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SS8H11
Standards
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.
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SS8H11a
• The white primary system helped white supremacists control
Georgia’s politics because it only allowed whites to vote in
statewide primary elections.
• The white primary system completely cut African Americans out
of the political process.
• In 1944, the Supreme Court struck down a similar white primary
system in Texas, ultimately leading to the end of Georgia’s white
primary in 1946.
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• 1946 also saw one of the most controversial episodes in Georgia
politics.
• Eugene Talmadge was elected governor for the fourth time, but
he died before he could take office.
• Many of his supporters knew that he was ill, so they scratched his
name off the ballot and wrote in his son’s name, Herman
Talmadge.
• The state legislature chose between the two people with the
largest number of write-in votes, and Herman Talmadge won.
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• Progressive Ellis Arnall, who was governor at the time, did not want
Talmadge to win because he would continue his father’s harsh policies.
• Arnall resigned so that lieutenant governor Melvin Thompson could take
over.
• Talmadge took the governor’s office by force and seized control of the
Governor’s Mansion, while Thompson set up an alternate governor’s office
in downtown Atlanta.
• The Georgia Supreme Court finally stepped in and ruled that Thompson was
to serve as acting governor until a special election could be held to settle
the matter.
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• Like his father, Herman Talmadge ran a race based on white
supremacy.
• He served as Georgia's governor from 1948 to 1955 and was
incredibly popular among the state’s white Democrats.
• Talmadge made significant advances in public education during
his time in office.
• In 1956, Talmadge won a seat in the United States Senate, where
he served until 1980.
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Herman Talmadge
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• In 1956, the Georgia Assembly approved the state’s most
controversial flag.
• The 1956 flag greatly offended African Americans and
progressive whites because two-thirds of it looked like a
Confederate battle flag.
• Most people believed the legislature’s new flag decision to be
symbolic of Georgia’s resistance to the federal government’s
integration laws.
• The flag represented Georgia for 45 years until it was finally
replaced in 2001.
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Present Flag
1956 to 2001 Flag
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SS8H11a
• Throughout the US’ history, many African Americans were
treated like second-class citizens, especially in the South.
• They were forced to live in segregated housing, attend
segregated movies, and use segregated facilities such as
restrooms, water fountains, and waiting rooms.
• During the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans fought
against racial discrimination and segregation.
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• One of Georgia’s early influential voices was Benjamin
Mays, the son of former slaves who grew up to be a very
educated man.
• Mays was a minister and educator who became
president of Atlanta’s Morehouse College in 1940.
• He spoke out against segregation and strongly believed
that all human beings should be treated with respect and
dignity.
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In 1936, Benjamin Mays went
to India to meet with
Mohandas Gandhi, where he
learned of nonviolent protest.
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• Mays was a highly intelligent and influential man who became
known for expressing his views on segregation during lectures
attended by his students.
• He preached to his students about the changes that needed to
occur in social policies because racial injustices went against the
United States’ democratic principles.
• Mays also taught them to challenge the segregation laws that
restricted their human rights.
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Benjamin Mays passed along
his nonviolent ideas to his
mentee, Martin Luther King,
Jr.
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• Mays’ lectures had a tremendous impact on one of his
students—Martin Luther King, Jr.
• King graduated from Morehouse with a Ph.D. and became an
ordained minister.
• He became a national hero and the recognized leader of the Civil
Rights Movement after successfully leading the Montgomery Bus
Boycott.
• The Boycott ended when the Supreme Court ordered
Montgomery to desegregate their public transportation.
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• King was an extremely gifted man who preached nonviolent
civil disobedience against unfair laws.
• He believed that African Americans could gain their rights by
protesting, but that the protests should be peaceful.
• King formed a group called the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference to lead anti-discrimination marches
and protests throughout the South.
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• King believed that African Americans would win their rights
quicker if they refused to engage in violence.
• Many African Americans and some whites held nonviolent
marches and boycotts across the country.
• At times, the nonviolent actions from civil rights workers received
violent reactions from white people.
• As people around the nation saw peaceful protestors being
beaten by angry mobs and policemen, the movement gained
support.
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• Schools were another place where blacks and whites
were segregated.
• In 1954, Oliver Brown sued the board of education in
Topeka, Kansas because the schools were segregated.
• His third grade daughter, Linda, had to travel one mile to
get to her black school, even though the white school
was a lot closer.
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Linda Brown
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• Linda Brown’s lawyer was Thurgood Marshall.
• He argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court that
having separate schools violated the 14th Amendment to
the Constitution.
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In 1967, Thurgood Marshall
became the first African
American Supreme Court
Justice.
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• The US Supreme Court heard the case Brown v. Board of
Education.
• In 1954, the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous
decision that greatly impacted Georgia and the rest of
the South.
