The Bourbon Triumvirate
Joseph E. Brown, Alfred H. Colquitt, and John B. Gordon
 Group of three politicians who dominated Georgia politics for
over 20 years. (Bourbon: Steadfast refusal to accept defeat or learn from the
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Civil War)
Key figures in the Civil War
 Rotated positions as governor, and U.S. Senator from 1870’s to 1890’s.
 Focused on development of railroad and mining industries in
Georgia and wanted stronger economic ties to the industrial North.
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Served the interests of the old antebellum class
Instituted low taxes which resulted in few government services.
Power began to wane as ideals of the Populist Party and the New
Democrats began to dominate the party in 1890…oh, and they retired
and died.
Joseph E. Brown
(1821-1894)
 Attended Yale and became lawyer in Georgia
 Elected to General Assembly in 1849 and governor in 1857.
Remained governor throughout the Civil War.
 Zealous secessionist before the war but briefly joined the
Republican Party after the war. Served as chief justice of Georgia
Supreme Court as a Republican.
 Switched back to the Democratic Party and served in the U.S.
Senate from 1880-1890.
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Alfred H. Colquitt
(1824-1894)
 Graduated from Princeton and became a lawyer.
 Joined the army in 1846 during the Mexican-American War.
 Elected as a U.S. Representative in 1853 and served one term.
 Became member of the General Assembly in 1859.
 Fervent secessionist – elected to the Georgia Secession Convention
in 1861 and joined the Confederate Army after Georgia seceded.
(Attained the rank of Major General – successful military career.)
 Georgia Governor: 1876-1882
 U.S. Senator: 1883 - 1894
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John B. Gordon
(1832-1904)
 Attended University of Georgia but did not graduate.
 Worked in and managed his father’s coal mine before the Civil War.
 No formal military training, but rose to prominence in the
Confederate Army due to his fearless fighting style.
 Achieved the rank of Major General – successful military strategist
 Opponent of Reconstruction after the war and thought to have been
the leader of the Georgia chapter of the KKK.
 U.S. Senator: 1872 – 1880
 Georgia Governor: 1886 – 1890
 U.S. Senator: 1891 - 1897
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Henry Grady
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(1850-1889) Born in Athens
Managing editor of the Atlanta Constitution
Promoted the idea of “The New South” and became the voice of the New South
Used his paper to promote his views on the need for industry in Georgia,
diversification of southern agriculture, and northern investors to invest in the South.
Helped bring the International Cotton Expositions to Atlanta.
Instrumental in the creation of the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Active in local politics – John B. Gordon and Joseph E. Brown
Inaccurately portrayed race relations in Georgia in order to bring Northern
investment to the South.
Increased circulation of the Atlanta Constitution from 10K to 140K copies and used
the interview process in news stories.
Died of pneumonia at 39.
Grady Hospital and Georgia’s Grady School of Journalism are named in his honor.
International Cotton
Exposition
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Held in Atlanta in 1881, 1885, and 1895. Similar to the World’s Fair
1895: Atlanta hosted 800,000 visitors in the three-month-long Cotton States and
International Exposition
 Showcased the economic recovery of the South (cotton had played a large role
in the recovery)
 Highlighted the region’s natural resources
 Lured northern investors
6,000 exhibits – new machinery and showed how cotton was made into
marketable products.
Booker T. Washington gave his famous Atlanta Compromise Speech which urged
African-Americans to focus on economic improvement as opposed to political and
social rights. This idea was supported by the white New South advocates but
opposed by many like W.E.B. Dubois.
Suffered financial struggles throughout its three month run but showed Atlanta’s
rise from the ashes (like a phoenix!).
Tom Watson and the
Populists
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(1856-1922)
Controversial national leader of the Populist Party.
Early in his career, he supported the poor tenant farmer and sharecropper of both
races.
Elected to the General Assembly in 1882, but resigned before the end of his term
(disagreement with the policies of the New South advocates).
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1890 as a Democrat but adopted
many Populist policies like lower taxes for poor farmers. Introduced a bill
authorizing experimental Rural Free Delivery Service by the USPS.
Ran as the Populist party candidate in the 1904 and 1908 presidential elections.
