ABSTRACT
In the past 60 years, the building of modern Atlanta can be traced to an impressive group of business leaders—people who have evolved over the past six decades as the city has grown and Atlanta's power base has diversified. After desegregation, a few black business leaders—once frozen out of the power structure—found key allies. Atlanta developer Tom Cousins also witnessed the power of "the big mules," the business leaders who helped set the tone of racial tolerance in Atlanta. Cousins, one of the youngest business leaders at Atlanta's power table in the 1960s, credited Coca-Cola magnate Robert Woodruff for being open to racial integration and helping guide the city through those sensitive times. Portman said an important group in the early 1970s was the Atlanta Action Forum, a group of white and black business leaders who would meet on Saturday mornings once a month to discuss Atlanta's problems.
