The Black mecca branding got a boost in 1973 with the election of Atlanta’s first Black mayor, Maynard Jackson. It was called into question during the Atlanta child murders in the 1980s.

‘Tis the Hajj season again. Once a year, millions of pilgrims dressed in white descend on Islam’s holiest site: Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

When you look at Black migration patterns over the past 50 years, Atlanta does appear to be a mecca. ... The article traced the movement of Black people to the South from the 1990s to the present.