Started to change his progressive views about race and became a fervent white
supremacist targeting African-Americans, Jews and Catholics. Wrote articles
against Leo Frank that some say led to his lynching.
Elected U.S. Senator in 1920, but died in 1922. Rebecca Latimer Felton was
appointed to his seat for one day.
Tom Watson and the
Populists
Tom Watson and the
Populists
Rebecca Latimer Felton
(1835-1930)
 Writer, political activist, reformer and first female U.S. Senator.
 She focused on helping her husband with his political career.
 Member of the Independent Democrats and fought against the men
of the Bourbon Triumvirate especially John B. Gordon.
 Advocated women’s suffrage, prohibition, and abolishing the Convict
Lease system.
 In 1899, she began writing a column for the Atlanta Journal for the
next 20 years.
 When Tom Watson died, the governor appointed her to serve as U.S.
Senator until the next election, but the Senate was not in session.
She only served one day as U.S. Senator.
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• In Georgia convict leasing began in April 1868.
• The newly appointed provisional governor
Thomas H. Ruger issued a convict lease for
prisoners to William Fort for work on the
Georgia and Alabama Railroad.
• The contract specified "one hundred able
bodied and healthy Negro convicts" in return for
a fee to the state of $2500.
• Georgia did not end the convict lease system until
1908.
Convict Lease System
Rebecca Latimer Felton
1906 Atlanta Race Riots
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September 22-24, 1906
A series of local newspaper articles accused African-American males of attacking white
women; however, these accusations were untrue.
There were many other deep-seated causes of the riot. Real causes:
 Unemployed and frustrated whites who blamed blacks for lack of jobs and crime.
 Jealousy of successful African-Americans (Alonzo Herndon)
 Gubernatorial race focused on white supremacy
A group of white, mostly unemployed men gathered in downtown seeking revenge for the
attacks (false attacks) and began attacking any black people they saw.
The mob went to the black business district and killed two barbers and beat several men to
death on street cars.
Some African-Americans armed themselves and fought the attackers.
Martial Law was declared in Atlanta.
Result: 18 African-Americans and 3 whites were killed.
People began to realize that Booker T. Washington’s idea of equality gained through
financial success was not going to happen. A more direct approach was needed.
The Leo Frank Case
The Leo Frank Case
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Jewish man from New York and manager of the National Pencil Company
accused of killing 13-year-old Mary Phagan.
Evidence in the trial pointed to Frank’s guilt and innocence.
Convicted of the murder and sentenced to death.
Jewish groups started to fund Frank’s appeals of the verdict, and Tom
Watson started an anti-Semitic campaign against Frank and Northern
Jewish interests
Further investigations by the prosecuting attorney and the governor
pointed to Frank’s innocence.
The governor, John M. Slaton, reduced the sentence to life in prison.
A group went to the state prison in Milledgeville, took Frank to Marietta,
and hanged him
In 1986, Georgia State Board of Pardons finally pardoned Frank.
The Leo Frank Case
The Leo Frank Case
The Leo Frank Case
The Leo Frank Case
The County Unit System
In 1917, the county unit system was established for political primaries.
 The Democratic party was the only active political party in the state,
so the winner of the primary usually won the general election.
 How it worked:
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The 8 most populated (urban) counties each had 6 county unit votes each (48 total).
The next 30 (town) counties had 4 votes each (120 total).
The 121 rural counties had 2 votes each (242 total).
Used to limit the voting power of African-Americans by giving more
power to rural, less-populated counties.
 Lasted until 1962 when it was declared unconstitutional.
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Jim Crow Laws
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Passed to establish separate facilities for whites and for blacks – restrooms,
water fountains, railroad cars, dining areas, waiting rooms, lodging facilities,
and schools.
Named after a fictional black character – eventually used as a pejorative
term for African-Americans.
In 1889, the General Assembly segregated theaters, prison camps, water
fountains, and restrooms. Most blacks could not vote or serve on juries and
denied many other rights of citizenship.
Henry McNeal Turner, politician and bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church, spoke against the laws and the segregation that followed.
From 1882-1930, 482 African-Americans were lynched in Georgia, second only
to Mississippi. Used in rural areas to enforce the social order of segregation.
Inhibited the educational, economic, and social growth for most Southerners,
both black and white.
