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Benjamin Mays Becomes President of Morehouse College
Benjamin Mays, a strong critic of segregation even before the civil rights movement, became the President of Morehouse College at the age of forty-six. While he was president, he mentored Martin Luther King Jr. and enhanced the academics of the college. He retired from his administrative job of Morehouse in 1967. -
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1964 Giovernor's Race
After Eugene Talmadge's death on December 21, 1946 before his fourth term inauguration in January of 1947, three men wanted to become Georgia's next governor. Those men were Herman Talmadge, Melvin Thompson, and Ellis Arnall. It ended when Herman Talmadge became governor on January 14, 1947. -
Herman Talmadge Becomes Governor
Herman Talmadge was the son of Eugene Talmadge and he shared some of the same views as his father. He raised standards for schools and established the nine-month school year through the Minimum Foundation Program for Education. Because he was a strong supporter of segregation, he resisted integration in schools. -
Supreme Court Repeals "Separate But Equal" Education
The Brown vs. Board of Education case was made up of five cases that were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court that had to do with schools and segregation. They came to the Court in 1952, and then it put them all together as Brown vs. Board of Education. The Supreme Court could not make a decision by the end of their term in June 1953, so they reheard the case in the December of that year. They finally reached their conclusion on May 14, 1954 and "Separate but Equal" was not equal. -
1956 State Flag
In 1956, after the Brown vs. Board of Education, which resulted in integregation in schools, Georgia created a flag with the Confederacy symbol on it. They did it out of bitterness because of their strong, segregationalist beliefs. The bill for a new flag sailed through the legislature. It was not used from 1969 to 1996 and then it was officialy over with use in 2001. -
Sibley Commission
The Sibley Commission was when the General Assembly Committee on Schools had to gather state resident's opinions on desegregation and report back to the governor. This took place because Governor Ernest Vandiver Jr. was forced to decide between desegregation in schools or closing the schools. John Sibley was the head of the commission. Schools desegregated that autumn and the commission helped prevent violence that could have started because of the debate. (Start date unknown) -
SNCC
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was formed in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the Shaw University Campus. They worked to fight segregation and other racist actions through nonviolent methods. They played a large role in freedom rides and the March on Washington. It ended in 1970 when it became a violent group that little resemblance to it's original form. -
Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter to UGA
After two attempts to apply to the University of Georgia, a trial was held on behalf of Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter. They were denied because of their race, and that's what caused the trial to start in the December of 1960. Then they were admitted and on January 9, 1961, they registered as the first African American students at UGA. -
Albany Movement
It took place in Albany Georgia and was the first mass movement in the modern civil rights era that had to goal of desegregating an entire community. It took place from the autumn of 1961 to the summer of 1962. In Albany and surrounding rural counties, 1,000 African Americans were arrested. While Martin Luther King Jr. felt like the movement failed, the spring after the movement, all segregation statutes were removed from its books. -
March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, about a 250,000 people marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. For some it was a protest and for others it was a communal celebration. It was a peaceful and civil event that was broadcasted across the country. The March on Washington was the place where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech and where John Lewis delivered a speech of his own. -
Civil Rights Act
This act was passed to help solve racial disputes, start desegregating public places, and to restrict the literacy tests that were used in order for one to vote. The bill was passed in the House of Representatives in mid-February of 1964. It didn't pass in the Senate for seventy-five days because of resistance by Southern senators. On July 2, 1964, it was finally passed by both houses. -
Lester Maddox
He served as the seventy-fifth governor of Georgia. He was a strong segregationalist. He funded the University System of Georgia greatly. He did still fight against the civil rights movement. Maddox ordered a heavy police presence at the Martin Luther King Jr. funeral and refused to let the flags be held at half mast. -
Maynard Jackson as Mayor of Atlanta
(Date unknown) Maynard Jackson was the first African American to serve as the mayor of a major southern city. He helped rebuild the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, develop MARTA, was mayor when the 1996 summer Olympics came to Atlanta, and helped with the Atlanta Child Murders case in 1979-1981. -
Andrew Young
(Date above is the start date of his serving as the ambassador of the United Nations) He was a politician, human rights activist, and businessman. He was the first Aftrican American since Reconstruction to be elected into Congress from Georgia.