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.

“She was really a caretaker of our community,” Fender said of Watkins, who served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1977 to 1980 and mentored dozens who fought for the rights of Black Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. 

In an ode to Watkins, Portrait Coffee hangs art featuring the local icon, which ushers customers to the line leading to the counter that features photos of Black families.

“They’re cultural artifacts that tell a story and have a history of their own,” Fender said. “Regardless of your race, we invite you to pick up and understand our history as well.”

Portrait Coffee’s “Aunt Viv Latte,” a nod to “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” sitcom’s family matriarch Vivian Banks, is among the cafe’s many hits.

“Everybody needs an Aunt Viv…somebody to care and love on you but also correct and kind of push you.” Fender said. “I think that’s what community is, too, right?” 

In many ways, Watkins was considered the matriarch of southwest Atlanta. Her granddaughters remember her as a leader and mentor.

“They called her the lady to get it done,” Joi Jackson told CBS News. “On her tombstone, that’s what it says.” 

“Anything new to Atlanta or the Black community, you had to kind of run it by Lottie Watkins and get her advice,” Kelli Bacote Ross, Jackson’s sister said.

Joyce Bacote, Watkins’ daughter agreed, and her husband, Samuel, recalled when Lottie Watkins Enterprises was the only Black-owned business on Gordon Street.

The family members said Watkins would be proud of the local leaders keeping her legacy alive.

“Black-owned, entrepreneurs, young, that’s the kind of energy that my mom had,” Joyce Baycote said. “Her legacy there, that will be cherished.” 

The “first aunt and uncle” of Cascade Heights 

Angela Ingram, founder of Cafe Bartique on Cascade Road, said Watkins’ story brings tears to her eyes. Portrait Coffee is Ingram’s roaster and the two businesses are connected by more than just roads.

“It was an intentional decision to use a coffee roaster that’s down the street, and also a Black roaster, because we want to make sure our dollars stay in this community,” Ingram said.

Ingram is a third-generation restaurateur. She left her corporate job with Nordstrom to follow the path of her grandmother, mother and aunts who owned restaurants in Aberdeen, Mississippi. 

“They call me Titi.” Ingram said. “We’re the first aunt and uncle of this Cascade area.”

“We stand on that 10 toes down, like you come here, you’re going to be greeted warmly and you’re gonna be treated right, and you’re probably gonna be called ‘baby’ or ‘boo’ or whatever by me or somebody else in the kitchen.”

Ingram doesn’t just fill patrons up with warm soups and delectable grilled cheese croissants. She said she also serves “pure love.”

“That’s what I got my whole life from the women that raised me, is love and acceptance of everybody,” Ingram said.

A simple request

Connected to Cafe Bartique is The Ke’nekt Cooperative, founded by Kiyomi Rollins, a longtime Westview resident. The space, which hosts a coffee shop, is located inside an old mechanic shop.

The shop describes itself online as a “Black liberated third space where the community gathers to exchange ideas.” People can gather to work and share ideas, symbolic of other places like churches, barbershops and corner stores where Black culture flourishes.

“It is literally rooted in the history of third spaces in communities that are historically under-resourced, underserved, or Black legacy neighborhoods,” Rollins said. “When you look at the bedrock of the civil rights movement, people met, gathered, talked innovative ideas in spaces such as the Ke’nekt.” 

Rollins was inspired to start the collective to help prevent the displacement of other Black-owned businesses after her lease for her skin and hair product business was terminated.

One Harvard research data point connects new coffee shops to increases in housing prices. In Atlanta, it’s not just coffee shops ushering gentrification. The Beltline is also contributing to higher housing prices and the displacement of low-income households, according to Georgia State University urban studies professor and author Dan Immergluck. 

“Us being in this space does contribute to that,” Rollins said. “Once I’m aware of anything that happens in the space where we could be contributing to anything that could cause harm, we’re gonna respond.” 

That’s why Rollins said she’s prioritizing community members with the “least access or voices,” serving fair-trade coffee, sharing the profits with her community, and feeding hungry families.

Her only request: support Black businesses like Portrait Coffee, Cafe Bartique and Ke’nekt Cooperative.

“Come into these Black-ass spaces and buy some Black-ass coffee,” Rollins said.