Just in time for Georgia Tech’s February presentation of the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage, Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) will rebroadcast the original documentary “Ivan Allen, Jr. ─ A Different Road.” Scheduled for February 4, at 8 p.m., the program presents a multifaceted portrait of the Georgia Tech alumnus (Commerce 1933), focusing on his eight years of leadership as mayor of Atlanta during the critical transitional years between 1962 and 1970.

Produced by Living Stories and broadcast as part of Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Georgia Greats series, the Ivan Allen, Jr. film premiered in June of 2015.

Allen was already a leader when he was a student here in the early 1930’s. He served as student body president and was involved in many other campus organizations, and led the first student protest at Tech, a march on the capitol to protest the demise of a program. During his time as mayor, he broke racial barriers attempting to implement the public accommodation for African Americans and was the only elected leader from the South to testify in Congress in favor of civil rights legislation in 1963. A gifted businessman and innovator, Allen is credited with leading the biggest economic boom in Atlanta’s history and building Atlanta’s modern profile as the premier city of the South. Allen said, “He came late to his liberalism” and the documentary shows his stumbles as well as his successes as he navigated the intense social change that affected him and his beloved city on every possible level.

Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts is named for Mayor Allen and stewards his legacy of transformative urban leadership grounded in courage, compassion, and human justice. Read more at http://www.iac.gatech.edu/about/overview/legacy.

The Institute will present the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage to humanitarian activist Nancy Parrish during symposia and an awards luncheon on February 18.