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Benjamin Mays becomes President of Morehouse College
Benjamin MaysMays became a minister, educator, social activist, and President of Morehouse College in Atlanta. Benjamin Mays was highly motivated by the nonviolent teachings of Gandhi and thought that all human beings must be treated equally and with dignity. He spoke out against segregation before the Civil Rights movement commenced and later held a major role in the NAACP. Mays became a teacher and mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr. -
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Civil Rights Movement
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Herman Talmadge loses position as Governor
Three Governors ControversyDuring Herman Talmadge’s 1948 tenure as governor, he restructured the state highway department, created the Georgia Forestry Commission, and provided leadership for improvements in soil conservation programs, county health departments, and the state’s prison system. Talmadge made also heavy reforms in the field of education and established the first sales tax. Talmadge was a Democrat and strongly opposed civil rights laws, supported segregation, and refused to integrate schools. -
Election of Melvin E. Thompson after “Three Governor’s Controversy”
Three Governors ControversyDuring the “Three Governor’s Controversy”, after the death of Governor Eugene Talmadge before taking office, a struggle followed, with three men claiming the office: Herman Talmadge, the son of Eugene Talmadge, Ellis Arnall, the current Governor, and Melvin E. Thompson, the Lieutenant Governor. The disputed election was challenged in court, and the Georgia Supreme Court declared Thompson as the legal governor. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Opposing Opinion of Judge Waites Waring In 1950, seven-year-old Linda Brown, a black student, tried to enroll in an all-white school in Kansas. When entry was denied, the NAACP helped Brown’s father sue the Topeka Board of Education. After the case the Supreme Court, the ruling in the Plessy vs Fergusson case was finally overturned. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the favor of NAACP, by stating that segregated schools were unconstitutional (the “equal protection” clause), ordered racial integration of schools. -
State flag changed
In order to demonstrate its disagreement with the result of Brown vs. Board of Education, GA changed its state flag to incorporate the Confederate battle flag in 1956. -
Founding of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
The SNCC was founded to promote African American civil rights, focusing its efforts in Albany and Atlanta. The SNCC was first established in Raleigh, North Carolina where students opposing segregation collaborated. The SNCC strived to organize youth led non-violent, active campaigns against racism and discrimination, adopting MLK’s peaceful protests. The SNCC carried out student-led sit-ins to protest segregated lunch counters and buses, known as “Freedom Rides” to promote voter registration. -
Sibley Commission
Georgia’s political leaders formed a fourteen-member commission to survey Georgians how they felt about the issue of Supreme Court ruling against segregation in schools, led by instrumental Atlanta banker John Sibley. According to the Commission’s findings from the public, most Georgians said they would rather close the schools than integrate them. Therefore, Sibley and the commission recommended that each school district should be able to decide for itself their own policy on integration. -
Integration of the University of Georgia
U.S. District Court in Athens, GA, the University of Georgia announced the ruling that the University of Georgia would be integrated. Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, ignoring the fiery threats and resistance, became the first two African Americans to enroll at UGA. -
Albany Movement
As a result of segregation in interstate bus and train stations, the Albany Movement was coordinated, a union between SNCC volunteers and the NAACP. The Albany Movement, supported by Martin Luther King Jr., was comprised of mass demonstrations and rallies to object to arrests of black citizens attempting to integrate the city’s bus and train terminals, sit in “white only” areas, and end all forms of segregation, triggering the arrest of 500 protesters. -
March on Washington
March on Washington<a More than 250,000 blacks and whites gathered in Washington D.C., demanding equal rights for African Americans and an end for segregation. During the event Martin Luther King Jr. presented his well-known “I Have a Dream” speech. MLK, born in Atlanta, GA, contributed enormously towards the Civil Rights Movement. King received an education at Morehouse College under Benjamin Mays and followed non-violent ideology to transform society, leading demonstrations, marches, and the Montgomery bus boycott. -
Civil Rights Act
Civil Rights ActCivil Rights ActUnder President Lyndon Johnson’s leadership, widely considered the Civil Rights President, and with the political pressure of both black and white supporters, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law, becoming the most far-reaching and important civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. The Senate passed the law in response to the March on Washington, making it unlawful to discriminate during employment or in any public place or business based on sex or age. -
Election of Lester Maddox
Lester Maddox was initially a segregationist and restaurant owner. However, as governor, he surprised many by appointing more African Americans to government boards and commissions than all prior governors combined, reformed state prisons, and integrated the Georgia State Patrol. The governor increased spending on teacher salaries and improved Georgia universities. Maddox also coordinated “People’s Day” where, twice a month, average citizens could come talk to the Governor in person. -
Election of Mayor Maynard Jackson:
Maynard JacksonAs the youngest and first African-American mayor of Atlanta, Maynard Jackson created “neighborhood planning units” to give local community citizens a voice in city politics. He reformed police and fire departments and city government. In addition, Jackson led the development and expansion of MARTA and the Hartsfield International Airport into one of the largest, busiest airports in the world. Lastly, Jackson secured Atlanta’s selection as the host city for the 1996 Olympic Summer Games. -
Andrew Young succeeds Maynard Jackson as mayor of Atlanta
Andrew Young was a major Civil Rights Leader, who organized voter registration and desegregation efforts in Albany and other southern cities and worked closely with MLK, Jr. during the 1950’s and 1960’s. In 1972, Young was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, the first black elected from GA since Reconstruction. In 1977, President Carter appointed Young to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. In 1996, he served as cochairman of the Atlanta Commission on the Olympic Games.
