Atlanta - Urban Politics
Research Laboratory
Our "Atlanta Laboratory"
Considered by many as the “capitol of the American South,” Atlanta is well known for its entertainment industry, national sports teams, major musical and artistic festivals, and the headquarters of numerous Fortune 500 corporations. As an international city, Atlanta is the home of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, one of the largest airports and busiest hubs in the world. Today, Atlanta is a national center of teaching, research and intellectual work. Studying and learning in the city offer endless opportunities to students interested in completing undergraduate or graduate degrees in political science at CAU. We call this our “Atlanta Laboratory.”
Our Model: The Atlanta University Studies (1896-1944)
Since the 1860s, CAU’s parent institutions, Atlanta University (1865) and Clark College (1869), have produce systematic studies of Atlanta, its communities and institutions, and the lived experiences of Black people therein. The famous Atlanta University Studies conducted by Professor W.E.B. DuBois over a century ago has become a touchstone for social science research on the Black experience, and serves as a one of our Department's proud models for grounded and purposeful research. In the 1960s and 1970s, the city became home to many of the movements, organizations, neighborhoods, and prominent individuals that spearheaded the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Black Student Movements. Such are the topics and inquiries that can be found among our faculty publications and student research.
Our Atlanta Research Tradition
A feature of the CAU Department of Political Science is its record of producing graduates with research profiles distributed across global, national, state and local levels of political analysis. A particular tradition in the Department has been the long line of research specializations on Atlanta politics, the City of Atlanta and the broader Atlanta metropolitan area. In this tradition, we nurture student interests in the dynamic, influential and often contentious Atlanta political arena by systematically incorporating Atlanta politics into our curricula, course assignments, internships, Departmental Seminars, faculty scholarship, and thesis and dissertation research.
Selected Atlanta-Focused Political Science
Dissertation & Thesis Research, 1969-2025
1969. Boone, William H. “The Atlanta Community Relations Commission.”
1969. Ford, David L., Jr. “The impact of legal assistance on the lives of poor black Atlantans.”
1973. Braxton, Gloria Jennieu. “The black labor movement in Atlanta: An Assessment of the role of the community organization.”
1973. Jackson, Nathaniel R. “Land use and black Atlanta.”
1975. Suber, Malcolm. “The internal black politics of Atlanta Georgia 1944-1969: An analytic study of black political leadership and organization.”
1976. Hannon, Ruth Jackson. “Black power and revenue sharing: Impact on Macon County, Alabama and Atlanta, Georgia.”
1976. Strickland, Marva. “The development of public unionism: 1960 to the present: A case study of the Atlanta School Board employee organization.”
1977. McMicheal, Wallace. “The effects of citizen participation on the attitudes and behavior of community residents in two public agencies in Atlanta.”
1978. Yancy, Dorothy Cowser. “The spectre of public unionism from 1966 to 1976: A critical analysis of labor policies of the City of Atlanta.”
1979. Farokhi, Nasrolah Rashid. “The influence of non-governmental business and interest group organizations on urban politics and policymaking: A case study of the leadership role and influence of the Atlanta chambers of commerce, 1960-1978.”
1980. Hill, Leslie Irene. “Black political behavior in Atlanta, Georgia: An analysis of the politics of exchange, 1908-1973.”
1980. Silver, Joseph Howard. “The administration of bail in Fulton county, Georgia, 1950-1978: An examination of the case of discretion in one aspect of criminal justice."
1980. Steele, Daniel J. “Housing for the elderly: An Analysis of the process through which the City of Atlanta, GA seeks to provide adequate housing for its elderly citizens, 1977-1978.”
1981. Johnson, Annie R. “The City of Atlanta's response to prostitution.”
Picard, Earl F. "A critique of the epistemological foundation of the political economy departure in urban studies: Marxism and Althusserian structuralism in the works of manuel Castells and David Harvey." 1982.
Hudlin, Richard A. “Does Frazier's Black Bourgeoisie describe Atlanta Blacks?” 1984.
Johnson, Valerie C. “The impact of the black church on local politics in Atlanta, Georgia in 1985.” 1986.
Linsey, Yvette Lorraine. “A descriptive study of the campaign of Richard B. Lankford in the 1984 election for Fulton County Sheriff.” 1986.Payne, James Edward. “The impact of black collegiate fraternities upon Atlanta city politics, 1981-1985.” 1986.
1987. Booker, Juanita. "The pre-trial publicity in the Wayne Williams Trial: A case study."
1988. Strickland, Marva Yvonne. “The consequences of sub-state regionalism in a Southern metropolis: A case study of the Atlanta Regional Commission.”
197Butler, Jacob Eugene. “Racial Conflict and Polarization as a constraint on black mayoral leadership in urban policy: An analysis of public finance and urban development in Atlanta, Georgia during the mayoral tenure of Maynard H. Jackson,1973-1977.” 1989.
Young, Kurt. “Institutional Racism, Redlining, and the decline of six Atlanta communities.” 1994.
Ealey, Douglas E. “The political economy of urban redevelopment and the black church in Atlanta: A case study of cluster churches in the Empowerment Zone Initiative.” 2001.
Sewell, Said. “Quantitative analysis of black Baptist pastors: perceptions and actions toward community development in Atlanta, Georgia.” 2001.
Usanga, James E. “Countering the threat of terrorism: A descriptive case study of the strategic security plan used in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games.” 2001.
Wilkes, Robert. “A case study analysis of the attitudes of elected officials regarding quality of life ordinances that impact the street homeless in Atlanta, Georgia, and San Francisco, California.” 2001.
Waymon, Shun. “Brownsfield Revisited: A look at the City of Atlanta, landuse and community participation.” 2002.
Jackson, Alice. “Municipal codes and race-based transit practices and policies in Atlanta, Georgia, and Montgomery, Alabama.” 2004.
Walker, Carmen. “A study of black female political participation in Atlanta, Georgia.” 2007.
White, Celeste Michelle. “Electoral participation among black women in Georgia: A comparative analysis between Atlanta and Keysville.” 2009.
Penosen, Tayo E. “An analysis of the black church in Atlanta politics.” 2011.
Rankin, Nicholas. “Transportation: The regulation and funding of Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) and transportation equity.” 2012.
Alexander, Valerie. “Where Have All the People Gone? A policy review and geospatial analysis of HOPE VI in Atlanta.” 2015.
Harris, Tamill. "The Role of Political Leadership in Shaping Urban Inequality: A Case Study of Atlanta’s Black NPUs" 2025.
Taggart, Marshall. " The Pathway to Cityhood: A Case Study on the Perceptions of City Leader Motivations in Forming the City of South Fulton, Georgia" 2025
