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Benjamin Mays
Benjamin Mays is best known as the longtime president of Morehouse College in Atlanta. He was a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr. and he was a major person who spoke out his feelings and dtood up for his rights about segregation before the civil rights movement. He also was a leader in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the International Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), etc.
In 1957 he published Seeking to Be a Christian in Race Relations. -
End of White Primary
White Primary was used to keep blacks from voting in Democratic primary. So in 1944 several African-Americans led by Dr. Thomas Brewer and Primus E. King made an attempt to vote in the white primary in Columbus, GA. King was forcefully removed from the court house when he tried to vote. So Brewer, King an many more sued the state. This was known as the King v. Chapman case. This case ended the White Primary once they federal district stated it unconstitutional. -
1946 Governor's Race
The 1946 Governor's Race began when Eugene Talmadge was dying. Since no Republican canidate would run, the Talmadge stalwarts chose to make a secret write in so Herman Talmadge would win the votes. After the death, the Lieutenant governor Melvin Thompson would take over. However, Herman stepped in and told everyone that he had won over everone's votes. So, when Melvin and Herman prepared a court fight, Ellis Arnall stated he would be governor instead. But, they all had a revote and Herman won. -
Herman Talmadge
Herman Talmadge on 1946 Governor's RaceHerman Talmadge was the son of Eugene Talmadge. After he received his law degree in 1936 fron UGA, he joined the navy during WWII and he was lieutenant commander. He was then elected as governor during the "three governors controversy." He was governor of GA in early 1947 and again from 1948 to 1954. He was then elected into the US Senate in 1956 where he served until 1980 due to a defeat, He hated the civil rights legislation but he began to reach out to black voters in the 1970's. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education In 1954 the Supreme Court declared segrated schools unconstitutional. However, the GA General Assembly hated this idea and started to threaten them that they would stop funding and the goverment closed down schools that were desegrating. This case was known as the Brown v. Brown of education. This took 10 years for GA to fully desegregate all their schools. -
1956 State Flag
After the Brown v. Board of Educations many southern states urged whites to display acts of resistance against the federal orders for segregation. One way GA General Assembly showed hatred for federal regulations was the changing of the state flag. The flag used to be based on the Confederate states but since the change it was based on the Confederate battle flag (A flag that has been adopted by hate groups). -
SNCC
SNCC Video SNCC stands for The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. It is a national organization that was formed in North Carolina. It was a group formed to create non-violent protests that consisted of high school and college studnets. In GA hte group focused in Albany and Atlanta and they were famous for their sit-ins. their famous sit-in was in Atlanta. The group ended up helping blacks gain many General Assembly seats. -
Sibley Commission
After the Brown v. Board of Educations case, the GA Genral Assembly supported resistance to desegregating public schools. By 1960 Governor Ernest Vandiver faced the choice of following federal orders or closing GA public schools. Since he didn't want to make a decision without votes from the people he pushed the legislation to create a committee to investigate GA's opinion.
John Sibley led hearings to investigate people's opinions. At the end, Atlanta desgregated its schools. -
Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter to UGA
Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter were two young student who made excellent grades. Holmes was his school's valedictorian, president of the senior class, and co-captain of the football team. Hunter graduated 3rd in her class. However, because of their race, they weren't allowed to go to UGA. So, Hunter and Holmes brought their case to court and they won. Once they had started school people bullied them physically and verbally. However they ended up becoming the 1st blacks to graduate UGA. -
Andrew Young
In 1961 Young had resigned from his job to start working for SCLC. He even became close with Dr. King. When he worked at SCLC he organized demonstrations and voter registration campaigns throughout the South.
In 1972 he was elected as GA's first African-American Congressman since Reconstruction. In 1977 President Carter appointed him ambassador to the UN. He took it but resigned after 2 years. But in 1981 he became mayor again and he continued to grow GA. -
Albany Movement
Albany MovementAfter the Montgomery Bus Boycott, people started to protest in different areas like Albany. In 1961 members of SNCC, the local community, and Martin Luther King, Jr. began to protest in Albany, GA. However police came immediately and arrested 500 protesters. However even though most got arrested Dr. King said that he was able to take it as a learning experience and since the protest a black voter registration led to a run-off election for a black nominee for a county commision seat. -
Martin Luther King, Jr
Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is famous in the Civil Rights Movement that he even won a Nobel Peace Prize. He was the leader in this movement using non-violent protests.
In 1954 King became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. A year later he was a spokesperson for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Because of such a successful boycott, he was constantly giving speeches, including his famous I Had A Dream speech all for the end of segregation. -
The March on Washington
King leads the March on WashingtonIn 1963 more than 250,000 civil rights activist showed up at Washington, DC to push for Civil Rights. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his speech "I Have A Dream" and this act caused the Civil Rights Acts for 1964 and The Voting Rights Act of 1965. This had made the Dr. King a famous spokesperson for the Civil Rights Movement. -
The Civil Rights Acts
After the March on Washington, US Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which forbade discrimination on the basis of sex and race in hiring, promoting, and firing. The Voting Rights Act of 1965: prohibited states from imposing any voting qualification on voting or deny the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color. . These bills were signed by Lyndon B. Johnson. -
Maynard Jackson as Mayor of Atlanta
In 1968 Maynard Jackson ran against Herman Talmadge for Senate and lost. However the nest year he became the vic-mayor of ATL and in the next four years he was elected mayor. He served as mayor from 1973-1981 and 1990-1994. When he was mayor he wanted to provide more black-owned businesses and expand the Hartsfield Atlanta Internatianl Airport. He wanted to promote blacks in work. In the 1990's he brought the Oylmpics to the city and when he died, the Airport was renamed Hartsfield-Jackson AIA. -
Lester Maddox
Lestor Maddox hated the idea of integration. He refused to put flags at state bulings for the death of Dr. King and for his fight against the civil rights platform of the democratic party at their 1968 National Convention. In 1947 he opened up a resturant near GA Tech but shut it down instead of allowing it to be integrated. But in the late 1950's and 60's he ran 2 unsuccessful campaigns for mayor and lost the Lieutenant Governor, president, and governor elections.
