New South in the context of "Atlanta"

The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on plantations and slavery, generally Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. East Texas, North Florida, the Arkansas Delta, South Arkansas, West Tennessee, and the southern part of North Carolina are sometimes included as well. Following the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the region experienced significant economic hardship and became a focal point of racial tension during and after the Reconstruction era.

Before 1945, the Deep South was often referred to as the "Cotton States" since cotton was the primary cash crop for economic production. The civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s helped usher in a new era, sometimes referred to as the New South. The Deep South is part of the highly religious, socially conservative Bible Belt and currently is politically a stronghold of the Republican Party, after historically being one for the Democratic Party.

The New Great Migration is the demographic change from 1970 to the present, which is a reversal of the previous 60-year trend of black migration within the United States.

Since 1970, deindustrialization of cities in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, growth of jobs in the "New South" with lower costs of living, desire to reunite with family, cultural ties, the perception of lessening discrimination and religious connections have all acted to attract African Americans to the Southern United States in substantial numbers. Between 1965 and 1970 around 287,000 African Americans left the Southern United States, while from 1975 to 1980, it is estimated 109,000 African Americans migrated to the Southern United States, showing the reversal of the original Great Migration. Between 1975 and 1980, several Southern states saw net African American migration gains. In 2014, African American millennials moved in the highest numbers to Texas, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina. African American populations have continued to drop throughout much of the Northeast, especially from the state of New York and from northern New Jersey, as they rise in the South. In Massachusetts, even though the black population saw a net increase between 2010 and 2020, the Greater Boston area lost approximately 8,800 black residents and Massachusetts lost an average of 11,700 black residents per year from 2015 to 2020, with approximately half moving to Southern states and Georgia and Florida being the most popular destinations.