Plessy V. Ferguson
June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy was arrested in Louisiana for
sitting in the “Whites Only” section of a railcar.
 Planned protest by a group of educated AfricanAmericans to test Louisiana's segregation laws. (Jim Crow
Car Act of 1890)
 In 1896, The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law in a 7-1
decision.
 The court ruled that according to the 14th and 15th
Amendments, blacks had political rights, but social rights
were not guaranteed.
 Established the doctrine of “Separate but equal”
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Disenfranchisement
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By 1900, African-Americans made up almost 47% of Georgia’s
population. Black leaders began speaking out against voting
restrictions, but laws continued to suppress their voting rights.
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Poll taxes: a tax paid in order to vote.
White primary: Only whites were allowed to vote in primaries. Remember that
most major decisions were made in the primaries since Georgia was a oneparty state.
Literacy Tests: Required to pass a reading test before being eligible to vote.
Many poor blacks and whites could not read and write. Many uneducated
whites “passed” the test, while many educated blacks were told they had failed
the test.
Grandfather clause – men whose fathers or grandfathers had voted before or
during the Civil War were exempt from the poll tax or literacy tests. Designed
to allow poor, uneducated whites to vote.
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Booker
T.
Washington
(1856-1915)
Educator, author, orator and political activist.
Born a slave in Virginia. After emancipation, he moved to West Virginia
and worked in order to attend college. Graduated from college and
worked as a teacher. Eventually was in charge of the Tuskegee Institution
in Alabama.
Publically promoted the idea that the best approach for AfricanAmericans to advance in society was through hard work, education, and
economic accomplishments.
Criticized by W.E.B. Dubois and the NAACP for his ideals. Washington
secretly contributed to organizations advancing the cause of civil rights.
Explained his ideals in his Atlanta Compromise Speech at the International
Cotton Exposition in 1895.
W.E.B. Dubois
William Edward Burghardt (1868-1963)
 Often viewed as Booker T. Washington’s intellectual opposition.
 Supported many of Washington’s beliefs early in his career, but the
race riot and other events changed his views on civil rights.
 Attended Fisk University and developed the idea of “The Talented
Tenth” – elite group of educated blacks who would use their talents
and position to advocate for equal rights.
 Taught at Atlanta University (Clark Atlanta University).
 Helped create the NAACP – National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.
 His goal of immediate social and political rights for all AfricanAmericans led to the successes of the modern civil rights movement in
the 1950’s and 60’s
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John and Lugenia Burns Hope
Educators and civic leaders
 John Hope (1868-1936) – first black president of Atlanta Baptist
College (Morehouse College).
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Friends with W.E.B. Dubois and Booker T. Washington.
Attended the meeting that resulted in the founding of the NAACP.
Worked to restore calm to Atlanta after the Atlanta Race Riot.
Lugenia Burns Hope (1871-1947) – organized the Neighborhood
Union (provided vocational classes for children, a health center, and clubs for
boys and girls)
Alonzo Herndon
1858-1927
 Born to a slave mother and white father in Social Circle.
 Left Social Circle with $11 and learned how to be a
barber. Eventually opened three successful barbershops
in Atlanta. One became the first choice of Atlanta’s
white business and political leaders.
 Began to invest in real estate and founded the Atlanta
Mutual Life Insurance Company. Now Atlanta Life
Financial Group – worth over $100 million and one of
the top black-owned corporations.
 Active in political and social organizations that
advocated for civil rights.
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Reasons for World War I
Nationalism, imperialism, militarism and alliances
 Spark: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
 U.S. remained neutral for the first few years of the war.
 German submarine sunk the British ocean liner Lusitania
killing 128 Americans.
 Zimmerman telegram: Germany allegedly urged Mexico
to attack the United States.
 President Wilson asked Congress to declare war.
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Georgia’s Contributions to World War I
85,000-100,000 Georgians joined the army to fight in the
War
 Georgia provided places for soldiers to train
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Camp Benning, Camp Gordon and Fort McPherson
Textile mills made fabric for military uniforms.
 Railroads carried arms, ammunitions and soldiers to ports.
 3,000 Georgians died in the war.
 Armistice to end the fighting – 11/11/1918
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