Atlanta has long been known as the Black Mecca of America.
In 1960, Ray Charles sang, “I said Georgia, Georgia, a song of you (a song of you) comes as sweet and clear as moonlight through pines. Other arms reach out to me. Other eyes smile tenderly. Still, in peaceful dreams, I see the road leads back to you.”
Throughout Black history, Charles was not the only person to have an affinity for “The Peach State.”
Georgia, specifically Atlanta, has been known as a Black Mecca for generations.
And now the state has become the ninth state with a predominantly minority population.
On June 25, Jennifer Peeples of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, “Georgia’s population has grown by more than a half million people in the past five years, with nonwhite residents accounting for all the net growth, signaling an increasingly diverse state.
“New estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday found that more than 40% of the new residents between 2020 and 2025 are Hispanic. Another 33% are Black and 20% are Asian, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of the data.
“During the same period, the state lost about 25,000 White non-Hispanic residents. Georgia is now home to about an equal number of White and nonwhite residents—about 52% are nonwhite.”
Black Americans make up approximately 30 percent of the Georgia population.
Non-Hispanic Whites make up approximately 48 percent of the state’s population.
Hispanics account for approximately 11 to 12 percent of Georgia’s residents.
And Asians make up between four and five percent of all Georgians.
The modern-day Civil Rights Movement arguably began in Montgomery, Ala., with Rosa Parks, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott.
However, the heart of the movement resided in Atlanta, especially after King moved back to his hometown to co-pastor Ebenezer Baptist Church with his father, Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr.
The ATL has often boasted an activist reputation.
Additionally, the city has enjoyed a reputation for affluence and educational excellence thanks to the Atlanta University Center, which includes Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University and Morris Brown College, all Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
And when Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, formerly of the R&B band The Deele, opened up LaFace Records in Atlanta, the city became a launching pad for the careers of some of the biggest R&B and hip-hop acts of all time like TLC, Usher, Outkast and Goodie Mob.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Atlanta gained a reputation as the location for Black college students to travel to on Spring Break for Freaknik.
And in the summer of 1996, Atlanta became the center of the sports universe when the Olympics came to town.
In fact, many of the states with the largest percentage of Black residents have something in common with Georgia.
Many are in the South, with Southern states seeing many Black Americans returning in somewhat of a reverse Great Migration.
According to World Atlas and 2020 census data, Black residents make up 37.9 percent of Mississippi, the Magnolia State.
Louisiana is 33.1 percent Black.
Maryland is 32 percent Black.
Alabama is 26.8 percent Black.
South Carolina is 26.8 percent Black.
Delaware is 24.7 percent Black.
North Carolina is 22.5 percent Black.
Virginia is 20.9 percent Black.
New York is 17.5 percent Black.
Although the District of Columbia is not a state, the District is 44.2 percent Black.
Despite Georgia’s new status as the ninth majority-minority state, as of 2025, it still ranked outside of the top 10 for most diverse states.
Last year, the Peach State ranked 11th in diversity.
The top 10 most diverse states, from one to 10, are: California, Texas, New Mexico, Florida, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, Maryland and Arizona.
The 10 least diverse states from 50-41 are: West Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Montana, Kentucky, Wyoming, Iowa, Utah and North Dakota.
To determine diversity, WalletHub considered factors such as socioeconomic, cultural, economic, household, religious and political status and affiliations.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported, “The bottom ten states are mostly found in the Northeast and Midwest, known for lower rates of migration, less linguistic and racial variety, and more homogenous economies.”
Predominantly minority states include Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Maryland, Georgia, Florida and New Jersey.
Many political pundits believe that changing American demographics are one of the reasons that President Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and the United States Supreme Court cleared the path for states to gerrymander their congressional districts, eliminating many Black and Brown congresspeople.
Republican operatives said that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was no longer needed because of racial progress.
Therefore, the GOP wanted to create colorblind districts.
But their efforts have largely just created predominantly White districts by eliminating districts that served predominantly Black and Hispanic areas for decades.
Georgia is a key area for White Republicans because the state has often defied the orders of President Trump to vote for his candidates of choice.
Furthermore, Georgia voted for former President Joe Biden in 2020, which led Trump to infamously ask for state leaders to find him the votes necessary to steal the state from his Democratic opponent.
Georgia stayed on Trump’s mind through the latter days of 2020 and into early 2021.
Will the state stay on the minds of political leaders as it continues to become browner?
Only time will tell.
As Charles once sang, “Georgia, no peace, no peace I find. Just an old, sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind.”
