Georgia Studies
Civil Rights Movement
Great Resources
 http://www.k12reader.com/civil-rights-martin-luther-
king-jr-worksheets/
Georgia Performance Standard
 SS8H11 The student will evaluate the role of Georgia in the
modern civil rights movement.
 a. Describe major developments in civil rights and Georgia’s role during the
1940s and 1950s; include the roles of Herman Talmadge, Benjamin Mays, the
1946 governor’s race and the end of the white primary, Brown v. Board of
Education, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 1956 state flag.
 b. Analyze the role Georgia and prominent Georgians played in the Civil
Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s; include such events as the
founding of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC),
Sibley Commission, admission of Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter to
the University of Georgia, Albany Movement, March on Washington, Civil
Rights Act, the election of Maynard Jackson as mayor of Atlanta, and the role
of Lester Maddox.
 c. Discuss the impact of Andrew Young on Georgia.
 http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/civilrights/
Benjamin Mays
 Born to parents who were former slaves.
 Was appointed to the presidency of Morehouse
College.
 While he held this position, he did much to improve and
strengthen the school.
 Served as the Atlanta school board’s first African American
president.
 Was Martin Luther King Jr.’s mentor at Morehouse College.
 After retiring from Morehouse College, he became
chairman of the Board of Education.
End of the White Primary
 White Primary – used after the Civil War to keep African
Americans from voting.
 1900 Democratic Primary – Democratic leaders decided that
only white Democrats could vote in the primary election.
 Georgia was mostly a one-party state (Republican and
Independent candidates got little support from white citizens).
 As a result, white, Democratic candidates were often elected
with little or no African American support.
 The Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed blacks the right to
vote.
 End of the White Primary – King v. Chapman Supreme
Court case made the white primary systems in GA
unconstitutional (illegal).
The 1946 Governor’s Race
 Governor Ellis Arnall’s term of office was due to end in 1946.
 Eugene Talmadge was elected to his 4th Term as Georgia’s Governor but
died before taking the Oath of Office.
 Began the “Three Governor’s” Controversy:
 Herman Talmadge (Eugene’s son) was chosen as governor by the
legislature due to the amount of write-in votes he had received and were
“found” after the election.
 Current Governor Arnall declared that Lieutenant Governor Melvin Thompson was
the new Governor as he was the rightful successor.
 January 15, 1947, Herman Talmadge’s men broke into the governor’s
office and changed the locks and readied themselves to run the state.
 Governor Arnall set up a temporary office at the Capitol
Information counter; Arnall officially resigned three days later.
 Finally in March 1947, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled Thompson was the
governor until a special election could be held in 1948.
 At this election, Herman Talmadge was elected governor.
Early Civil Rights in Georgia
 Herman Talmadge:
 Served as governor of Georgia briefly in 1947 and again from
1948-1955. Later served in the U.S. Senate.
 Segregationist – worked to keep African American
and white citizens separate.
 As a politician, Talmadge worked to help Georgia’s farmers
and tried to stop Civil Rights.
 1956 State Flag – In 1956, Georgia’s state flag was changed
to prominently display the Confederate Battle Flag;
changed in 2001 as citizens found the flag offensive.
1956-2001
2001-2003
2003-present
The Supreme Court and Education
 1948: racial integration ordered in armed forces.
 1950: Brown v. Board of Education –
case struck down “separate but equal”
concept; schools were to be integrated.
 1961: Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton
Holmes were the first African American
students at UGA.
 1971: All Georgia public schools
integrated.
 http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/brownv
sboardofeducationoftopeka/
Sibley Commission
 In Georgia, most of the state’s school systems refused
desegregation.
 The Sibley Commission held hearings all over the
state to learn how the public felt about
integration.
 Most Georgians said they would rather close the
schools than integrate them.
 The commission recommended that local school
systems be allowed to decide if they would
follow a court order to integrate public schools
or if they would close them.
 Many private schools opened.
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Martin Luther King, Jr.
Born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta.
Dr. King attended several colleges and universities, including the Morehouse College.
He became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL.
