Georgia During the Civil Rights Movement March 2, 2016

Benjamin Mays Dr. Benjamin Mays was born in 1895 to parents who were former slaves He became a teacher, working in South Carolina and Georgia –He taught at Morehouse College, becoming president of the college in 1940 He served as the Atlanta School Board’s first African- American president He became an advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr. during King’s freshman year at Morehouse He retired in 1981 A street and a high school in Atlanta are named after him

Herman Talmadge Herman Talmadge, Eugene Talmadge’s son, was first elected governor in He was re-elected in 1950 He was a strict segregationist and refused to integrate Georgia’s schools He tried to bring back the white primary, but failed He did improve education though, even while keeping it segregated He expanded schools to include grades 1-12 and lengthened the school year to 9 months He raised standards for school buildings, transportation, and curriculum

Sibley Commission In Georgia, most schools refused to integrate In 1955, the Georgia legislature voted to cut off funding to any system that integrated A commission, headed by John Sibley, was appointed to study the problem They found that most Georgians would rather close the schools than integrate them The commission recommended that school systems be allowed to decide on their own what they should do

Integration of Colleges On January 6, 1961, the University of Georgia allowed its first two black students, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter, into the school Holmes later graduated with honors and went on to become an orthopedic surgeon Hunter would become a nationally known newspaper and public television reporter Governor Vandiver would go on to ask the legislature to repeal segregation laws in Georgia, paving the way for smoother integration than in other states

The 1956 Georgia state flag In 1956, the state flag was changed to incorporate the Confederate battle emblem African-Americans were offended as they felt this referenced slavery in the state’s past Georgia lost millions of dollars as the reference to “old-fashioned southern” traditions damaged the tourist industry The Confederate battle emblem wasn’t removed from the flag for good until 2003

Albany Movement Following the example of SNCC, a sit-in was organized in Albany, GA in the “whites-only” waiting room at the bus station The protestors were arrested, which led the African- American community to form the Albany Movement More protestors arrived, and were arrested, including high school students Dr. King, who had traveled to Albany, was arrested for protesting All of this led to a biracial committee being formed to study the concerns of African-Americans in Albany which eventually led to the integration of bus station waiting rooms

The End of the County Unit System This system had been in place since 1917 to give power to Georgia’s rural areas In 1962, the Georgia federal court ruled the county unit system violated the 14 th Amendment This caused a shift in political power to the urban areas, and gave predominantly black populations an equal opportunity to elect representatives As a result, Leroy Johnson was elected in 1962 as the first African-American state senator in Georgia

Reapportionment When the county unit system decision was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, they handed down the “one person, one vote” decision This is the concept that every citizen’s vote should be equal to every other citizen’s vote no matter where they live In 1964, the federal court ruled that Georgia violated the one-person, one-vote concept by distributing one legislative seat to each county The court said that legislative seats should be based on population rather than county boundary lines Georgia had to reapportion (redraw) its voting districts so they were of equal population size This also shifted political power to urban areas

Lester Maddox Lester Maddox was elected governor in 1967 Although Maddox was a famous segregationist, he surprised Georgians by appointing more African-Americans to state boards and commissions He integrated the Georgia State Patrol He also reformed state prisons and increased spending on teacher salaries and higher education

Maynard Jackson Jackson became Atlanta’s first African- American mayor in 1974 He helped the city progress by reorganizing the police and fire departments, as well as city government He led the development of MARTA and expanded the airport into one of the busiest in the world He helped lead the efforts to bring the 1996 Olympics to Atlanta When he died in 2003, the airport was renamed Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in his honor

Andrew Young Young, who is from Thomasville, GA, was a trusted aide to Dr. King and was with him in Memphis when Dr. King was assassinated He was elected to the U.S House of Representatives in 1972 He was twice re-elected to the House He was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1977 He returned to Georgia in 1981, where he was elected mayor of Atlanta twice He helped bring the 1996 Olympics to Atlanta and is currently a professor at Georgia State University