Maurice J. Hobson

Ph.D., History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009
M.A., American Studies (African American Studies), University of Alabama, 2002
B.A., History/African American Studies, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1999

African American History
Twentieth-Century U.S. History
Social Movements
Urban History
Black New South Studies
Africana Studies
Oral History and Ethnography
Political History
Public History

Dr. Maurice Hobson is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Historian at Georgia State University. He earned a Ph.D. degree in History, focusing on African American History and 20th Century U.S. History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research interests are grounded in African American history, 20th Century U.S. history, comparative labor, Africana studies, oral history and ethnography, urban and rural history, political economy, and popular cultural studies. He is the author of the award-winning book titled "The Legend of the Black Mecca: Politics and Class in the Making of Modern Atlanta" and the lead historian for the forthcoming "With Faith in God and Heart and Mind: A History of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity," both with the University of North Carolina Press as well as a corpus of peer-reviewed journal articles.
Dr. Hobson engages the social sciences and has created a new paradigm called the Black New South that explores the experiences of black folk in the American South, with national and international implications, since WWII. For this, he has served as an expert witness in court cases and as a voice of insight for public historical markers, monuments and museum exhibitions.

In popular media, Dr. Hobson was consulted for the Netflix documentary "The Art of Organized Noize," which featured the Atlanta production team that changed the sound of Hip-Hop with their work with OutKast and Goodie Mob. Also, he was the chief historian for the documentary "Maynard," which detailed the life and times of the honorable Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr., Atlanta’s first black mayor. He was also the consulting historian for “Hip Hop Evolution: Atlanta,” a docuseries tracing Hip-Hop’s dynamic evolution from its beginning through the 1990s. He was also the consulting historian for the "ESPN 30 For 30: Vick" documentary detailing the controversial career of NFL quarterback Michael Vick. He served as a consulting producer and historian for HBO Documentaries’ "Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children," which details the dark history of the Atlanta Child Murders, where Atlanta’s most vibrant yet vulnerable population—its poor black children—were being hunted, kidnapped, murdered and left in fields around the Atlanta metro area. Most recently, he served as the chief historian for the award-winning iHeartRadio podcast titled “Fight Night and the Million Dollar Heist,” a true-crime podcast series detailing the infamous armed robbery after Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight. He served as a historical consultant for the PBS documentary “Downing of a Flag: A Documentary, A Film” detailing the removal of the Confederate Battle Flag in South Carolina and “This World is Not My Own,” a documentary detailing the legacy of Nellie Mae Rowe, a renowned Black woman folk artist who worked across mediums addressing the racial legacies of slavery and themes of religion and gender.

Currently, he is the featured historian and expert on American race relations for "Amerika Ungesschminkt (America without Make-Up)" with Markus Lanz for ZDF Mediathek—Germany’s Centralized National Public TV and served as the chief historian for “The Epic of Collier Heights Podcast,” produced by 99% Invisible, a sound-rich, narrative podcast that discusses unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world. Most recently, he served as the chief historian for the documentary “Bo Legs: Marvin Arrington Sr., An Atlanta Story” a film on the life, career, and impact of Judge Marvin S. Arrington, Sr of Atlanta, “Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby,” a documentary featuring the Atlanta Hip-Hop superstar, activist, and mogul Lil’ Baby, the MSNBC News podcast “Get Your Freaknik On, Into America, a show about being Black in America holding truth to power and this country to its promises told by people who have the most stake produced by Trymaine Lee, and “The BMF Documentary: Blowing Money Fast,” a docuseries about the Black Mafia Family, a drug empire.

Research Interests

Black New South Studies
Atlanta
Civil and Human Rights
Southern History and Culture
Black Expressive and Popular Culture
Politics
Public Memory

Media

Public Scholarship:
“Black Mecca or Must Unequal U.S. City: Will the Real Atlanta Please Stand Up?” As
Part of Guardian Atlanta week, The Guardian, October 22, 2018.

“The King of Atlanta: Martin Luther King Jr. and Public Memory.”

“Can Atlanta’s New Mayor Revive America’s ‘Black Mecca”?”

“From Sacred Cow to Crooked Ass Jackson: An Interview with Maurice J. Hobson about The Legend of the Black Mecca.”

"All Black Everythang: Aesthetics, Anecdotes and FX's Atlanta."

"Switching Dixies: Atlanta, Neo-Confederates, and the Centennial Games."

"But for Bull Connor and Birmingham."

“Where are we Going? Atlanta’s Long Way to Go Before Becoming Wakanda.” Villa Albertine Magazine, May 2022.

“Black Mecca or Most Unequal U.S. City: Will the Real Atlanta Please Stand Up?” As part of Guardian Atlanta week, The Guardian, October 22, 2018.

Documentary Links:
“Maynard the Movie.”

Internet Links:
Featured Plenary Panelist, “Moving and Making the Beat: A Century of African American Migrations,” hosted by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Charleston, SC, October 3, 2019, C-Span (2019)

Roundtable Panel, “Music and Art in the Black Mecca: Atlanta’s Black Cultural Politics From Maynard to Keisha,” 2018 Atlanta Studies Symposium hosted by Emory University, Atlanta, GA, (April 20, 2018)

Historian States Income Disparity Will Eventually Drive African Americans Out of Historical Atlanta Neighborhood (April 3, 2018)

Race, Class, and Politics in Modern Atlanta as the signature Black History Month Lecture for C-Span’s American History TV (February 21, 2018)

African Clothing Stores in Atlanta Credit ‘Black Panther’ with Sales Boom (2018)

Maynard Jackson’s Family Reveals Untold Legacy in New Documentary (2018)

Georgia State University's Black History Month Faculty Spotlight (2018)

ATL Runoff Map Shows Stark Racial Divide

Still the Black Mecca as Part of the Facing Race Conference—Broadcast Worldwide (2016)

Paschal’s Restaurant a Journey behind the Soul Food—Oxford African American Studies Center (2016)

Mary Mac’s Tea Room: a journey behind the soul food – Oxford African American Studies Center (2016)

Frazier Café Society: a journey behind the soul food – Oxford African American Studies Center (2016)

A Brief and Concise History of Atlanta (2016)

The Legacy of Julian Bond (2015)

Streets by VICE: Atlanta (Ponce de Leon Ave.) (2016)

Moderator for the "Taking a Stand: Activism Today" as a part of the National Conversation on Rights and Justice hosted by the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum and presented by the National Archives. C-Span (2016)

Radio Appearances and Links:
“Remembering the Life & Legacy of Civil Rights Leader Juanita Abernathy,” A Closer Look, NPR, WABE, Atlanta, GA, National Public Broadcasting, September 13, 2019

“The Economic Evolution of Atlanta’s Historic Black Neighborhoods,” A Closer Look, WABE, Atlanta Georgia, National Public Radio/Public Broadcasting Atlanta

“The Civil Rights Trail,” On Second Thought, WRAS, Atlanta, Georgia, National Public Radio/Georgia Public Broadcast

“Atlanta and ‘The Black Mecca,’” Closer Look, WABE, Atlanta, GA National Radio Affiliate

“Is Atlanta a Black Mecca?”

“The State of black America,” 1A NPR, WAMU, Washington, DC National Public Radio Affiliate

Atlanta Olympic Legacy 20-Years Later

What Atlanta Hip Hop Teaches us about 1996 Summer Olympics