DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Former first lady Michelle Obama has a new monument named in her honor, right here in metro Atlanta.
A new walking trail in DeKalb County now bears her name. Community leaders and park staff met on Saturday, Jan. 13 to celebrate the trail's unveiling.
The trail, the "Michelle Obama Walking Trail," is located near the Georgia State University-Perimeter College Campus off Clifton Springs Road. The 3.8-mile path is connected to Gresham Park.
The resolution to rename the South River Trail was led by Commissioner Larry Johnson and was unanimously approved by the Board of Commissioners back in November 2016.
11Alive is working to get further details on the trail.
This is not the only monument in Georgia that has ties to former first lady Michelle Obama. Last August, a tweet from filmmaker Ava DuVernay about a simple memorial to a former slave in Rex, Georgia went viral.
The monument is in honor of Melvina "Mattie" Shields McGruder, a woman whose descendent would one day become the first lady of the United States.
According to accounts, McGruder was born a slave in South Carolina in 1844 before being brought to the near-by shields farm, in what is now Rex, Georgia, at the age of 6.
Five generations later, a "journey that began in oppression" gave way to the country's first black First Lady, Michelle Obama, who later went on to speak in awe of watching her own daughters play with their dogs on the lawn of the White House, "a house that was built by slaves."
