Georgia Studies Unit 8: Modern Georgia

and Civil Rights

Lesson 2: Segregation and Civil Rights

Study Presentation

Lesson 2: Segregation and Civil Rights

• ESSENTIAL QUESTION:– How can the policies of state and local

political leaders influence economic growth?

– How can political policies and decisions create a climate in which individuals and groups can voice opinions to bring about social change?

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.

– GA was essentially 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.

– 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 declares 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 GA• Herman Talmadge – Served as governor of GA 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 GA’s farmers and

tried to stop Civil Rights.• 1956 State Flag – In 1956, GA’s state flag was changed to

prominently display the Confederate Battle Flag; changed in 2001 as citizens found the flag offensive.

GA Flag1920-1956

GA Flag1956-2001

GA Flag2003-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

• Sibley Commission: found that most Georgians would rather close schools than integrate

• More private schools opened• 1961: Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes

first African American students at UGA • 1971: All Georgia public schools integrated

Montgomery Bus Boycott• Dec. 1, 1955: Rosa Parks, 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

A Nonviolent Movement is Born• Benjamin Mays – President of Morehouse College;

educator and mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr. of Atlanta and as a Civil Rights advocate.

• Martin Luther King, Jr. developed a nonviolent approach to social change

• Four-prong approach:– direct, nonviolent actions– legal remedies– ballots– economic boycotts

• 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

The Albany Movement• 1961: Albany, GA becomes center of civil

rights activity• SNCC: Student Nonviolent Coordinating

Committee – challenged segregated bus system in Albany

• Nearly 500 people jailed• Biracial committee formed to study

concerns of African Americans

Protests Move to Alabama• 1963: Martin Luther King, Jr. begins work to

integrate all aspects of public life in Birmingham, AL

• Over 3000 people arrested• 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing – KKK

sets a bomb which killed 4 black children in their church in Birmingham, Alabama

• African Americans and whites from the north and south began to join together to stop the violence

The Civil Rights Act• President Kennedy created new civil rights

laws• Kennedy was assassinated before the new

laws came into effect• Lyndon Johnson became president and

pushed for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• All public facilities had to be integrated• Discrimination was prohibited in business

and labor unions

The Voting Rights Act• 1964: Freedom Summer – Martin Luther

King, Jr. and SNCC worked to get African Americans registered to vote

• Selma-to-Montgomery, AL march led by Dr. King

• Nearly 30,000 marchers • Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of

1965 – one million African Americans were registered to vote

A Shift in Mood• Some people moved from the nonviolent

strategies to more aggressive ones• SNCC and “Black Panthers” confronted police• Malcolm X preached black separatism• Race riots in Los Angeles, Detroit, and Newark• Lester Maddox became governor of Georgia in

1967. Had forcibly turned black activists who challenged segregation at the restaurant he had owned. Very popular with Georgians who supported segregation.

• April 1968: Dr. King assassinated in Memphis, TN while working with striking sanitation workers

Atlanta: A Case Study in Change

• 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 major southern city).

• Andrew Young: An aide to Dr. 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 GA to be elected to Congress since the 1860’s).