The Legend of the Black Mecca

Maurice J. Hobson is associate professor of African American studies at Georgia State University.
For more information about Maurice J. Hobson, visit the Author Page.

"The singular focus on poor and working-class black Atlantans makes this book an especially important contribution to a wider and more complete picture of the totality of Atlanta and its black citizens, including the most vulnerable."—Journal of Southern History

“Provides an intriguing look at a group of people who are typically left out of conversations about Atlanta’s past and progress.”—ArtsATL

“Provides a necessary counter to the standard narrative of modern Atlanta.”—Choice

"Hobson does his best work articulating the nuances of how Atlanta became such an unequal city, lionized in civil rights history for being 'too busy to hate' and glorified in the present as one of several Black Meccas in the United States. His narratives are rich and compelling, and the data presents an accurate representation of the wealth of archives across the city's many historical, cultural and educational institutions."—Journal of Urban Affairs

“Maurice Hobson keeps it real in this post–civil rights history of black Atlanta. He excavates the political contradictions in the city’s politics by revealing what Atlanta’s hip hop community dubbed the Dirty South. Here’s a history where Outkast and Goodie Mob meet Atlanta’s black mayors. The ironies are deliciously delectable and debatable. Hobson’s history of Atlanta is not simply regional; it is a national story of neoliberal politics at the expense of the poor." —Randal Maurice Jelks, author of Benjamin Elijah Mays, Schoolmaster of the Movement

“In this extensive study of the evolution of black Atlanta, Hobson uncovers and closely examines the black Mecca trope and offers a much more nuanced and interesting narrative of Atlanta’s history than the ones we are so accustomed to hearing.”—Derrick P. Alridge, University of Virginia

Watch: Hobson's talk at the Atlanta History Center, recorded by C-SPAN. (2/21/2018, running time 1:24:27)