Dr. Maurice Hobson, an Associate Professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University, gave the luncheon keynote at the Southeastern American Studies Association (SASA) conference in Atlanta on September 29, 2023. Dr. Hobson’s talk was titled “Atlanta, the Black Mecca: It’s Complicated,” during which he assessed the role of black leadership in the city and how the poor and working-class, especially black hip hop artists, contested that governance.