The city that keeps changing America

It rose from the embers of the US Civil War and, as the hometown of activists like Martin Luther King Jr., has been pivotal in the fight for equality and justice. Today, Atlanta remains steeped in southern traditions, but at the forefront of progress.

(CNN) — Atlanta is a city that has been forged on the anvil of strife, that's risen from the embers of the Civil War. It is a city with traditions both genteel and gritty, a place that is rising up out of its past to bring out the best of human endeavor. It is the quintessential Southern American city. Some might even call it the capital of the South, although plenty of Southerners from elsewhere would argue that point. There's no denying, however, its place at the heart of the American story. Diverse and determined, Atlanta demands to be explored and understood on its own terms.