Georgia
and the
Modern Civil Rights
Movement
SS8H11 - The student will evaluate the role of
Georgia in the modern civil rights movement.
•
SS8H11a - The student will describe the major developments in civil rights and
Georgia’s role during the 1940s and 1950s to include the roles of :
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Herman Talmadge
Benjamin Mays
1946 governor’s race
End of the white primary
Brown vs. Board of Education
Martin Luther King, Jr.
1956 state flag
In the 1940s and 1950s, Georgia took a central role in the
demand for change for African Americans in the U.S.
The influence of BENJAMIN MAYS, father of the
Modern Civil Rights Movement
• Minister & educator; President
of Morehouse College in Atlanta
• Influenced by the non-violent
teachings of Gandhi
• Believed that all human beings
must be treated with dignity
• Spoke out against segregation
before the Civil Rights
movement began
• Worked with the NAACP
• Became a teacher and fatherfigure (mentor) to Martin
Luther King, Jr.
The influence of MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., leader of
the Modern Civil Rights Movement
• Born in Atlanta, GA
• Studied at Morehouse College under
Benjamin Mays
• Believed in non-violent methods of
protest to bring about change:
marches, demonstrations, and
boycotts.
• Led a bus boycott that ended bus
segregation in Montgomery, AL.
• Founded the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC) to
lead anti-discrimination protests.
• Led March on Washington
• Won Nobel Peace Prize
THE GOVERNMENT GETS INVOLVED!!!
In 1946, the courts ruled that the Democratic white
primary in Georgia was an unconstitutional violation of
the 14th Amendment (the “equal protection” clause).
After the 1946 election of Herman Talmadge, and for a
time, several segregationists politicians were elected by
Georgia voters who worked to continue Jim Crow laws in
the state.
THE GOVERNMENT GETS INVOLVED!!!
• The “Three Governor’s Controversy” - In November 1946,
Eugene Talmadge was elected for a fourth term as
governor, but died before taking office. A struggle
ensued, with three men claiming the office.
Herman Talmadge - the son of Eugene Talmadge
Ellis Arnall - the current Governor
Melvin E. Thompson - the Lieutenant Governor
The contested election was challenged in court, and the GA Supreme
Court determined that M.E. Thompson was the legal governor. In
1948 a special election was held and Talmadge defeated Thomas.
The governors that followed the 1946 election were segregationists.
THE GOVERNMENT GETS INVOLVED!!!
Brown vs. Board of Education
• In 1954, the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) won a landmark decision in the
United States Supreme Court.
• According to the Supreme Court, segregated schools were
unconstitutional (the “equal Protection” clause).
“Separate but equal”
was now illegal because.
SEPARATE IS NEVER EQUAL!!!
Many southern states protested the Supreme
Court’s decision,
including Georgia
MASSIVE RESISTANCE!!!
Brown vs. Board of Education
In 1956, to demonstrate its disagreement with the
decision,
GA changed its state flag to include the Confederate
battle flag.
By the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement was well
underway and was gaining momentum
The founding of the SNCC
• Several students adopted King’s strategy of nonviolent protest and formed the Student
• Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
• One of the leaders of SNCC was Georgia native
and Morehouse College graduate, Julian Bond.
Bond was later elected to the U.S. Senate for
Georgia.
• SNCC used sit-ins at lunch counters, Freedom
rides to raise awarness and later expanded to
promote voter registration in the South.
• Part of the Albany Movement
The Sibley Commission
• After schools were ordered desegregated in
1954 by the Brown decision, Georgia refused
to cooperate and threatened to stop funding
(through the General Assembly)
any schools that integrated.
• In 1960, Georgia’s government formed a
commission to ask Georgians how they felt
about the matter. The commission was led
by influential Atlanta lawyer John Sibley.
The Sibley Commission
According to the Commission’s findings...
GA had mixed feelings
Therefore, Sibley recommended:
a) Each school district should be able to decide
for itself their own policy on integration
b) State laws punishing integrated schools should
be repealed
John Sibley: head of the General Assembly Committee on Schools and Murphy chandler.
