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Benjamin Mays
Benjamin May was elected as president of Morehouse College in 1940. He was known as an African American minister, educator, scholar, and social activist. Benjamin May focused on two ideas- "The dignity of all human beings and the incompatibility of American democratic ideals with American social practices", which became a strong topic in the Civil Rights Movement. -
1946 Governer's Race/ End of White Primary
Primary Document of 14th Amendment In 1946, courts ruled that Democratic white primary in Georgia was unconstitutional and violated the 14th amendment. White primary is where only whites were allowed to vote in the primary election. Also during this time, was the governer's race. The governer's race was when Herman Talmadge, Melvin Thompson, and Ellis Arnall thought that they each deserved to be governer. This made Georgia look foolish and led to a series of segregationist governers. -
Herman Talmadge
Herman Talmadge, the son of Eugene Talmadge, was elected for a full four-year term in 1950 in a special election against Melvin Thompson. During Herman Talmadge's time as governer, his main focus was protection of rural America. He also helped attract new industry to the state, but Talmadge was a strong segregationlist who was against integrating public schools. -
Brown V.S. Board Of Education
A Supreme Court case in 1954 called Brown v. Board of Education said that there was no such thing as “separate but equal” and that schools in the South needed to integrate. Many southern whites disagreed, but for African-Americans, this was a life changing civil right. -
1956 State Flag
In 1956, Georgia changed its state flag to include the Confederate battle flag as a response to the outocme of the Brown Verse Board od Education case. -
SNCC
SNCC VideoThe Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was a group of students who adopted Martin Luther King Junior's startegy of non-violent protest by organizing sit-ins to show inequality in the South. -
Sibley Commission
The Sibley Commission was an organization,held by John Sibley, that was aimed to ask Georgians how they about
integrating their school systems. There were two choices: to close the schools or to integrate them. Unfortunately, most Georgians said they would rather close the schools than integrate them. -
Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter to UGA
On January 1961, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter were the first African Americans to be the first to enroll at University of Georgia. They were not welcomed by their fellow students and even went through protests concerning their entry. -
Albany Movement
Albany Movement VideoThe Albany Movement was organized by several civil rights organizations and goals was to bring national attention by ending all types of segregation in Albany. Unfortunately, the Albany Movement failed because it didn't concentrate on only one segregation, but
tried to do too much, and resulted in jailing of over 1,000 African Americans -
Martin Luther King, Junior/March on Washington
March on Washington Video
Martin Luther King Junior was non-violent Georgian protestor who was a gifted public speaker on Civil Rights. He even helped organize the March on Washington For Freedom and Jobs with other leaders and gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech on August 28th 1963. -
Civil RIghts Act
Civil War Act VideoPresident Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which integrated all facilities in the United States (such as hotels, waiting rooms, restaurants, and movie theaters). Civil rights activist finaly got the law that they envisioned and fought so hard to get. -
Lester Maddox
Lester Maddos was a segregationist who was elected to be governer in 1967. He surprised many by hiring more blacks
for government jobs than any previous Governor of GA, and for supporting prison reform. -
Andrew Young
Andrew Young was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972, and was the first African American elected from GA since Reconstruction. Andrew Young was a civil rights activist and worked closely with Martin Luther King Junior. -
Maynard Jackson as Mayor of Atlanta
In 1973, Maynard Jackson was the first African-American mayor of Atlanta. Jackson focused on helping poor cites and balancing the poor and rich in Atlanta while bringing more African-AMericans into positions of coty government.
