Three Governors Controversy Here’s what happened:

1. Governor-elect Eugene Talmadge died2. Talmadge's supporters devised a scheme

that allowed the Georgia legislature to elect a governor in January 1947.

3. the General Assembly elected Talmadge'sson, Herman, as governor

4. the newly elected lieutenant governor, Melvin Thompson, claimed the office of governor

5. the outgoing governor, Ellis Arnall, refused to leave office and set up an office at the Capitol Information Counter

6. The government of Georgia was in a state of total confusion and the national media mocked Georgia’s political chaos.

Herman Talmadge

Governor (1948-1951)

After his father’s death, the General Assembly selected him to replace his father

Resisted desegregation of schools

Implemented GA’s first state sales tax

▪ Money was used to improve public school systems

Served as U.S. Senator for four terms

Distinguished African American minister, scholar, and activist

Presided over Morehouse College Emphasized

The inherent dignity of all

Differences between ideals of America and actual practices in American society

MLK used his ideas to further the CRM

WHEN WAS IT PUT INTO PLACE?

Plessy v. Ferguson(1896)

Whites and African-Americans can legally be provided with separate-but-equal facilities and it does NOT violate the 14th

Amendment.

In 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled that schools must be desegregated

This ruling helped launch the modern civil rights movement

In 1955, John Sammons Bell (GA’s Democratic Party Leader) wanted to change the GA flag to incorporate the Confederate Flag

In 1956, the General Assembly voted to change the flag

People received this change as a statement against the Brown v. Board decision

This move was seen as a recognition of GA’s Civil War past.

Henry David Thoreau (“Civil Disobediance”), India’s

Mahatma Gandhi, and Jesus

Principal leader of the modern CRM He was a clergyman and advocate for non-

violent protest Attended Morehouse College Began career after the arrest of Rosa Parks African Americans boycotted the buses after Ms. Park’s

arrest Took risk to his own safety and that of his family

to progress Civil Rights for all

MLK led and participated in marches and protests calling for equal rights for all

Believed many problems were caused the economic inequalities in society

Killed by an assassin in Memphis, TN in 1968 January holiday commemorates his birthday

SNCC Sibley Commission Integration of UGA Albany Movement March on Washington Civil Rights Act of 1964

Group grew out of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Encouraged young people (both black and white) to use peaceful protest to gain equal rights

Sit-ins

Freedom riders

▪ Protested by riding on segregated buses

Gathered information about how people felt about desegregation

Founded by Governor Ernest Vandiver Report decreased resistance against

desegregation Local school boards created methods to slow

down the desegregation process Desegregation finally began in GA in the late

1960s

The Sibley Commission found that, by a three-to-two margin, Georgians said they would rather close

the schools than integrate them In 1955 (1 yr after Brown v. Board of Education) –

GA’s General Assembly voted to cut off state funds to any school system that integrated!

Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes were the first blacks admitted to UGA in 1961

The Hunter-Holmes building at UGA is named after them, and it was the site of their registration

The goal of this movement was to desegregate the Albany, Georgia region

The groups involved:

SNCC

Youth Council of the NAACP

Baptist Ministerial Alliance

Federation of Women’s Clubs

Negro Voters League

Site of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech by MLK, Jr.

Five goals of march:1. Meaningful Civil Rights laws2. Massive federal works program3. Full and fair employment4. Decent housing, the right to vote5. Adequate integrated education

Signed by Lyndon Johnson Three main provision:

Guaranteed equal voting rights

Prohibited segregation in public places

Banned segregation by trade unions, schools, and employers involved in interstate commerce or business with the federal government

Became governor of GA in 1967 Because he was popular with Georgians who

favored segregation, many feared he would return widespread segregation to the state

Requested huge police presence at MLK, Jr.’s funeral which kept many blacks from attending

In 1973, Maynard Jackson was elected the first African American mayor of Atlanta- the first in a major southern city

Jackson encouraged a number of Affirmative Action programs

An aide to Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement

Served as an executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

First African American from Georgia to be elected to Congress since the 1860s.