The Integration of
the University of Georgia
• By order of the U.S. District Court in Athens,
GA, the University of Georgia was ordered to
be integrated.
• Despite angry protests and threats, Charlayne
Hunter and Hamilton Holmes became the
first two African- Americans
to enroll at UGA.
The Albany Movement
From fall 1961 to summer 1962, a desegregation movement
took place in Albany, GA, involving the NAACP and
SNCC.
Goal - Bring national attention to the Civil Rights movement
by ending all types of segregation in Albany (buses,
trains, libraries, hospitals, juries, etc. ).
In order to draw American attention
to Albany, the NAACP and SNCC recruited
The Albany Movement
• Despite King’s assistance, the Albany movement
FAILED
• By December 1961, 500 protesters were arrested.
• Albany’s police chief used peaceful tactics to
avoid negative publicity.
• The NAACP and the SNCC were often at odds with
one another.
• The Albany movement did not concentrate on a
single kind of segregation –
IT TRIED TO DO TOO MUCH
The March on Washington
• In August 1963, more than 250,000 people
converged on Washington, D.C. to demand
equal rights for blacks.
• Here, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his
famous “I Have a Dream”speech ...
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Washington led the Senate to consider passing
the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination in
all public places and making it illegal to
discriminate in employment on the basis of race
or sex.
http://www.todayingeorgiahistory.org/content/civil
-rights-act-1964
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act prohibited states from imposing any
voting qualification on voting or denying the
rights of any citizen of the United States to
vote on account of race or color.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act was signed into law by
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, widely considered
the Civil Rights President.
• Johnson considered this his greatest achievement
as United States President.
The Election of Governor
Lester Maddox
• Lester Maddox became • In 1966, Maddox ran for
Governor and was elected.
a GA celebrity in 1964
when he chose to close • He surprised many by
his Atlanta restaurant
hiring more blacks for
rather than comply with
government jobs than any
the Civil Rights Act.
previous Governor of GA.
• Last segregationist governor
in Ga.
As Governor, he supported prison reform and increased
spending for GA’s universities. He also started “People’s
Day” where, once a month, average citizens could come talk to
the Governor directly at the Governor’s office.
Mayor Maynard Jackson
• By 1973, Atlanta’s
population became an
African- American majority.
• Maynard Jackson defeated
the popular Mayor Sam
Massell (who was popular
with blacks as well) to
become the first AfricanAmerican mayor of a major
American city.
One of GA’s greatest Civil Right’s leaders
was Andrew Young:
• In the 1950s and 1960s, Young
organized voter registration and
desegregation efforts in Albany
and other southern cities, trained
volunteers in non-violent protest.
• He worked closely with MLK, Jr.
and the SCLC.
• In 1972, Young was elected to the
U.S. House of Representatives, the
first black elected from GA since
Reconstruction.
Andrew Young
• In 1977, President Jimmy
Carter appointed Young to be
the U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations.
• In 1981, he succeeded
Maynard Jackson as mayor of
Atlanta.
• In 1996, he served as cochairman of the Atlanta
Commission on the Olympic
Games (ACOG).
What do you remember about
the Modern Civil Rights Movement???
____1. Unsuccessful civil rights effort in Georgia.
A. Maynard Jackson
___ 2. President of Morehouse College
B. 1956 State Flag
___ 3. Most important Civil Rights leader; “I have a dream”
C. Lester Maddox
___ 4. Created to ask Georgians their opinion on desegregation
D. Martin Luther King
___ 5. Declared that school segregation is unconstitutional
E. Hamilton Holmes
___ 6. Georgia’s protest-response to the Civil Rights movement
F. Brown vs. BOE
___ 7. Closed his restaurant rather than serve blacks
G. Albany Movement
___ 8. One of the first two African-American students at UGA
H. Sibley Commission
___ 9. The first black mayor of Atlanta
I. Benjamin Mays
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS
Conflict causes changes in societies.
Respond in writing to the following:
In what ways were the modern Civil Rights
movement a conflict?
What changes resulted from the movement?