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Benjamin Mays - becomes President of Moorehouse College
Benjamin Mays was a distinguished African American minister, educator, scholar, and social activist. MLK was his most famous student at Moorehouse. He was also the school board of Georgia' first black chair, and oversaw the desegregation of the Atlanta public schools between 1970 and 1981. -
Governor's Race/End of White Primary
Also called Georgia's "three governors controversy", it occured in 1946-47. After Gene Talmadge died, a plan was proposed that allowed the Georgia legislature to elect a governor in January 1947. The controversy was between Herman Talmadge (son of Gene), Melvin Thompson (Lt. Gov.), and Ellis Arnall (current gov.). -
Herman Talmadge - elected Governor
Herman Talmadge was the son of Eugene Talmadge, and was the 70th governor of Georgia, and was so until 1955. He was a part of 'The Three Governor's Controversy." He resisted integration of the public school system. He was also elected to four terms in Senate, the first in 1956. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education Informational VideoSupreme Court ruled in favor of Brown, and ended legal segregation in schools. This overruled the previous Plessy v. Ferguson case, which said that facilities must be seperate but equal for blacks and whites. This also sparked the Civil Rights Movement. -
GA State Flag Controversy
The General Assembly was deciding whether or not to substitute the confederate flag for the red and white bars on the GA state flag. After Brown v. Board, the decision was accepted after a massive resistance platform during the General Assembly session. The new flag with the confederate flag in it was said to represent everything Georgians stood for - mainly legal segregation. -
Martin Luther King - president of SCLC at launch of SCLC
He was the head of the Montgomery Improvement Association. In August 1957 the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was launched with King as president. He was a strong believer in non-violence. He gave the "I Have A Dream" speech at the March on Washington. In 1964 King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. In 1965 King and the SCLC campaigned in Selma, Alabama, for black voting rights. On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. -
SNCC formed
SNCC Informational VideoThe Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee was formed. It was made up of mostly high school and college students. It was a major civil rights organization in the 1960's. They were famous for freedom rides and sit-ins, and organized and began the Albany Movement. -
SIbley Commission-presents reports to state leaders
The Georgia General Assembly supported segregation. Governor Ernest Vandiver Jr. didn't want to make an unpopular vote of deciding between following federal orders to integrate schools or shutting the publc school system down, so he created a committee to get the citizens' opinions. John Sibley was put in charge, and this group found that 60% of citizens would rather shut down schools than integrate them. -
Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes to UGA
55 years of desegregation at UGAThey both were denied into UGA even with their high qualifications because of their race. There were angry protests and riots. They took their case to federal court, and in this month, they recieved the court ruling that they could enroll. They were the first African-American students at UGA, and both graduated and became successful. -
Albany Movement - begins
Lasted until August 1962. It was organized by SNCC, and was a successful failure. The plan was for the people to meet and all get arrested, but they didn't plan well, since once they all got arrested, there was no one left to protest. It was eye-opening for SNCC. After SNCC left Albany, the segregation laws were erased. -
March on Washington
MLK leads March on WashingtonIt was the largest demonstration ever seen in the nation's capital, with over 250,00 people attending. It occured in Washington, D.C. and there were many civil rights coalitions represented. It was a civil rights march for jobs and freedom. It was at this event that MLK gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. This event led to the passage of the Civil RIghts Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
Civil Rights Act - enacted
This act forbade discrimination by race/sex in hiring/promoting/firing (basically in work). It was after this that the EOCC (Equal Employment Opportunity Committee) was formed. -
Lester Maddox - elected Governor
Interview with MaddoxMaddox was the 75th Governor of Georgia, and served until 1971. He was against black civil rights. He owned a restaurant called the Pickrick that he made sure stuck with the Jim Crow Laws, even after the Civil Rights act of 1964. -
Maynard Jackson - elected
He was the first African American to be elected mayor of a major Southern city. He served 2 terms, and then returned for a 3rd after Andrew Young. He graduated from Moorehouse College. He started a program that ensured that minorities shared in the prosperity of the city through municipal contracts. He expanded the Hartsfield Airport into a major transportation hub (renamed Hartsfield-Jackson Int'l after him in 2003) and reformed the police force, and brought the Olympics to ATL in summer 1996. -
Andrew Young - elected mayor
His election signaled the institutionalization of the revolution in black political power he had helped to create in Georgia. For the first time, a black man had been mayor twice in a row. Young also was an trusted aide of MLK, whom he joined in SCLC in 1961, and eventually became executive director of. He was with MLK when he was assassinated.
