This data set provides information on dates, curfew times, and when Atlanta sends out curfews in the wake of civil unrest around the world following the COVID-19 pandemic, economic collapse, and oppression of Black, Brown, and poor people. The motivation for this data set is the outrage at curfew notifications being sent after or shortly before the curfew times, suggesting that the reason is to arrest protests for being out after curfew. In some cases, protestors are not able to receive these notifications as they "black out" (by turning off their cell phone) in order to avoid surveillance by the state. As you will see from the data set, the city of Atlanta never notifies citizens at least an hour before curfew.
On May 30, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued a curfew for the city of Atlanta from Saturday, May 30 to Sunday, June 7 amidst civil unrest across the nation. The same day Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issued an executive order for the deployment of about 3,000 National Guards. On Saturday, June 6, the curfew set at 8 PM EST was lifted after the 9th day of protests.
Table 1: Variable Meanings
| variable | meaning |
|---|---|
| date | date of the curfew notification |
| time | time the curfew notification was sent |
| curfew_time | time at which Atlanta set curfew |
| time_to_curfew_minutes | number of minutes before curfew the notification was received |
| time_to_curfew_hours | number of hours before curfew the notification was received |
Data Collection: The data was collected by taking screenshots at the time the notification was sent, so hour and minute of time are known, but not seconds. Screenshots are also provided to demonstrate accuracy of the data. Unfortunately, for the curfew on May 30, a screenshot was not taken until May 31, and the date does not show on the screenshot.
This is an open source data set. Please feel free to send questions, comments, concerns, and mistakes to lelia@mit.edu.