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White Primary is abolished in Georgia
The White Primary didn’t allow blacks to vote in primary elections after the Civil War. In the US Constitution is said that blacks were guaranteed the right to vote in general elections. The way Georgians got around not letting blacks vote in the primaries, was because the US Constitution it didn’t specifically state anything about the primaries. On March 6, 1946, the King v. Chatman case went to the US Supreme. Court, and ruled that it was unconstitutional to have the White Primary system. -
Integration of the Armed Forces
President Truman signed the order for the Integration of the Armed Forces. He signed this because he didn’t think that the Armed forces should be segregated. He felt if they were all fighting for the same reason, why separate them based of their race? This order actually stated that "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." -
Brown vs. Board of Education
The Supreme Court commands that on the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans.,approving that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The decision starts to pave the way for major desegregation. The decision takes out the 1896 Plessey v. Ferguson ordering that authorized "separate but equal" segregation of the races, but declaring that "separate educational facilities are inherently is unequal." Thanks to Brown desegregation started up. -
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks, an NAACP member refused to give us her stop on the bus. She was arrested for not giving her seat of a white person and that’s where it all started. The black community of Montgomery started a bus boycott. On December 21, 1956, thanks to the protesting, the busses were desegregated. Martin Luther King Jr. was chosen as the new president of the Montgomery Improvement Association. He was very active in leading the bus boycott. -
Change to Georgia's state flag
The change that was made to the new flag in Georgia in 1956 was they added in the Confederate Flag. The three men that created the bill were John Sammons, Jefferson Lee Davis, and Wills Harden. Some people say they changed the flag to credit the centennial of the Civil war. Others say it was changed to represent Georgia’s confrontation towards integration. From the beginning, this new flag caused a lot of tension in Georgia. The flag was finally changed in 2001! -
Crisis at Central High School and the "Little Rock Nine"
The Little Rock Nine was a group of African-American students who were brought in to Little Rock Central High School in 1957. When the Little Rock Nine went to school the Arkansas National Guard wouldn’t let them in. The Little Rock Crisis occurred, because the students were band from accessing the school by Orval Faubus. This is considered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. President Eisenhower sent an escort for the 9 boys to stop the chaos. -
Hebrew Benevolent Congregation in ATL bombed
"The Temple" was bombed early in the morning. The bomber used about 50 sticks of dynamite exploded through one side of the temple. That was one of the wealthiest and long standing temples in the area. The congregation was targeted because the Rabbi was a huge supporter of the Civil Rights Movement and integration. The charges were on 5 white men, who were in groups behind white separatism. -
Sibley Commission
This commission was established because Georgia had cut off school money to all of the schools that were integrated. John Sibley was the head of the commission. The Sibley Commission went into segregated schools and asked them why they wouldn’t segregate their school. This commission found out that segregated schools would rather close down, than stay open and be integrated. This eventually led to integrated schools. -
Integration of The University of Georgia
In 1961, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter desegregated UGA. The process of desegregating UGA started when Holmes and Hunter walked into the UGA campus and registered for class. Gov. Ernest Vandiver and key legislative leaders, kept UGA open after Georgia’s General Assembly wouldn’t fund a coeducation of black and whites school. This was considered an important moment in the civil rights period. This was just the beginning of desegregating schools in Georgia. -
Freedom Rides
In the spring and summer of 1961, volunteers (1,000+people) took bus trips through the south side of town. The volunteers were known as “freedom riders”. Many groups were attacked by fuming crowds, while they were testing out new laws that didn’t allow segregation in regional travel services. Those services included bus and railway stations. The result of the freedom rides, were that President Kennedy demanded the ICC to prohibit all segregated seating in regional vehicles and terminals. -
Albany Movement
This movement happened in Albany, GA. Martin Luther King Jr., William G. Anderson, and many other African-Americans were involved in this. All of the protesters were put in jail. Albany ran out of room in their jails, so the jail asked neighboring jails if they would take the prisoners. There was a lot of protesting over poor treatment to the blacks. Also how they wanted the same rights as the whites had mainly in transpiration. -
Birmingham, AL protests
The leader of the protests in Birmingham was MLK. With the help of the SCLC (Wyatt T. Walker and Birmingham native Fred Shuttlesworth) planning the protests, they began marches to provoke huge arrests. They wanted to start a movement to attack city’s segregation arrangement by stressing out Birmingham’s dealers in Easter Season. Which happens to be the largest spending time of the year. They wanted to pressure businesses to hire people of all races and end segregation. -
March on Washington DC
There was about a quarter of a million people (including Martin Luther King Jr.); about ¼ of the people were white who were involved in this march. These people walked all the way from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. All of the people were protesting for freedom and jobs. Martin Luther King Jr. said his “I Have a Dream” speech during this march. The final result to this march was that it was credited for helping pass the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act! -
16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham bombed
This church was targeted, because it was a place where meetings took place for civil rights leaders (Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy and Fred Shutterworth). Four girls (Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley) came to the church for Sunday school with 23 other people. Those girls were killed and the 23 others were hurt. Robert Chambliss was accused of putting 122 sticks of dynamite under the church steps. He was also a member of the KKK. -
John F. Kennedy assassinated
President Kennedy was assassinated in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. JFK was with his wife, and Texas’s Governor John Connally just moments before the assassination. Lee Harvey Oswald was the person who killed JFK. The killing was at approximately 12:30 PM. Oswald used a Sniper rifle to kill President Kennedy. President Johnson took president after President Kennedy Died. -
Civil Rights Act 1964 passed
Race, color, religion, or national origin is what the Civil Rights Act forbids discrimination of. Providing the National Government with control to enforce desegregation is what the law also offers. On July 2nd, 1964, President Johnson signs this act. This was the most extensive civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. This also was an effort to deal with increasing difficulties of blacks for equivalent rights. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed
In August, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This act was created to make it easier for Southern blacks to vote. This vote was passed by congress on August 10th, 1965. This act covers poll taxes, literacy tests, and more requirements that were used to control black voting are made prohibited. Thanks to congress and President Johnson, everyone that is 18 or older is allowed to vote, if they are a citizen of the United States of America. -
Summerhill Race Riot (Atlanta)
On September 6th, a four day race riot broke out in a neighborhood called Summerhill. The reason this riot occurred was because a white police man shot a black person that was a resident to Summerhill. The race riot was all about how annoying lower-income is still being present in black communities. Even with two periods of increasing African American political power, the blacks were frustrated. Mayor Ivan Allen went on top of a police car with a bullhorn attempting to calm down the rioters. -
MLK assassinated
Martin Luther King was at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee to lead a non-violent march, when he was assassinated. This happened when he was only 39 years old. James Earl Ray was convicted of the shooting. He was known as a racist and he escaped after killing MLK. His body was carried 3 ½ miles with about 100,000 mourners behind him. His funeral was at Ebenezer Baptist church in Atlanta and was nationally televised. Mayor Ivan Allen helped arrange MLK’s funeral. -
All Georgia schools integrated!
Thanks to Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, all schools in Georgia are integrated. This process started in 1971. This was a long process in the making because the South was so against integrating schools. When Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education commanded that Federal courts had the option to gain racial balance is when the process started. The result of this in Georgia was that all of the schools were mixed between black and white people.
