Modern Civil Rights

Unit 15

Our standard

SS8H11 The student will evaluate the role of Georgia in the modern civil rights movement.

a. The student will describe the major developments in civil rights and Georgia’s role during the 1940s and 1950s to include the roles of Herman Talmadge, Benjamin Mays, the 1946 governor’s race and the end of the white primary, Brown vs. Board of Education, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 1956 state flag.

Herman Talmadge

son of governorEugene Talmadge

Herman Talmadge

Won the special election for governor in 1948 and was re-elected in 1950.

Segregationist Opposed attempts to integrate GA’s public

schools. Promised voters he would bring back white

primary

Started the first sales tax in Georgia Was used to improve public school systems Expanded schools to include grades 1-12 Lengthened to the school year to 9 months. Raised standards for buildings, equipment,

transportation, and school curriculum.

In what area did Herman Talmadge make his greatest contributions as governor?

a. Attracting new business

b. Voting rights

c. Tax reform

d. Education

Herman Talmadge’s 3% sales tax was passed primarily to fund

a. School improvements such as a lengthened school year

b. Georgia’s part in the Interstate Highway System

c. The purchase of Jekyll Island as a state park

d. The creation of county health departments

Opening/Anchor activityNeed finished by the end of the slides on Benjamin Mays

Turn to page 335, there is a venn diagram about Benjamin Mays. You are to work on this Venn Diagram. You have 10 minutes to work on it before we start notes. Use your textbook for the information on him. Do this with your partner seated at your table.

You each must have a Venn Diagram for your notebook.

Our standard

SS8H11 The student will evaluate the role of Georgia in the modern civil rights movement.

a. The student will describe the major developments in civil rights and Georgia’s role during the 1940s and 1950s to include the roles of Herman Talmadge, Benjamin Mays, the 1946 governor’s race and the end of the white primary, Brown vs. Board of Education, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 1956 state flag.

Benjamin Mays

Educator President of Morehouse College. As president, he strengthened school’s academic rigor and was a successful fundraiser Chairman of Atlanta Board of EducationMentor to Martin Luther King, Jr. until King’s murder in 1968

He was influenced by the teachings of Mahatma Ghandi concerning passive resistance.

He was involved in the NAACP.

Believed that all human beings must be treated with dignity

Spoke out against segregation before the Civil Rights movement began

What office did Benjamin Mays hold?

a. State legislatorb. Mayor of Atlantac. Governor of Georgiad. Atlanta Board of Education

member

Benjamin Mays served as a mentor to

a. Maynard Jacksonb. Martin Luther King Jr.c. Rosa Parksd. Andrew Young

Check your Venn Diagram with my answers. If you need to add something, please do.

Accomplishments of Benjamin Mays

Education 1st in high school graduating class Graduated with honors from college Earned doctorate from Univ of Chicago Teacher Dean of Howard University’s School of Religion Morehouse College President President of Atlanta Board of Education (served 12 yrs) Increased enrollment & funding for Morehouse Received 49 honorary doctorate degrees

Accomplishments of Benjamin Mays

Civil Rights Filed lawsuit in 1942 that ended the practice of

segregation dining cars on Pullman trains Encouraged students to hold sit-ins to protest

segregated public establishments

Accomplishments of Benjamin Mays

Both Civil Rights & Education Mentored future civil rights leader Martin

Luther King, Jr. at Morehouse Instrumental in gaining support for a

compromise desegregation plan and averting a strike by teachers and employees

the 1946 governor’s race: 3 Governor’s Controversy

In November 1946, Eugene Talmadge was elected for a fourth term as governor; Talmadge was older and in poor health. Advisors were afraid he would not live to serve his term and came up with a secret plan. A few hundred supporters were selected to write in the name Herman Talmadge on the ballot. Talmadge died before taking office

http://www.todayingeorgiahistory.org/content/three-governors-controversy

Three candidates then claimed office: Herman Talmadge – the son of Eugene

Talmadge Ellis Arnall – the current Governor Melvin E. Thompson – the Lieutenant

Governor

All were segregationists

Talmadge won county unit vote and became Democratic candidate.

No Republican candidate.

Eugene Talmadge died before being sworn in.Legislature chose Herman Talmadge as governor.Governor Arnall declared Lt. Governor Melvin Thompson was the successor.Eugene Talmadge’s men broke into office and changed the locks.

Lt. Governor Thompson opened office in downtown Atlanta and began legal proceedings to become governor.Georgia government was in chaos and the focus of national media.Georgia Supreme Court finally ruled that Thompson was the rightful head of state until a special election could be held in 1948.

End of the white primary

15th amendment: blacks have the right to vote. The state legislature took this to apply to the general election only.Only white Democrats could vote in primary elections starting after Reconstruction.Because Republican and Independent candidates got little support from whites and rarely ran for office. Georgia was essentially a one-party state.

