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Benjamin Mays (1894-1984)
• President of Morehouse College
• Adviser of Martin Luther King Jr. (King went to Morehouse)
• Open opponent of segregation
• Leadership in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the International Young Men’s Christian Association, the World Council of Churches, the United Negro College Fund, the National Baptist Conservation, the Urban League, the Southern Conference for Human Welfare, the Southern Conference Educational Fund, and the Peace Corps Advisory Committee -
Andrew Young (1932-)
• Aided in the organization of “citizenship schools”, schools that educated nonviolent organizing tactics to many future civic leaders, for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which was organized by Martin Luther King Jr.
• Executive director of the SCLC
• Organized voter registration and degradation campaigns
• Won Georgia’s Fifth District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives
• Named by President Jimmy Carter the ambassador to the United Nations
• Mayor of Atlanta in 1981 -
End of White Primary
In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled that White Primary in Texas was unconstitutional during the case of Smith vs. Allwright, which also allowed African Americans in Georgia to vote in the Democratic primary. However, the Democrats didn't want that and tried to turn their primary a private club. Governor Ellis Arnall prevented that, which caused white primary to slowly come to an end. In result, in the year 1946, African Americans could finally vote for governor. -
1946 Governor's Race
In late December of 1906, Eugene Talmadge died before he could serve his 4th term as governor, which was expected of Talmadge’s followers, who secretly voted for his son, Herman Talmadge, due to Eugene Talmadge’s health. However, the office of lieutenant governor was formed in the 1946 election, with Melvin Thompson elected, and was to become governor if the governor died. However, the Talmadge forces made the General Assembly to immediately select a governor, with the choice being Talmadge, so, -
1946 Governor's Race Cont.
Thompson appealed to the Supreme Court to claim his office. In addition, Ellis Arnall, who was governor before the election, refused to leave office until it’s clear who’s governor. So, on the day of the legislative election, both Talmadge and Arnall claimed the position of governor and took office. In the end, Arnall gave up and rooted for Thompson. Finally, in March of 1947, the Georgia Supreme Court decided that Thompson was the legal governor until a special election was held. -
Special Election of 1948
After Talmadge’s quick departure when Thompson was announced the legal governor of Georgia until the special election, Talmadge grabbed the attention of many young voters and war veterans returning from WWII, along with previous supporters of Eugene Talmadge. So, during the special election, Tallmadge effortlessly won over Thompson. While Talmadge was governor, sales tax was put into practice, which provided fund for GA’s public schools, and also brought new industry to the state. -
Brown v. Board of Education
In 1954, Oliver Brown brought a case against the Topeka, Kansas school board. Brown’s child was not accepted to Topeka’s white schools and he stated that the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause was violated because black and white schools were unequal. After he was dismissed by the federal district court, Brown appealed to the Supreme Court, and the decision stated that the Equal Protection Clause was violated with segregation in public schools, which achieved integration years after. -
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1956 State Flag
John Sammons Bell started a campaign in 1956 to replace the red and white bars on GA’s state flag with the Stars and Bars on the Confederate battle flag to symbolize GA’s belief in legal segregation. The bill passed in 1956 due to the negative reactions to the 1954 decisions in Brown v. Board of Education. Later, people found the flag a poor state flag, causing people to attempt to change the flag, resulting in a divided state. However, great support of the flag kept it there until 2001. -
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Sibley Commission
The Sibley Commission was a committee that gathered GA residents’ ideas on integration because Governor Vandiver couldn’t decide whether to integrate or shut down public schools. Vandiver picked John Sibley to lead the commission due to Sibley’s rejection to desegregation, even though he knew it was pointless and tried to lessen it. After 10 hearings, 60% chose to resist integration. Ignoring the results, Sibley presented the report to the state leaders and proposed his idea to integrate schools -
Sibley Commission Cont.
