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Benjamin Mays
Picture of Banjamin MaysBenjamin Mays served many careers throughout his life such as being the long-term president of Morehouse College, a respected minister, a teacher, and a social activist.One of his biggest roles is being known as the mentor of Martin Luther King Jr. Mays did most of his work to end segregation before the civil rights movement started and he was known as a outspoken critic who fought for desegregation.Other efforts Mays put toward desegregating includes leading several national organizations. -
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Herman Talmadge
Herman Talmadge Herman Talmadge was the son of former Georgia governor, Eugene Talmadge, and also served as governor temporarily in 1947 and was elected through 1948 and 1954. After governance, Herman Talmadge dominated his position in the U.S. Senate by keeping his chair in the Senate from 1956-1980.Talmadge was both a governor and a senator at a very important time in the history of the nation, the civil right movement. Talmadge's main focus in the Senate was the protection of rural America. -
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Lester Maddox
Picture of Lester MaddoxIn 1967, Lester Maddox was elected to governor, beating Ellis Arnall. He had a strong belief in segregation and he was known for often closing down a restaurant instead of desegregating it. However, many Georgians were surprised when he elected African Americans to state boards and commissions. He also increased teach salaries, integrated the Georgia State Patrol, and reformed many GA prisons. After his term was over, Maddox ran for lieutenant governor, but he did not win. -
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Andrew Young
Picture of Andrew Young Andrew Young is an American politician, diplomat, activist, and pastor from Georgia. Andrew Young first became part of the Civil Rights Movement when he organized voter registration drives to help African Americans. He then moved to NYC to work with the National Council of Churched in 1957 and then returned back to Georgia in 1961 to help lead a few citizenship schools that tutored African American in literacy, organization, and leadership skills. -
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1946 Governor's Race
1946 Governor's Race • The 1946 governor's race is important, because blacks were able to vote for governor for the first time and it led to the three governor's controversy. Eugene Talmadge was just about to be elected to his fourth term when he died. When the General Assembly elected Talmadge's son Herman Talmadge as governor, the newly elected lieutenant governor, Melvin Thompson, claimed the office of governor, and Ellis Arnall, refused to leave office. This created lots of confusion in office. -
Outcome of the Brown Versus the Board of Education Case
Brown Versus Board of Education Case The outcome of this case was that the Court unanimously ruled that "separate but equal" public schools for blacks and whites were unconstitutional on May 17th, 1954. The outcome of the Brown case was known as a pathway to inspiring education reform everywhere and desegregating more of the community. It caused the nation to make great strides toward offering equal education to all students across the nation. -
1956 State Flag
In 1955 the Atlanta attorney, John Bell, began a campaign to substitute the square Confederate battle flag for the red and white bars on Georgia's state flag and got many other legislators to agree mostly as an appropriate way to mark the upcoming centennial of the Civil War. The decision to change the flag was highly influenced by the Brown case. The flag bill went through the legislature with no public hearings and attracted little attention in the press and got approved. -
The Sibley Commission
Governor Ernest Vandiver was forced to choose between closing the public schools or desegregate them as part of a order from the General Assembly. As a result, the General Assembly Committee on schools was created and was known as Sibley Commission. The Sibley Commission went around to ask the people about the decision and reported it back to the governor. The outcome was that most people would close schools rather than desegregate, but later minds were changed and schools were desegregated. -
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Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
SNCC The creation of the SNCC was mainly due to the new idea of protesting at the time which were called sit-ins, an event where people enter a public location and refuse to leave until they are served. The committee started with a student from Shaw University holding meetings and then started to grow when donators from the North offered the members salaries. The members of the organization held sit-ins, boycotts of businesses that refused blacks, and helped blacks register to vote. -
Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter go to UGA
Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter were the first two African Americans to be accepted into UGA. Governor Vandiver supported the acceptance of the two, but it angered many citizens of Georgia, because he promised he would keep schools segregated when he was elected. The acceptance of these two African Americans even caused to him to repeal other segregation laws. Holmes and Hunter grew up to be successful and were best remembered for desegregating Georgia's universities. -
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Albany Movement
Albany Movement This movement was known as a successful failure, because it was the biggest movement in the civil right era of desegregating an entire city, but the movement resulted in over a thousand African Americans in Albany and surrounding areas to be jailed. Martin Luther King became involved with the movement when he was jailed along with other African Americans in December 1961, but left after a few months claiming he could not help the movement achieve its goals. -
The March on Washington
March on Washington The March on Washington was a political rally organized by multiple civil rights and religious groups where more than 200,000 Americans gathered in Washington D.C. to fight for Jobs and Freedom. The event was planned to help draw national attention to the political and social challenges African Americans faced at the time. The event marked a huge breakthrough in the civil rights movement and was popularly known as where MLK delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act The Civil Rights act, passed in 1964, ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. When the Civil Rights act was passed, it was considered one of the biggest legislative achievements in the civil rights movement. The act was proposed by President Kennedy, but instantly got disapproval from southern members of the legislature. It was actually signed into law by Lindon B. Johnson. -
Election of Maynard Jackson as Mayor of Atlanta
Maynard Jackson Maynard Jackson was known as both the youngest and first African American mayor of Georgia. While he was mayor, he made a big effort to help improve Atlanta and he did 6 main projects to do this. He created a program to give local citizens a voice in city politics. He changed the organization of the politics and fire departments. He even increased the budget for transportation such as MARTA. Another thing he did was start the Bureau of Cultural Affairs in 1975 which helpd art progragrams.
