Civil Rights in
Georgia
AKS 42: Students will evaluate the
role of Georgia in the modern civil
rights movement
List of Georgia’s Governors

Georgia's Governors
1946 Governor’s Race
James Carmichael won the popular vote, but Eugene
Talmadge was elected by the County Unit System
Eugene Talmadge died before being sworn in
The legislature appointed Herman Talmadge governor
Governor Arnall would not leave office
The GA Supreme Court said Melvin Thompson (Lt. Gov.
elect) should be governor until a special election in 1948
Herman Talmadge won in 1948 and again in 1950
Herman Talmadge
Son of Eugene Talmadge
Governor from 1948-55
Improved GA’s education
system
Segregationalist!!!
1951 created 3% sales tax to
pay for 9 month school year,
buildings, and transportation
Improved state prisons
U.S. Senator 1956-1981
Benjamin Mays
President of Morehouse College (Atlanta)
African American minister, educator, scholar,
and social activist
 Mentor to civil rights leader MLK, Jr.
Leader in the NAACP, YMCA, the World Council
of Churches, and the United Negro College Fund
Atlanta City Board of Education
Wanted nonviolence to bring change
Acted as mediator between white leaders and
young black men
End of the White Primary
1900 the GA Democratic Party decided that only white
voters could vote in the primary election
1944 US Supreme Court ruled all-white primaries were
illegal and violated the 15th amendment
Gov. Arnall supported the court’s decision and said black
voters should be allowed to vote in primaries
While running for governor, Eugene Talmadge promised
to bring back the all-white primary and protect the Jim
Crow laws. Talmadge won the election.
Brown v Board of Education
In 1950 Linda Brown was denied
1954
admission to a white school in
Topeka, Kansas.
NAACP attorneys took this case
to the Supreme Court
1954 the Supreme Court
decided segregated schools were
unequal and unfair and
unconstitutional.
This meant African American
students could now attend white
schools.
Brown v. Board overturned
Plessy v. Ferguson.
Emmett Till

Emmett Till Part 1


(4:40)
Emmett Till Part 2
Georgia State Flag
1956
GA’s General Assembly adopted
this state flag with the Confederate
battle emblem
Legislators said it was for 100-year
anniversary of the Civil War
Honor Confederate Veterans
Protest Brown v Board of Education
1956 -2001
Changed flag in 2001 to project a
more modern image to the worldconventions were cancelled/boycotts
scheduled against states with
Confederate battle symbols in state
flags
Martin Luther King Jr.
Civil rights activist that promoted
nonviolence and direct action as
methods of social change
helped lead the Montgomery Bus
Boycott in 1955
founded the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference 1957
led the March on Washington for
jobs and freedom in August 1963
(250,000 people)
Martin Luther King Jr.
The Civil Rights Act 1964
March from Selma to
Montgomery helped get Voting
Rights Act 1965
Time’s Man of Year 1963
Received the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1964
He was assassinated at the
Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN
in 1968
Montgomery Bus Boycott
December 1, 1955 – Dec 20, 1956
Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give
up her seat to a white man.
A boycott was organized with blacks refusing
to ride the city buses.
The boycott resulted in a crippling financial
deficit for the Montgomery public transit
system.
A federal ruling took effect, and led to a US
Supreme Court decision that declared the
Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring
segregated buses to be unconstitutional.
Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
SNCC (1960) was created to help blacks
register to vote
Began at Shaw Univ. in Raleigh, N.C.
Active in Albany and Atlanta
John Lewis was first President
Albany Movement 1961
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NAACP and SCLC staged a “sit in” at the white
section of the Albany bus station (testing the
law)
SNCC and other Civil Rights activists, like MLK,
Jr. came to Albany to support the movement
Most of the demonstrators were jailed
Freedom Riders came from the north to help
integrate facilities and register voters
MLK and Ralph Abernathy were arrested
A biracial committee was established to study
concerns of blacks in Albany
Sibley Commission
1960
The GA General Assembly chose John Sibley to
chair a committee to see how people felt about
integration
This committee recommended that each local
school board set up their own policies to comply
with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting
Rights Act of 1965
They recommended that schools should stay
open-even if they have to integrate
Integration of University of Georgia
January 1961
Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes- the first colored students
to attend the University of Georgia
Judge ordered their admission
Protests and riots by white students who were opposed to the
university's desegregation resulted in a temporary suspension for
Hunter and Holmes
Gov. Vandiver asked legislators to repeal the school closing law
They returned to campus after a series of court orders and began
their studies
March on Washington
“I have a dream…” Speech
August 28,1963
The march was for Jobs and
Freedom
Martin Luther King Jr. gave his
famous speech, “I have a
dream…” from the Lincoln
Memorial
Approximately 250,000 people
participated in the march for
“Human Rights”
Civil Rights Act
enforce the constitutional right to vote, for courts to enforce
1964 To
laws against discrimination in public accommodations, to
authorize… suits to protect rights in public facilities and public
education, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights…
Signed into law by President Johnson
It made discrimination in public places,
like schools, restaurants, and theaters
illegal
It required employers to provide equal
employment opportunities
Withheld federal funds from school
systems that did not integrate
Could not use different voting rules for
blacks and whites
Voting Rights Act
August 6, 1965
Outlawed discriminatory voting practices such as
literacy tests that disenfranchised African American
voters
Enforced the 15th amendment
Established federal oversight of elections
Signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson (sent federal
workers to south to register blacks)
In Ga. in 1960-29% of blacks registered to vote
1971-64%
Lester Maddox
Lester Maddox
Believed in states’ rights and
segregation
Governor 1967
Forced segregation was wrongforced integration was also wrong
Integrated the State Patrol
Named an African American to the
Board of Pardons and Parole
Appointed more African
Americans to state boards than all
prior governors combined
Mayors of Atlanta

Mayors of Atlanta
Maynard Jackson
1938 - 2003
First African American Mayor of
Atlanta in 1973. (Served 3 terms in all)
Youngest mayor in U.S. (35 years
old)
Reduced Program for the Arts
Addressed the issue of police
brutality
City government reduced in size
Crime rates lowered
MARTA started (busses and trains)
Airport expanded
Olympics came to Atlanta while he
was mayor (1996)
Died in 2003
His name added to name of airport
(Hartsfield-Jackson International
Airport)
Andrew Young
In the civil rights movement (in
Albany, Birmingham, Selma)
He was with MLK Jr. when he was
assassinated in Memphis
Andrew Young was Georgia’s first
black U.S. Congressman since
Reconstruction (1973-1977)
Mayor of Atlanta from 1981-1988
Co-chairman of the committee that
brought the Olympic Games to
Atlanta
U.S. Ambassador to United
Nations (under Pres. Carter)
John Lewis
Active in the Civil Rights Movement
throughout the south. (Selma,
Birmingham, Montgomery, Albany)
 Was beaten and arrested numerous
times.
Chairman of the SNCC and
participated in the Freedom Rides to
challenge segregation of interstate
bus stations.
Represented the Fifth Congressional
District of Georgia in the U.S. House
of Representatives since 1987.
Bloody Sunday

Bloody Sunday Footage

(2:20)
John Lewis – Bloody Sunday On March 8, 1965 600
protesters tried to march from
Selma to Montgomery AL.
Registering blacks to vote
They were attacked by police
Many were arrested
Next time President Johnson
sent troops to protect the
marchers