Atlanta is a city of rich history and culture—rooted in Black excellence, resistance and pride.
Those tangibles came to life inside State Farm Arena for Game 3 of the WNBA Finals between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries, when the Dream steamrolled to a 97-71 win to take all the momentum that comes with a 2-1 series lead.
It wasn’t just Angel Reese continuing her run of excellence, Rhyne Howard taking it to the cup, Naz Hillmon shooting consistently, Jordin Canada doing a little bit of everything or Allisha Gray getting back into the swing of things that made it such a compelling game.
It was the ambiance that not only permeated throughout the sold-out crowd and trickled onto the floor, but also was connected to a historical tradition unique to the A.
After all, Atlanta is the cradle of the civil rights struggle. It produced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Andrew Young, John Lewis, Ralph Abernathy, Hosea Williams, C.T. Vivian and a who’s who of freedom fighters.
Maynard Jackson was inaugurated as the first Black mayor of a major southern city in 1973. One year later, Hank Aaron stepped up to the plate, eclipsed the Great Bambino to become Major League Baseball’s all-time home run king, defying racist threats coming his way by remaining unapologetically Black.
Atlanta also is home to two of the country’s most prominent HBCUs: Morehouse and Spelman.
The Dream are encapsulating the full context of Black success in Atlanta in the 21st century, the city dubbed “The Black Mecca.”
As Dr. Maurice Hobson, as civil rights historians who is the Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at Georgia State University, explained to Swish Appeal:
The idea of Atlanta as a Black Mecca came about in 1971, when Phyllis Garner wrote an article in Ebony Magazine titled “Atlanta: Black Mecca of the South.”
Several things were at play. Atlanta’s existence for Black America is based on three entities: Black Education—the HBCUs; Black Economics—the Sweet Auburn District; and Black Political Empowerment and Electoral Politics—the Black Mayors. The latest iteration of the Black Mecca is Black Expressive Culture.
I see the Black Mecca as a civil rights story about access. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (out of Birmingham, AL) and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (out of Selma, AL), Atlanta rose to prominence as a Black city based on Dr. King’s vision of civil rights. Now, civil rights are more than Black and white. It is about access and citizenship for all people—Black, white, gay, straight, domestic and international. It believes in gender equity and access to housing, healthcare, education, and jobs.
The Atlanta Dream embodies this idea. They are the dream and the vision of what Dr. King called the “Beloved Community.”
Although the South is generally conservative, Atlanta has at times shown a slight shift toward the other side. That was especially true when the WNBA helped elect Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock in 2020, following the anti-Black Lives Matter remarks of then-Dream owner and Senator Kelly Loeffler. The entire league banded together to get the pastor of Dr. King’s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta across the finish line and into the seat he holds today.
Then there is the often-underreported dimension of the Southern experience that was in full bloom at State Farm Arena: Southern hip hop. Ludacris, Monica, 2 Chainz, Quavo and others were front and center cheering on their Dream.
Lil Scrappy, T.I., and Dem Franchize Boyz hit the court during halftime. Scrappy and Tip performed the song “Backward,” while the Boyz leaned with it and rocked with it. In the third quarter, 2 Chainz and Scrappy did a song together.
Too often, hip hop culture is defined largely by the East and West Coast. However, Andre 300 and Big Boi of OutKast stepped up to the mic at the 1995 Source Awards to declare, “The South got something to say,” and that has become the battle cry to this day.
It also shows how hip hop picked up the torch left behind by the Civil Rights Movement by reminding everyone that the struggle remains. It also keeps a cultural tradition embedded in Atlanta’s political structure.
Here’s more from Dr. Hobson:
The last iteration of Atlanta as a Black Mecca is based on Atlanta’s Black Expressive Culture.
This distinctive culture became prominent in the 1970s based on the Honorable Maynard Holbrook Jackson’s creation of the Bureau of Cultural Affairs, now the Atlanta Mayors Office for Cultural Affairs, where the city used a $.01 tax to promote experiential art within the city of Atlanta, which was a Black city.
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, as Atlanta moves to world class status, it’s history and culture was highlighted and it presented the Dirty South—the unique meanings and significance of a self-defined southern style of rap and hip-hop culture—that not only put Atlanta on the map, but represented the lived experiences of Black communities in the American South as well as the global South. When you saw all of the OG artists, you saw them representing Atlanta and the Dirty South on their own terms. Thus, ATL HEAUX—gritty but smooth.
So, simply put, the fandom surrounding the Dream as they look to win a title is not isolation.
It goes back to generations of agitators and allies seeking a new way and a better world with Black pride leading the charge. The South in all its complexity, vitality, energy and down-home nature is what’s making this possible title run monumentally joyful.
A reiteration of Southern hospitality, if you will.
