta Black community.

The institutions that made this possible weren't just businesses — they were mutually reinforcing. Atlanta Life Insurance Company, founded in 1905 by former slave and Atlanta's first Black millionaire Alonzo Herndon, provided life insurance policies to Black families at a time when white-owned companies refused to serve them. Those insurance policies funded funeral expenses, which in turn sustained the funeral homes. Citizens Trust Bank and Standard Life Insurance provided capital and credit that let those businesses expand.

Segregation, as cruel as it was, had an unintended economic consequence: it concentrated Black spending power in Black hands. Funeral homes were among the first and most durable beneficiaries.

Cox Brothers Funeral Directors: Atlanta's Oldest Black-Owned Business

Founded in 1900, Cox Brothers Funeral Directors is believed to be one of Atlanta's oldest continuously Black-owned businesses. Emily Cox founded the firm with her sons Charles and Allen, initially operating out of 69 Pryor Street in downtown Atlanta.

In 1927, Cox Brothers relocated to 380 Auburn Avenue — planting their flag on Sweet Auburn at the height of the street's prosperity. For decades, the firm served as a quiet but consistent pillar of Black Atlanta life. Through Jim Crow, through the Depression, through the civil rights era, Cox Brothers remained.

The firm's longevity is remarkable: over 125 years in operation across a period that included two world wars, the Depression, segregation, desegregation, and the transformation of Atlanta from a regional city to a global one. Cox Brothers still operates today at 380 Auburn Avenue NE — one of the last businesses of any kind still functioning in its original Sweet Auburn location.

Haugabrooks Funeral Home: Nearly a Century on Auburn Avenue

Mrs. Haugabrooks started her funeral home in 1929 with just $300. What began as a bare-bones operation on Auburn Avenue grew into a multi-million-dollar family business and an anchor of the Sweet Auburn corridor for nearly a century.

Haugabrooks became synonymous with Auburn Avenue itself. For three generations of Black Atlantans, their first experience with death and grief likely involved Haugabrooks in some way — either as the family making arrangements or as mourners attending a service held there. The business closed in May 2019 after nearly 90 years, marking the end of an era for the corridor.

The story of Haugabrooks is the story of Sweet Auburn in miniature: built by Black entrepreneurship under extraordinary constraints, sustained by community trust across generations, and eventually yielding to the changing economics of a desegregated city where Black dollars could — and did — flow elsewhere.

Hanley's Funeral Home: Where History Was Made

Of all the funeral homes in Atlanta's African American history, none carries more historical weight than Hanley's. Located initially on Bell Street, with a second location on Ashby Street, Hanley's grew to become one of the largest Black-owned funeral homes in the entire South.

The firm handled two funerals that stopped time in Black Atlanta:

First, boxer "Tiger" Flowers — the first Black world middleweight champion — whose funeral in the 1920s drew thousands to Atlanta streets in an outpouring of grief that few had witnessed before.

Then, on April 9, 1968, Hanley's was entrusted with the body of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated four days earlier in Memphis. The viewing at Hanley's drew tens of thousands to Atlanta. The subsequent funeral procession, with Dr. King's casket carried on a mule-drawn farm wagon to honor his connection to the Poor People's Campaign, became one of the most photographed events in American history.

Hanley's handled that responsibility with the gravity it deserved, and in doing so, cemented its place not just in Atlanta history but in American history. The funeral home was known throughout its life for serving all community members regardless of their ability to pay — a principle that reflected the broader ethos of Sweet Auburn's institutions.

Pollard & Moore Funeral Home: Continuity Since 1932

Founded in 1932 by Otis Pollard, Lester Hancock, and E.A. Pollard, Pollard & Moore Funeral Home at 827 Pollard Boulevard SW has served Atlanta's south side community for nearly a century. Its longevity speaks to the deep roots these businesses planted in specific neighborhoods — not just downtown, but in the residential communities of Summerhill and surrounding areas where Black families built homes and lives.

Pollard & Moore remains in operation today and is listed in our Atlanta funeral home directory.

The National Colored Undertakers Association: Building an Industry

The professional infrastructure supporting Atlanta's Black funeral homes didn't come from nowhere. The National Colored Undertakers Association (NCUA) was established in Atlanta in 1924, providing professional standards, advocacy, and mutual support for African American funeral directors across the country at a time when they were excluded from white professional organizations.

The NCUA helped transform Black funeral service from informal practice into a regulated profession — pushing for licensing standards, embalming certifications, and consumer protections that ultimately benefited all funeral home customers regardless of race. Atlanta was at the center of that effort.

Segregation's Unexpected Gift — and Its End

There is a painful irony embedded in the history of Sweet Auburn and its funeral homes. The segregation that denied Black Atlantans equal access to education, housing, employment, and public accommodations also created the conditions for an extraordinary concentration of Black business wealth. Every dollar that a Black family spent had to stay in the Black economy.

Civil rights legislation in the 1960s changed that — as it had to. But it also opened Black spending to the broader economy, and Sweet Auburn began its long decline. White-owned funeral chains, national consolidators, and shifting neighborhood demographics all contributed to changes that turned the "richest Negro street in the world" into a corridor of mostly empty storefronts by the late 20th century.

The revival of Sweet Auburn is ongoing. The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, and renewed development interest have brought new life to the corridor. Cox Brothers still stands at 380 Auburn Avenue. Their continued presence is not just a business decision — it is a statement.

Black-Owned Funeral Homes in Atlanta Today

The tradition continues. Atlanta is home to numerous Black-owned and operated funeral homes serving the community with the same ethos that powered Auburn Avenue — dignity, trust, and genuine care. Several of the most highly-rated funeral homes in our directory carry on that tradition:

Browse our full Atlanta funeral home directory to find Black-owned funeral homes across the metro area, with ratings, addresses, and contact information.

Preserving the Record

The Digital Library of Georgia has digitized and made publicly available an extraordinary collection of over 130 years of African American funeral programs from Atlanta and across Georgia. These programs — printed for individual memorial services — are primary source documents of immense historical value, recording names, dates, churches, ministers, songs, and the texture of Black community life across generations. The collection is available at dlg.usg.edu.

Find a Black-owned funeral home in Atlanta

Our directory includes funeral homes across Atlanta and the metro area with ratings, photos, and contact information.

Browse Directory Use the Finder Tool