while still keeping the two races separate. However, before the General Assembly even had the chance to vote, the crisis of Holmes and Hunter being admitted to UGA brought conflict between state and federal government. With the victory of the federal government, Vandiver chose to go with the federal government’s will and went with Sibley’s idea for integration. Even though the Sibley Commission prevented violence, it also slowed the desegregation process. -
Founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) started when students in Greensboro, NC, and Nashville, TN, opposed segregated lunch counters by doing sit-ins. It was founded in April of !960, when the students met Ella Baker, who was the executive secretary of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the campus of Shaw University in Raleigh, NC. The SNCC protested segregation by doing sit-ins, Freedom Rides, participating in the March of Washington, and other nonviolent actions. -
Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter to UGA
During their last year at Turner High School, a group of black civic leaders requested for Holmes and Hunter's help to desegregate GA’s colleges and universities. They applied to go to UGA in 1959, only to be denied because they were colored; still, they applied to UGA every quarter, each time rejected. UGA’s decision on the matter was challenged by their attorneys, and two years later, Judge William Bootle issued his ruling, making them the first African Americans to attend UGA. -
Albany Movement (Part 2)
speaking at a mass meeting. King thought that the city officials accepted the demands of the movement when agreeing to bail, only to be denied. The following summer, King was sentenced for the marches and decided to be jailed over paying the fine, only to be released when a white attorney paid the fine for him. Next, King brought workers at the SCLC over to Albany to help with the movement, but gave up when they ran out of marchers and was put into jail and released again. -
Albany Movement (Part 3)
King took in his experiences gained in Albany and went to Birmingham, where he received success.
President John F. Kennedy talking about the Albany Movement -
Albany Movement (Part 1)
In 1961, some residents of Albany were met with three workers of the SNCC who came to run a voter registration drive. They motivated the locals to protest against Albany’s policies on segregation, and in November 1961, the Albany Movement was formed with William G. Anderson as its president. Within a month of mass meeting and marches, more than 500 people were put in jail, which led to the decision of seeking the help of Martin Luther King Jr.; King was jailed within a day for marching and speak -
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The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
In US history, the March on Washington occurred twice. The first march was canceled when President Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practice Committee, which gave 2 million blacks jobs in defense work. The 1963 march was mainly for the economic equality of blacks. This march, with A. Philip Randolph in charge (like first march), was participated by more than 200,000 blacks and whites. Martin Luther King’s famous speech, “I Have a Dream” was also given there, truely making it a success. -
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Civil Rights Act
After the 15th Amendment gave all men the right to vote during Reconstruction period, not one civil rights act was passed by the U.S. Congress until 1957, when a civil rights section of the Justice Department was formed. Three years later, Congress provided for court-appointed referees to help blacks register to vote. In June of 1963, with rising protest in the South, President John F. Kennedy was forced to propose it, only to be assassinated, leaving President Lyndon B. Johnson with the job. -
Civil Rights Act Cont.
The bill first went to the House of Representatives, where southerners opposed it greatly. However, in the end, the bill was accepted by a vote of 290 to 130. In the Senate, the decision was made over a 75-days period, filled with long speeches. But in the end, the bill managed to get a vote of 73 to 27, and was approved, ending the process with President Johnson signing it into law on July 2, 1964.With the Civil Rights Act, people of all races could receive the same service being rejected. -
Lester Maddox as Governor of Georgia
Lester Maddox was thought of as a racist due to the incident where Maddox closed his beloved restaurant, the Pickrick Cafeteria, so that it wouldn’t integrate. However, when he became the governor of Georgia in 1966, many were surprised by his action on racial matters and proven many theories of him wrong, he:
• supported major prison reform (which was popular among African Americans)
• selected more African Americans to government positions than all preceding governors of Georgia united -
Maynard Jackson as Mayor of Atlanta
Maynard Jackson, who became mayor of Atlanta in 1973, was the first African American to be mayor in a large city of the South. His major accomplishment as mayor was the building of the new terminal at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport with little cost. He also helped blacks by decreasing mistreatment of blacks by the police. In addition, Jackson remained the city tranquil during the Atlanta child murders that happened between 1979 and 1981, which involved the murdering of black children. -
Maynard Jackson's Third Term as Mayor of Atlanta.
In 1989, Maynard Jackson tried for a third term as the mayor or Atlanta. During this term, Jackson eased the disagreement of the occupation of an uninhibited downtown hotel by offering 3,500 new housing units to the poor. He also helped in conveying the 1996 Olympic Games to Atlanta and improved his relationship with the white business, which increased people’s support for him in sprite of his race. He didn’t run for a 4th term as the mayor of Atlanta, due to a major heart surgery. -
Citation
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/herman-talmadge-1913-2002
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/three-governors-controversy
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/education/benjamin-mays-ca-1894-1984
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/maynard-jackson-1938-2003 -
Citation 2
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/lester-maddox-1915-2003#Maddox-as-Governor
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/andrew-young-b-1932#Civil-Rights-Leadership http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/state-flags-georgia
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/student-nonviolent-coordinating-committee-sncc
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html -
Citation 3
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/education/sibley-commission
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/charlayne-hunter-gault-b-1942#The-Desegregation-of-the-University-of-Georgia
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/hamilton-holmes-1941-1995
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/albany-movement
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/march-on-washington
