As the 250th Arrives, Civic Season Looks to the Next Generation

By Atlanta History Center

2026 brought a frequent question to us at Atlanta History Center: what are you doing for America 250’s birthday? How do we think Atlanta should commemorate the semi-quincentennial?

Atlanta History Center has been thinking about this for quite some time — before any America 250 events were planned. This year is not just an opportunity to think about the anniversary of our country’s founding, but a moment to reflect on everything that followed — how we got here, what it means to engage with your community, and Atlanta’s place in the American Story.

This year we offer opportunities to tell that story. In March, we hosted the National Archives Freedom Plane exhibition, a collection of founding documents touring 8 museums across the country. In July, we will open More Perfect Union: The American Civil War Era, an exploration of this defining era at a scale we’ve never had before.

But as July arrives with the actual 250^th commemoration, we plan to do what museums do best — educating the next generation. We invite all of Atlanta to join us in this mission by observing Civic Season.

Civic Season is a nationwide celebration, spanning from Juneteenth to the Fourth of July, in which hundreds of museums and cultural institutions stage civic and history programsoriented towards the rising generation of young adults. Civic Season helps cultural institutions across the country prioritize those audiences who are just entering adult life and forming their civic identity.

Atlanta History Center is a proud founding member of Made by Us, the organization that organizes Civic Season. Over the past 5years, Atlanta History Center has seen the Made by Us coalition grow from a small group to over 500 institutions across the country, who see the opportunity to make the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration a chance to connect their home, their audience, and their history to the American Story — and want to take part.

For each Civic Season, Atlanta History Center hosts programs that aim to bring in the next generation of stakeholders into that story in ways that not just excite but inform. Civic Season fuels our Juneteenth program every year, and we’ve been able to cover important moments in our history like Reconstruction and the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Georgia

For this special year, join us at the Margaret Mitchell House in Midtown Atlanta for a slate of events and pop-ups to celebrate the season. For this two-week period, we like to think of the Margaret Mitchell House as Atlanta’s Civic Season Headquarters.

These programs are designed for a young professional audience as we build community, share more about the history of our city, and have fun. Join us for everything from historic demos to exercise classes, neighborhood tours, and the best book recs of the season in our special Civic Season bookstore.

This includes several evening programs anyone can attend, free of charge:

• On Tuesday, June 23^rd, explore the neighborhood and local businesses through a history-themed bar crawl. Building onlast year’s Civic Season bar crawl in Virginia-Highland,this self-guided walking tour will take you along many of the landmarks on the iconic Peachtree Street, including some hidden gems.

• On Friday, June 26^th, join us for a movie night on the lawn of Margaret Mitchell House screening National Treasure – a history-themed treasure hunt thriller that offers a fun night and a quick history lesson.

• We will close out Civic Season this year with a “Welcome to Atlanta” party on July 3^rd. Join us for a special community night – featuring tabling from several Atlanta organizations you can volunteer for, trivia about Atlanta’s place in the American story, and opportunities to answer the question “what does Atlanta mean to you?”

How You Can Help

• Join us for one of our Midtown programs this Civic Season, all of which you can find on our civic season webpage

• Check out the official Civic Season website for ways you or your organization can take part in this occasion

• We’re also not the only museum in Atlanta who celebrates Civic Season! Also be sure to check out programs from our friends at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, and more.