Black Mecca: 10 Amazing Facts About Atlanta

Black Mecca The 2010 U.S. Census recorded Atlanta as the nation’s fourth largest majority Black city, and it has long been known as a center of African-American political power, education, and culture. Often called a Black Mecca, the city is home to the Atlanta University Center, a consortium of historically Black colleges that produces more African-American post graduates than any college system excluding Howard University. With more than 60,000 Black-owned companies, Atlanta is bursting at the seams with Black entrepreneurs. In addition, almost 25 percent of Black adults in Atlanta have degrees, which accounts for the large numbers of African-Americans employed in major and mid-sized corporations. Black Metro Atlanta by The Numbers 1.7 million -Black residents who call the Atlanta region home as of 2010, comprising 34 percent of the total metropolitan population. 518,734 - Black residents added from 2000 through 2010 to the Atlanta region, the largest net gain of any racial or ethnic group. Since 2000, the Atlanta region has added 281,556 whites, 278,549 Hispanics and 118,348 Asians. Atlanta Black Business Atlanta is home to the nation's largest Black-owned insurance company, Atlanta Life, and the largest Black construction company in the United States, H.J. Russell Company with projects that include several downtown skyscrapers, additions to the Georgia World Congress Center, and Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport. The nation's largest Black-owned auto dealerships can also be found in Atlanta, including Mercedes-Benz of Buckhead, Malcolm Cunningham Ford, and Wade Ford. $6.6 billion - Receipts for Black-owned businesses in the Atlanta metropolitan area as of 2007, up 63.5 percent since 2002. Of those receipts, $2.5 billion were generated by Black businesses without employees, such as sole proprietorships. 127,214 - Number of Black-owned firms in the Atlanta metropolitan area as of 2007, up 99 percent since 2002, according to the census bureau. Black Atlanta Education The Black academic community in Atlanta is the largest of any U.S. city because of the presence of the Atlanta University Center, the largest contiguous consortium of historically Black colleges, consisting of Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Interdenominational Theological Center. The first of these colleges was established shortly after the Civil War and they made Atlanta one of the historic centers for Black education. Many of the nation's most successful African-Americans were educated in the AUC. The U.S. Census 2009 American Community Survey reported that 256,948 of Atlanta's Black residents, age 25 and over, have at least a bachelor’s degree. This represents 25 percent of all Black residents 25 years and older in the region, compared to 18 percent nationally. Photo Credit: mais008 via flickr The Black Middle Class Atlanta has a well-organized Black upper class that exerts its power in politics, business, academia, and historically, in the religious arena. The average median household income for Black residents in metro Atlanta is $41,047, which is roughly 74 percent of the average income of all residents of metro Atlanta. Nationally, that ratio is 67 percent - U.S. median household income for all residents is $50,221; for Black residents it is $33,632. Over 51 percent of Black families in Atlanta own their home, the 2009 Census reports. Political Power Since 1973, Atlanta has consistently elected Black mayors, and two in particular have been prominent on the national political stage, Andrew Young and Maynard Jackson. Theroot.com reported in 2010: "While young, gifted and Black talent thrives in Atlanta like practically no other city in the country, some question whether African-Americans really run Atlanta." Sam Massell, the last white mayor of Atlanta since Maynard Jackson was elected in 1974, said: ''The African-American community definitely manages the politics of our city, the city of Atlanta proper. But much of the finances, I would say, are still with the whites.'' Black Hollywood Atlanta is the setting for popular TV shows such as “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and all of writer-producer Tyler Perry's successful sitcoms, including “For Better Or Worse” and “House Of Payne.” The city is fast becoming known as a center of Black entertainment in the U.S. Warrington Hudlin, president of the Black Filmmaker Foundation, said: “Atlanta is really becoming the Black Hollywood.” In addition to Tyler Perry Studios, Rainforest Films is another Black-owned film company based in Atlanta. Black Music Capital Atlanta is the birthplace and home to some of the most successful Black musicians in the country. Among these are six of hip-hop's highest paid artists in the world, according to Forbes magazine's 2013 annual “Hip-Hop’s Wealthiest Artists” list. They are as follows - Kanye West, Ludacris, Lil Jon, Young Jeezy, Akon and 2 Chainz. Only New York City had higher representation on the list. The New York Times noted that after 2000, Atlanta moved "from the margins to becoming hip-hop's center of gravity, part of a larger shift of hip-hop's innovation to the South." Black Brain Gain The Wall Street Journal reports that Atlanta has gained the largest draw of African-Americans as they continue their Southward migration over the past decade. The city has become a magnet for Black professionals. Its metro area added about 500,000 African-Americans between the 2000 and 2009 period, that's more than twice the next-largest numeric gainer, Dallas, according to an analysis of Census data by William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Culture Only New York City rivals Atlanta in the number of museums of Black history, art and cultural heritage. The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and APEX Museum are in the "Sweet" Auburn Street area just east of Downtown. Atlanta civic and political leader John Wesley Dobbs (1882-1961) called "Sweet" Auburn Avenue, "the richest Negro street in the world." Other African-American museums are within walking distance of each other on the Atlanta University Center campus or in nearby West End, a neighborhood of Victorian houses that has become the center of the African-centered movement in Atlanta.

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