In the August 1971 issue of Ebony Magazine, which examined the South after the civil rights movement, editor John H. Johnson explained, “Today with the legal maneuvering almost complete and the long-sought civil rights laws firmly on the records, many blacks are looking backward to the land of their birth. They are wondering what the South is really like today.”¹Though the issue featured a wide range of contributions, its centerpiece was journalist Phyl (Phyllis) Garland’s “Black Mecca of the South,” on Atlanta. The article examined African American business, educational, and religious developments, concluding that black Atlantans were positioned to lead in the emerging post-civil rights movement era.² In her discussion of Atlanta’s black colleges, Garland briefly mentions “Dr. Vincent Harding’s Institute of the Black World.” Though the article never mentions the Institute’s purpose, the IBW was central to the formation of Atlanta as a black intellectual Mecca in the 1970s.