Candidates were selected during the primary and were the winners of the general election.In 1946, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in King v. Chapman that the white primary system in Georgia was unconstitutional. In 1946, black voters were able to take part in the primary election for the first time since reconstruction. They were able to vote in the Democratic primary.

http://app.discoveryeducation.com/search?Ntt=civil+rights+voting#selItemsPerPage=60&intCurrentPage=0&No=0&N=4294939055&Ne=&Ntt=civil%2Brights%2Bvoting&Ns=&Nr=&browseFilter=&indexVersion=&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode%252Bmatchallpartial

The purpose of the white primary was to

a. Help blacks get elected to statewide public office.

b. Keep blacks from having input into the party nominees.

c. Allow blacks to have more influence in the general election.

d. Promote voting by blacks in the early stages of the electoral process.

Under the white primary election system, only whites were allowed

a. To vote in primary electionsb. To vote in statewide electionsc. To belong to the Democratic partyd. To run for political office in

Georgia

When Eugene Talmadge died in 1946 before taking office for his fourth term as governor, who became governor?

a. The previous governor remained governor.

b. Three people claimed to be governor.c. Georgia’s lieutenant governor became

governor.d. The speaker of the General Assembly

became governor.

The famous controversy surrounding the 1946 election for governor came about because

a. Two men got the same number of votes for governor

b. Herman Talmadge and Eugene Talmadge were on the same ballot

c. Eugene Talmadge died before taking office, and two men claimed the office.

d. Carmichael got more popular votes, and Talmadge got more county unit votes.

In the 1946 Democratic primary for governor, who received the largest popular vote?

a. Lester Maddoxb. James Carmichaelc. Eugene Talmadged. Herman Talmadge

How would you feel if your school looked like these?

Black School

How do these school pictures make you feel?

White school

Brown v Board of Education

http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/resources/electronic-field-trips.html

Work on one of your homework activities for a few moments.

Brown v Board of Education

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTGHLdr-iakIn 1950, seven-year-old Linda Brown, a black student, tried to enroll in an all-white school in Topeka, Kansas. When entry was denied, the NAACP helped Brown’s father sue the Topeka Board of Education. Brown v. Board of Education

In 1954, court ruled that separate-but-equal schools were unconstitutional.60 years of court approved segregation was overturned… many states were slow to carry out its orders.

Impact of the caseThe GA General Assembly in opposition to the Supreme Court decision declared the decision null and void in GA.

Some schools were threatened with losing funds and school closings if they segregated.

Led to a Brown vs. Board II which allowed GA to integrate slowly.

Protests from rulings like Brown vs. Board of Education led to the changing of the state flag to incorporate the Confederate battle flag in 1956.

many white Georgians even went so far as to set up many private schools to continue segregation in the state.

Georgia flag before 1956

1956 state flagGeorgia’s flag was changed to include the Confederate battle flag’s symbols of stars and bars. Viewed as a statement against Brown v. Board of Education.It represented the idea that GA was against racial equality.

Georgia’s political leaders did not support Brown v. Board of Education and believed that the state government should impose “massive resistance”Georgia Representative Denmark Groover said that the new flag “will show that we in Georgia intend to uphold what we stood for, will stand for, and will fight for.” The past that Groover refers to is the Civil War, when Georgia fought, among other causes, to continue legalized slavery.

The flag changes in 1956

In 1956, the Georgia state flag was changed to include

a. The Board of Regentsb. A skull and crossbonesc. Three cornstalksd. The Confederate battle flag

The Georgia flag was changed in 1956 in response to

a. The outcome of the Civil Warb. Brown v. Board of Educationc. Boycotts of Atlanta lunch

countersd. Integration of Atlanta government

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Attending Morehouse CollegeBecame very interested in Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent approach to bring about social change.Believed in a four step approach to gaining civil rights for all Americans

1. Direct and nonviolent actions2. Legal remedies3. Ballots4. Economic boycotts

1960 - King was arrested a few weeks before the presidential election at an Atlanta sit-in. Charges were dropped, but King was held for allegedly violating probation for an earlier traffic offense and transferred to the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville, Ga.

He organized protests and boycotts.He gave his “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=20916

Earned numerous awards and recognition for his civil rights work. Time’s 1963 Man of the Year Nobel Peace Prize in 1964

Created the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

End of his lifeThe last campaign King planned with the SCLC was a Poor People's March to Washington to dramatize the problem of poverty in the United States.

April 4, 1968, before the march took place, King standing on a 2nd floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis TN, where he was assassinated with a sniper’s bullet in the neck.

Thought that James Earl Ray killed him.

Investigation of his assassination

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0hJHG0EL7Q