The Economic Evolution of Atlanta’s Historic Black Neighborhoods

Atlanta, Ga., Mayor Maynard Jackson is pictured in December 1978. In 1972, Jackson was elected Mayor of Atlanta becoming the city’s first African American mayor and the first of a major southern city. His election was touted as a spark to bring equity and equality in areas such as business and within city government.

Associated Press

Dr. Maurice Hobson is an associate professor of African American Studies and Historian at Georgia State University.

In 2017 he published his book “The Legend of the Black Mecca: Politics and Class in the Making of Modern Atlanta” and joined “Closer Look” host Rose Scott in-studio to talk about his work.

As a follow-up to that conversation, Dr. Hobson recently joined Rose for another conversation — tracing the economic evolution of Atlanta’s historic black neighborhoods, which aired as a three-part series on Closer Look.