Atlanta has been a center for a “new” South in the post-Civil War era and the twentieth century. In both eras, this promise conveys civic hope and overlooks ongoing problems, especially those of race.

Incorporated as a city in 1847, Atlanta developed around the intersection of railroads linking the Atlantic and Gulf coasts with the Ohio Valley and the Midwest. Since the 1960s, a complex system of expressways and one of the world’s busiest airports has made Atlanta one of the most dynamic regions in the country. By the late 1990s, the population of the twenty-county Atlanta metropolitan region soared to nearly 4 million (city population 425,000).

Nevertheless, Atlanta’s growth has been very uneven, with most recent increases in employment and population taking place in a broad swath of suburban counties. Between 1970 and 1995, the central city experienced a steady decline in jobs and residents (modest growth reappeared in the late 1990s). As in many other US metropolitan areas, the urban/rural distinction partially corresponds to a racial divide. In 1960 two-thirds of the city’s inhabitants were white; in 1980 an equivalent portion of the urban population was African American. In the 1990s, two-thirds of the suburban population was white, although African Americans, especially middle-class households, had increased markedly during the previous decade. Hence, African Americans dominate city government, while whites control the suburban political establishment, despite Atlanta’s image as the “capital of the Civil Rights movement” and the presence of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center.

For most of Atlanta’s history its social dynamics have largely been a matter of relations between native-born blacks and whites. Since the 1980s, however, the inmigration of transplants from other parts of the United States, as well as the arrival of several hundred thousand immigrants and refugees from Latin America, Eastern Europe, subSaharan Africa, the Middle East and South, East and Southeast Asia have changed the city. In the early 1990s, it was estimated that more than 60 percent of the metro area population was born outside of Georgia.

Atlanta’s economy now includes telecommunications, finance, conventions and a wide range of business services. Its alluring business climate attracts billions of dollars each year in foreign, as well as domestic, investment. The presence of foreign capital, the expanded global reach of Atlanta-based companies, a global television network (CNN) and the 1996 Olympics reinforced boosters’ claims that Atlanta is indeed “The World’s Next Great International City” Atlanta is also a regional center for higher education, especially for African Americans. It is home to five traditionally black colleges (More-house, Spellman, Clark, Atlanta, Morris Brown), as well as Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia State University. Professional sports teams also form an important component of Atlanta’s identity as a major-league city including the Braves (baseball), the Falcons (football), the Hawks (basketball) and the Thrashers (hockey).