During his studies, he became interested in Gandhi's nonviolent
approach to bringing about social change.
Four Approaches to Nonviolent Change:
 direct, nonviolent actions
 legal remedies
 ballots
 economic boycotts
Most well-known for his “I Have a Dream Speech.”
SCLC: Southern Christian Leadership Conference – civil rights group led by Dr. King.
Sit-in: Dr. King’s strategy to people refuse to leave a public building until
their demands are met.
King earned numerous awards and recognitions for his civil rights
work.
 Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate:
only love can do that.”
“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor
popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and
convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
“Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo
painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep
streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great
street sweeper who did his job well.”
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will
not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
 http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/famoushistoricalfi
gures/martinlutherkingjr/
Montgomery Bus Boycott
 Dec. 1, 1955: Rosa Parks, an African
American, refused to give up her bus
seat to whites in Montgomery, AL.
 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the
NAACP organized civic leaders and
prepared marches.
 Supreme court ruled segregation on
public transportation unconstitutional.
The Albany Movement
 1961: Albany, GA became center of civil rights activity.
 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC):
 Challenged segregated bus system in Albany.
 Led sit-ins
 Nearly 500 people jailed.
 Biracial committee formed to study concerns of African
Americans.
March on Washington
 President John F. Kennedy sent the strongest civil rights
bill in history to Congress in 1963.
 Congress took its time with the bill.
 As a result, over 250,000 people representing all races,
gathered before the Washington Monument to
demonstrate for its passage.
 As they stood together, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made
one of the most famous speeches of all time.
Video
 http://www.history.com/topics/march-on-
washington/videos
The Civil Rights Act
 In 1963, President John F. Kennedy described segregation as a
moral crisis for the country.
 He told of his plans to ask Congress to pass a new civil rights law.
 Kennedy was assassinated before the civil rights laws came into
effect.
 Lyndon Johnson became president and pushed for passage of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
 The Civil Rights Act of 1964:
 The most far reaching and important civil rights legislation since
Reconstruction.
 All public facilities had to be integrated.
 Discrimination was prohibited in business and labor
unions.
Lester Maddox
 Some people moved from the nonviolent strategies to more aggressive
ones.
 Lester Maddox:
 Became governor of Georgia in 1967.
 Had forcibly turned away black activists who challenged
segregation at the restaurant he had owned.
 Very popular with Georgians who supported segregation.
 He later surprised many Georgians by appointing more African
Americans to state boards and commissions than any other
governor.
 April 1968: Dr. King assassinated in Memphis,TN while working
with striking sanitation workers.
The Pickrick - The restaurant owned by Lester Maddox; rather than
agree with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and serve African-American
customers, Maddox chose to close the Pickrick
Changing Atlanta (Review)
 Integration in Atlanta was relatively peaceful
 Church leaders get much credit for this peaceful change
 William Hartsfield: Atlanta mayor who expanded Atlanta’s
airport and worked with African American and white leaders;
worked to integrate Atlanta’s schools
 Ivan Allen: Atlanta mayor ordered removal of “white” and
“colored” segregation signs in the City Hall; integrated police
and fire services and city government
 Troubled times followed but were overcome
 The city became known as “the city too busy to hate.”
African Americans Take Office
 Maynard Jackson:
 Elected mayor of Atlanta in 1973 (1st African American mayor of a
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major southern city).
Led the development and expansion of MARTA.
Expanded Hartsfield International Airport.
Led efforts to bring the 1996 Olympic Games.
Airport renamed Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in 2003.
 Andrew Young:
 An aide to Martin Luther King, Jr. and executive director of the SCLC.
 In 1972, won election to the U.S. House of Representatives (1st African
American from Georgia to be elected to Congress since the 1860s).
 President Jimmy Carter named Young as U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations.
 Helped bring the 1996 Olympic Games to Atlanta.
Maynard Jackson
Andrew Young
 Shirley Franklin - Franklin became the first female
mayor of Atlanta, and the first African-American woman
to be elected mayor of ANY major southern city; she
held the post of Mayor of Atlanta until 2010.