Advisor(s)

Andrew Baer

Committee Member(s)

Britney Murphey
Natasha Zaretsky

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

1-27-2026

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Social & Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

The Centennial Olympiad, hosted by Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996, demonstrated key principles of the postsouthern mindset, a movement typically associated with literary criticism that, if applied to historiographic methods, offers valuable insights into how Atlantans confronted competing identities of being a modern international city hailed as the Black Mecca, and a city forever linked to the Lost Cause, Ku Klux Klan, and racial inequality. During the Opening Ceremonies, specifically, Olympic organizers curated a celebration touting the city’s and region’s multiculturalism and corporate might, as described by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympics (ACOG), the body responsible for organizing the games, in its official reports and media guides. ACOG undertook great strides to insulate visitors and viewers from unwelcome reminders of the South’s Confederate past. Yet, at the same time, the Olympification of Atlanta left many of the inner city’s poor and working-class Black residents feeling outcast and manhandled by unmet promises of inclusion and restitution for the destruction of their neighborhoods, while also spurring other protests that challenged Olympic organizers’ postsouthern message. The Olympics show how Atlantans, who many observers note harbor an uneasiness and self-consciousness about their past, navigated telling their story to an international audience tuned in to the competitions.

ProQuest Publication Number

32281732

ISBN

9798273379855

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