Ina Evans runs for District 55 House seat 1972

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Sometimes when I’m looking through a newspaper archive, there will be an article, photo, or even an advertisement that catches my interest. Ina Evans caught my interest and I wanted to know more about her life.

The pages of the August 3, 1972, DeKalb New Era newspaper features ads and articles on various local political candidates at the time. One of those candidates was Ina C. Evans and the article is titled “Ina Evans Offers for House Post.”

This photograph of Ina C. Evans appeared with the 1972 article announcing her as a candidate for House seat 55. (The DeKalb New Era, August 3, 1972)

Ina C. Evans was running for the District 55 House seat. Her platform included better health facilities, tax reform and better educational facilities in DeKalb County. She and her campaign team went door to door talking to voters and distributing material.

Evans spoke to The DeKalb News Sun about her campaign, “We are hoping that voters will decide on the basis of qualifications. I firmly believe that office holders are elected to voice the needs and concerns of the community. Win or lose, I’ll be right here next year and the year after battling to put this community up front in DeKalb.”

Evans lost the race, which went to a runoff between Betty J. Clark and Sherman S. Barge. Betty Clark won the runoff, and as a Democrat who was unopposed, she won the seat.

Ina Evans was born in Gallatin, Tennessee in 1935. She graduated with honors from Mississippi Valley State College. Her resume included working as a poll monitor in the Democratic primary in 1968 and during the presidential election that year.

In 1969, she was campaign manager in the Kirkwood area for H. E. Tate, the first Black candidate for Mayor of Atlanta. Evans also worked as area coordinator for the Committee for Sensible Rapid Transit.

Evans was secretary for the Georgia Shirley Chisholm Fund when Chisholm ran for President in 1972. She was an alternate delegate for the 1972 National Democratic Convention.

Evans would later serve 14 years on the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education. She worked with Maynard Jackson, first Black Mayor of Atlanta, and civil rights leader and activist Rev. Hosea Williams, founder of “Hosea Feed the Hungry.” Later, she would work in the office of Governor Jimmy Carter. (meadowsmortuary.com)

She was married to John Evans for 30 years. He was President of the DeKalb County chapter of the NAACP for sixteen years before retiring in 2016. According to a 2012 oral history with John Evans in the archives of DeKalb History Center, he was appointed to the DeKalb County Executive Committee in 1968, on recommendation of Maynard Jackson. He also worked on the Shirley Chisholm 1972 Presidential campaign.

In the 1970s, Ina Evans operated the Loving Care Day Care Center in Kirkwood.

She passed away June 30, 2021.

The Moving Pictures in Atlanta

The first moving pictures in Atlanta were shown at the Cotton States and International Exposition of Georgia, held in 1895 at Piedmont Park.  A movie theater was constructed along an area called Midway Heights on 10th Street. The attraction was called “Living Pictures,” where the newly developed vitascope projector was demonstrated. It wasn’t very popular at the exposition so visitors were allowed to enter for free.  People made use of the opportunity to step inside the small theater and rest for a few minutes. It may have been destined to close due to lack of attendance, but never had to because a fire destroyed the theater space. (“Atlanta and Environs Volume II”, by Franklin Garrett)

The first movie house opened in Atlanta in 1904.  It was called The Star and was located at 36 Decatur Street.  It was successful enough for a second movie house called The Eldorado to open soon after at 146 Marietta Street.

By 1907, fourteen theaters were listed in the Atlanta directory.  They were known as “electric” theaters and were usually small store front buildings with chairs nailed together to form a row. The early films lasted about fifteen minutes. 

The Montgomery Theatre at 87 Peachtree Street opened in August of 1911, advertising a small balcony for vocal performers, an organ and an orchestra.  This was the beginning of longer films with an actual story line.  The theatre was later known as Georgian, Odeon and Tudor Theatre.

Talking movies came to Atlanta in 1928 with The Jazz Singer showing at the Metropolitan Theatre.  The Metropolitan first opened in 1911 and was located at the intersection of Luckie Street and Broad Street.  By 1929, several talking movies were shown around Atlanta, including The Virginian, starring Gary Cooper at the Paramount Theatre.  The Paramount, located at 169 Peachtree Street, originally opened as a live theatre in 1920 and was known as Howard Theatre. 

Gone with the Wind premiered at Loews Grand Theatre in 1939 with much fanfare and stars of the film attending.  The building was originally the home of DeGive’s Grand Opera House built in 1893.  In 1972, a fire burned the Loews Grand Theatre.

Other theatres included the Rialto on Forsyth Street, Buckhead Theatre on Roswell Road, Temple Theatre in Grant Park and Center Theatre (later Central) on Whitehall Street.  The old Rhodes Theatre was located on Peachtree Road next to Rhodes Hall. 

It wasn’t necessary to go downtown in the 1930’s and 1940’s to see a movie.  Theaters just outside of Atlanta included Brookhaven Theater opening in 1938, Avondale Theater in Avondale Estates opening in 1938 and Decatur Theater opening in 1940. 

The movies we associate with Christmas now did not necessarily premiere or show during the holiday season. Meet Me in St. Louis played at Rhodes Theatre in 1945, Christmas in Connecticut played at the Buckhead, Temple and Center Theatres in 1945, Miracle on 34th Street was showing at the Brookhaven Theatre in 1947, and White Christmas was featured at the Fox Theatre in 1954.   

Fred Donaldson, who was born at Donaldson-Bannister Farm in Dunwoody, grew up going to the movies in Brookhaven, Buckhead or downtown Atlanta.  He and his friends would either catch a ride or walk to Brookhaven and then if they decided to head to Buckhead or to the Paramount or Fox Theatre downtown, they would catch the trolley from Brookhaven. 

Joe Greear recalls that the first movie he saw was The Fly at Brookhaven Theatre. He describes the location. “Across Peachtree Street from the Building Supply and A & P was another cluster of businesses including a post office and a movie theater. The Brookhaven Theatre was where I saw my first scary movie-the original version of ‘The Fly’ starring Vincent Price. I was about six or seven and I remember being so scared that I couldn’t watch the end and left my seat to wait in the lobby for my brother to emerge. The Brookhaven Theatre was not an elaborate movie house like The Fox, and had only a few embellishments. Despite its simplicity it was a nice place to watch a movie and I always loved the smell of the popcorn in the lobby.” (From “Growing up on the Edges,” by Joe Greear, held in the archives of DeKalb History Center)

1965 Atlanta newspapers advertise the film The Sound of Music at Martin’s Cinerama at 583 Peachtree Street.  This theater was built in 1927 and was originally a live playhouse called Erlanger Theatre.  In the 1950’s it began showing movies and was called Tower Theatre, later becoming Martin’s Cinerama, Atlanta Theatre and then Columbia Theatre.  It was demolished to make way for a parking lot in 1995. 

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