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Civil Rights Movement
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Integration of the Armed Forces
SourceThis event took place from 1945 to 1953. In the earlier years, many black veterans of WWII were taken from their homes and cars and killed. In January 1948, however, President Truman decides that he will desegregate the Armed Forces through presidential order. However, in January 1949 the job is yet to be done. In fact, the comittee holds its first meeting that very month. With the hard work of blacks and whites alike, the Armed Forces were 95% integrated by October 1953. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
ImageInfoRacial segregation was going on constantly in the 1950s. Schools were segregated all around the country so blacks went to seperate schools. Oliver Brown got the NAACP involved and they appealed to the US Supreme Court in late 1951. The Board of Education defended themselves, saying these schools prepared blacks for the segregation they would recieve later in life. The court required integration across the country's schools.The full integration was a long battle that was yet to be solved, though. -
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
SourceWhen a white man walked onto the bus 42 year old African American Rosa Parks was comfortably sitting in, the driver insisted she give up her seat to the perfectly fine "superior" white man. As a member of the NAACP, she refused. She was then arrested. In Montgomery, Alabama, blacks began to boycott the bus system. As they made up for 75% of the bus riders, this was a threat to the public transportation system. With this bold move, Rosa Parks changed the country for the better that day. -
Change to Georgia's State Flag
SourceIn 1955, John Sammons Bell proposed that the bars in the georgia flag be replaced by the flag of the Confederacy. Joining him in his cause were Jefferson Lee Davis and Willis Harden. At first, the flag was not going the be allowed, but by 1956 with the cause to stop the integration of Georgia schools, the Confederate flag was taking up 2/3 of the Georgia state flag. Almost 50 years passed before the flag was changed in 2001. -
Little Rock Nine
SourceNine black students saw a televised statement from their governor the night before school started. The governor was instructing the National Guard to surround the school and keep all black students out. The next day, of course, the students were kept out. Soon, though, NAACP lawyers got the governor to back down. President Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne Guard to protect the students during their time at the school. -
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Sibley Commission
SourceIn 1960, most state school systems had refused to integrate. Georgia's General Assembly threatened to cut funding to school systems that integrated their schools, so it was impossible even if they had wanted to. The Sibley Commission was created to study the school integration problem. The commission found that 2/3 of Georgians did not think the schools should integrate.The commission thought that the school systems should be able to choose whether or not they wanted to follow the federal law. -
Albany Movement
SourceThe Albany Movement was the push to get segregation in bus and train stations illegal. Workers of the NAACP sat in the "Whites Only" section of a bus station in Albany. They were arrested. There were no immediate effects of this, but this started the road to desegregating the US. -
Integration of UGA
SourceJudge W.A. Bootle ordered that two black students, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter be allowed to enter UGA as students. The school had been segregated for 160 years at that time. On January 11, an angry mob assembled at Charlayne Hunter's dormitory and caused damage. Following Bootle's descision, the laws that kept Georgia's schools from integrating were repealed. -
Freedom Rides
SourceThe Freedom Rides were a group of blacks whose goal was to desegregate the South's transportation. They rode on buses, going from Washington, D.C. to Jackson, Mississippi. Along the way, their buses were burned, they were beaten just blocks away from sheriff's offices, and were attacked by a sea of white protesters in Birmingham, Alabama. This event lit a huge flame of blacks riding on public transportation in the South. -
Birmingham Protests
Some of the most famous protests in the Civil Rights movement occured in Birmingham, perhaps one of the most important cities in the movement. The city was a KKK site, and considered the most racist in the country. The head of police, "Bull" Conner, was actually a help to the cause. He saw the protests as a way to practice his power, which got the country's attention. Seeing attack dogs pounce on children got the government's attention, and Civil Rights laws soon followed. -
March on Washington, D.C.
SourceSourceThe march on Washington, D.C. was the largest protest D.C. in history, and over 250,000 people attended. There were six civil rights organizations that organized the massive march: SCLC, CORE, SNCC, NAACP, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and the National Urban League. There were many goals of the march, from a $2 minimum wage to unsegregating public schools. -
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (Birmingham)
SourceThis church was a popular meeting place for civil rights leaders, which also designated it as a target for KKK members. Robert Chambliss was blamed for the bombing. He was seen placing the bomb under the steps of the church in the morning. Four girls were walking out of the church when the bomb exploded. Their ages ranged from 11-14 years old. 23 other people were injured. Justice was served over a decade later when Chambliss tried again to bomb the church. He was sentenced to life in prison. -
John F. Kennedy Assassinated
SourcePresident JFK was riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas along with his wife and another Texan politician. 2ashot was fired at 12:30PM, and hit Kennedy in the head. He was rushed to a hospital, where mutliple attempts at keeping him alive failed. Lee Harvey Oswald was suspected of killing JFK with a sniper rifle. He was later killed by Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner. There are multiple conspiracys on this story. -
1964 Civil Rights Act
SourceJohn F. Kennedy first brought about this act before he was elected. But when he was assassinated in November 1963. Lyndon B. Johnson took over the act, and his main enemy in the passing of the bill was Richard Russell, Georgia Governor, who strongly opposed any integration in the Southern states. The act, passed on June 15th, made all segregation in public places illegal. The act also stated that if the institution resisted the law, funding would be cut. -
Voting Rights Act
SourceAlthough blacks could vote before this act, they were "encouraged" not to because of the poll taxes, literacy tests, and even being threatened by white voters. The blacks began to campaign to be allowed to vote unencumbered, and were beaten down by dogs, fire hoses, and batons. But that did not stop the spirit of the crowd, and this caught the attention of the country. The bill was signed on August 6th, 1965. By 1968, 70% of eligible voters were signed up to hit the polls. -
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MLK Assassinated
SourceMLK was shot in the head while standing on a balcony in Memphis, Tennessee in the early evening. He was pronounced dead later that night. He was shot with at .30-06 rifle wielded by James Earl Ray, who was later sentenced to 99 years in prison. The life of the most influential leader in the Civil Rights movement was gone. -
All GA Schools Integrated
ImageAfter decade after decade of racial segregation in Georgia schools, and with the Civil Rights movement coming to a close, Georgia schools were finally ready to integrate and everything would fall into place. From the Sibley Commission to the Brown v. Board of Education case, the fight to integrate had come a very long way. NO INFO SOURCE - I used my own knowledge :)
