Susan Ross and Kiplyn Primus
Recorded
October 18, 2022
Archived
October 18, 2022
42:37 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id:
atl004711
Description
Kiplyn Primus (60) talks with friend and fellow Atlanta Business League member Susan "Sue" J. Ross (70) about her career as a City of Atlanta administrator.Subject Log / Time Code
Susan "Sue" J. Ross (70) says her family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, from Chicago, Illinois, in 1960. She says her parents were professors. She remembers spending time at Atlanta University Center.
Sue talks about Sunset Boulevard and Hunter Avenue. She remembers the neighborhood of Vine City, as it was in her youth.
Sue says she participated in the Civil Rights Movement through school integration.
Sue talks about working for Atlanta Mayors Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young.
Sue says she studied at the Claremont College Consortium in California.
Sue says her work with Maynard Jackson and Shirley Franklin introduced her to the Atlanta Business League.
Sue talks about Dr. Alice Bussey who became the first woman elected as president of the Atlanta Business League. She says Dr. Bussey started Super Tuesday 35+ years ago.
Sue talks about her work with the City of Atlanta's Contract Compliance Office. She says her last ten years in city government dealt with Watershed Management.
Sue says working with minority businesses is a way of giving back to the community.
Sue talks about corporate boards and bringing women into management.
Sue talks about Atlanta's Olympic years, which she says brought more minorities to the city. She says the city can't grow unless we all grow.
Sue talks about Mayor Andrew Young's way of handling city contracts and legal issues.
Kiplyn Primus (60) and Sue talk about the Atlanta Way of doing business.
Sue talks about the dinner that was planned in Atlanta when Martin Luther King Jr., won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Sue talks about the Hungry Club Forum which began at the Butler Street YMCA in Atlanta.
Sue says the Atlanta Business League story is the story of Black Atlanta. Sue talks more about Super Tuesday which she says has debunked the notion that black business meant black men.
Sue talks about Clark Atlanta University alumna, Aisha Pinky Cole, and her Slutty Vegan empire.
Sue remembers Mayor Andrew Young wanting photos to document his time in office. She says they bought cameras and started taking pictures. Sue says she is now learning how to archive all of that work.
Sue says Mayor Maynard Jackson democratized the Arts in Atlanta. She remembers the Atlanta Symphony giving free concerts in Piedmont Park.
Sue remembers Dr. Alice Bussey putting together Atlanta Business League's first International Trade Mission.
Sue says Atlanta Business League expanded the international view of Atlanta. She says Black and White businesses benefited.
Participants
- Susan Ross
- Kiplyn Primus