CLOSE
Once celebrated as the “Black Mecca” and dubbed “Black Hollywood,” Atlanta is now facing a sobering reality: it is no longer a majority-Black city.
A new report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition reveals that Atlanta ranks second in the U.S. for neighborhoods that have flipped from Black to white between 1980 and 2020. The study estimates that over 22,000 Black residents have been displaced as gentrification reshapes the city’s cultural and economic landscape. Historic neighborhoods like the Old Fourth Ward, East Atlanta, and Kirkwood have seen dramatic demographic shifts—displacing the very communities that built and defined them.
On The Lo Down, we talked about how this shift isn’t just about rising rents or new condos. It’s about legacy. It’s about kids growing up without access to the same Atlanta their parents knew—where Black culture thrived, businesses flourished, and community felt rooted…