• The court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional,
and public schools across America began to integrate.
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The National Guard
escorts 9 African
American students
to their high school
in Little Rock,
Arkansas.
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• This case overturned the earlier 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case that
declared the “separate but equal” doctrine.
• Even though all 9 of the justices ruled that any separation would
not be equal, many southern states refused to segregate their
schools.
• Georgia’s governor, Herman Talmadge, strongly opposed the
decision and encouraged Georgia’s legislature to rebel against
the ruling.
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SS8H11bc
• After schools were forced to segregate by law in 1954, Georgia
refused to cooperate.
• In 1960, a commission was formed by Atlanta banker John Sibley
that held public hearings to see how Georgians felt about
integration.
• The Sibley Commission found that 2 out of 3 Georgians would
rather see schools closed that integrated.
• As a result, the commission recommended that each local district
decide the desegregation matter for itself.
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The Sibley Commission allowed
local districts to make their own
decision regarding
desegregation, which made the
process of integration very slow.
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• African American students Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes
both applied several times to the University of Georgia.
• Each time, their applications were denied because the university
was “full”.
• They took their case to court and the school was integrated in 1961
under an order by the US District Court in Athens.
• When they entered, they were treated harshly by the student
population and an angry crowd threw bricks through Hunter’s dorm
window.
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• Both Hunter and Holmes graduated and went on to have
very successful careers.
• Holmes was a surgeon and Hunter is a
writer/journalist.
• High school integration soon followed throughout the
state.
• Today, there is a Holmes/Hunter academic building on
UGA’s campus in their honor.
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• By the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement was well underway and
was gaining fast momentum.
• King’s strategy of peaceful protest was adopted by a group of
college students who formed the Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960.
• SNCC used sit-ins at lunch counters where they refused to move
in order to boycott businesses that wouldn’t serve blacks.
• SNCC also helped promote voter registration throughout the
South.
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• From fall 1961 to summer 1962, a desegregation movement
involving the NAACP and SNCC took place in Albany, Georgia.
• The movement’s goal was to end all types of segregation in
Albany (transportation, schools, libraries, hospitals, restaurants,
juries, etc.) through mass protests, sit-ins, and boycotts.
• The police wanted to avoid negative publicity, so they arrested
over 500 protestors.
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• Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Albany to lend his support and
bring national attention to the cause; however, he was also
arrested.
• Desegregation efforts failed in Albany, and King said it was
because the groups tried to do too many things, instead of
focusing on one aspect of segregation.
• It was considered more of a learning experience than a success,
but the city did eventually desegregate.
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• In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. led more than 250,000 people on
a civil rights march in Washington, D.C.
• They called on President Kennedy and Congress to pass a law
that guaranteed equal rights and quality education for all
citizens.
• King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the gathering,
inspiring Americans to strive for a world where black and white
children could play together in peace.
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“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.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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• The March on Washington got the government’s attention and
Congress soon passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
• This law banned discrimination against any American because of
that person’s race, color, or religion.
• The law enforced the desegregation of public places.
• It also said that people of all races, male and female, should have
the equal opportunity to get a job.
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• Lester Maddox became a public figure when he chose to close his
Atlanta restaurant rather than comply with the Civil Rights Act
and serve African Americans.
• In 1966, he was elected as Georgia’s governor, despite being a
strict segregationist.
• Maddox surprised many people by hiring more African Americans
into office than any governor before him.
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Lester Maddox
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• Maddox also integrated the Georgia State Patrol and GBI.
• As governor, he supported prison reform and increased spending
for Georgia’s universities.
• Maddox also started “People’s Day”, a monthly event where
average citizens could come talk to him in the Governor’s office.
• He kept representatives nearby to help the people solve their
problems.
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• In 1973, Maynard Jackson made history when he was elected as
Atlanta’s first African American mayor.
• As mayor, Jackson made sure that minority businesses received a
fair share of city contracts, often upsetting established white
business owners.
• Under his leadership, MARTA (Atlanta’s mass transit system) began
running and Hartsfield Airport added a new international terminal
that helped the economy.
• The city of Atlanta added his name to the airport in 2003:
Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.
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Maynard Jackson
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• Andrew Young became well known as a civil rights activist and
aide to Martin Luther King, Jr.
• In 1972, he won a seat in Congress and was Georgia’s first African
American representative to the House since Reconstruction.
• In 1977, President Carter appointed Young to be America’s
ambassador to the United Nations.
• In 1981, he succeeded Jackson as Atlanta’s mayor.
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Andrew Young
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• Young served two successful terms as mayor, where he
increased international investment in the city and
brought the 1988 Democratic Convention to Georgia.
• He ran for governor in 1990, but lost to Zell Miller.
• Young played a key role in bringing the 1996 Olympic
Games to Atlanta.
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