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Benjamin Mays
Benjamin Mays was born Aug. 1, 1894. He was a very distinguished African American. He was a longtime president of Morehouse College in Atlanta and the Dean of the religious school in Howard University. He was also a mentor to Dr. MLK. He was a very significant leader in many civil rights associations such as the NAACP. He wrote a book callled "The Negro's Church" to spread awareness. He was one of the most influental civil rights leader of his time. -
Lester Maddox
Lester Maddox was one of GA's governors. He appointed more African Americans in office than any other GA governors combined. He also held meeting with regular people where they could wait in a line to meet him twice a month. He was thought to be a segregationist though because he did not let flags be flown in honor of Dr. MLK's death. VID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m3JCPrQ3zs -
Andrew Young
Andrew Young was a civil rights leader in GA. His goal was primarily to desegregate voter registration. He was an active member of the SCLC and was present at the time of MLK's assassination. He was Georgia’s first African American Congressman since Reconstruction. President Jimmy Carter also chose him to be an ambassador to the U.N. His career ended when he had a meeting with the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), which was considered a terrorist group. -
The End of The White Primary
Since GA at the time was only democratic, it was easy for the white voters to take over. Led by Dr. Thomas Brewer and Primus E. King, a group of African Americans tried to vote in 1944, but were instead kicked out of the court. They filed a lawsuit called King v. Chapman et al. King and Brewer won and Ellis Arnall (GA's governor at the time) didn't object, thus ending the White Primary System. -
Herman Talmadge
In January 1947, Herman Talmadge, who was the son of Georgia's previous governor, Eugine Talmadge, was elected governor due to the county unit system. Before he was elected though, the three governors controversy, or the 1946 Governor’s Race occurred. This was when the General Assembly elected Talmadge's son as governor and the lieutenant governor, Melvin Thompson, claimed the role of governor, and the other governor, Ellis Arnall, refused to leave office. GA had 3 governors for a second. -
Brown Vs. Board of Education
Other Civil CasesThe Brown Vs. BOE "case" was not actually one contreversia case, but five smaller cases that were fighting for the same cause. This cause was "state-sponsored segregation in public schools." These cases were handled by Thurgood Marshall. When the district courts voted for the schools, the plaintiffs (people who bring the case to court, aka. the five families) brought the case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, convinced by Marhall and the Plessy case effects, ruled for the families. -
1956 Georgia Sate Flag
Democratic Party and Confederate leaders wanted to change the orginal Confederate flag. There was a lot of pressure to change the previously Confederate flag because of cases such as Brown Vs. The Board of Education. They didn't end up fully changing it after the idea went through Georgia's legislation. Instead, they made 2/3 of the flag the original Confederate Flag, and the remaining 1/3 the new flag. This showed that Georgia would uphold its original values and beliefs. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comittee (SNCC)
A student organizer named Ella Baker held a student meeting at Shaw University in April 1960. This was the beginning of the SNCC. This group was a radical Civil Rights group made of the student body and was led by Dr. Martin Luther King. It took place in the North and had many supporters in the South. In the year 1967, the group disbanded because one of its members, H. Rap Brown, got arrested and the movement broke apart. -
Sibley Commission
Brown Vs. BOE verdict had said that schools had to be integrated. Georgia, at that time was still very racist. The GA general assembly decided to disrespect the court and said that if Georgian schools were integrated, the government would cut off all funding to those schools. They later decided poeple should be able to vote for integation or segregation. A group of people called the Sibley commison got sent out to collect votes. As expected, segregation won. Voters would rather have no school. -
Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter
Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter were the first two black people to be admitted into UGA. They had to file a lawsuit in order to get accepted. When they were choosing classes, a mob gethered outside and it was so uncontrollable that police had to use tear gas to break it apart. VIDEO:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNhfK9pEQ4M -
Albany Movement
The SNCC went to Albany, GA right after it was formed. They boycotted using nonviolent methods such as lunch counter sit-ins. They did not achieve their goals of integration in GA, but they learned a lot and used it to be more successful in the future. This would be considered a successful failure. VID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCwy1bkObYQ -
March on Washington
In Washington DC, a huge mob of civil rights activists joined and listened to MLK's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. This started what was called "The March on Washington," which was essentially just a mob of civil rights leaders fighting for their causes. This march led to The Civil Rights Act and The Voting Rights Act. VID OF MLK SPEECH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs -
Civil Rights Act
Due to The March on Washington, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed two bills into legislature. One was the The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which said that prohibited discrimination. The other was The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which forbade any state from keeping anyone from voting due to race.VID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x0l_vkjozc -
Maynard Jackson as Mayor of Atlanta
Maynard Jackson was the first African American mayor of Atlanta (and any major city in the South). Under him, the business industry, especially minor businesses, grew tremendously. He also helped in bringing the Olympics to Georgia and adding black policemen to the police department. One of his major accomplishments is that he built a new terminal at the Hartsfield Airport, and the name was changed later to the Hartsfield-Jackson airport because of this.
