Modern Georgia

“Modern”
Georgia

By: Salome Suarez
2nd Period

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. is, undoubtedly, the most well known
civil rights leader. He studied and got a Ph.D. in Divinity and
became a pastor once he graduated. Soon after, he became

the spokesperson for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This
was only the beginning though, since he was later involved

in the March on Washington, the Albany Movement, the
creation of the SCLC, and even won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC)

With nonviolent resistance, the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC) coordinated local protest
groups throughout the South. It drew on the power and
independence of black churches to support its activities.
Today, they focus on causes like health care, prison reform,

fair treatment of refugees, and job site safety for all.

Albany Movement

The Albany Movement was a massive protest against the
segregationist policies in Albany, Georgia. The people
behind it was the SNCC and members of the local

community. They were met with resistance from whites and
the police department who, to avoid any negative attention,
were peaceful in their arrests and very coordinated with their
imprisonment. In the end, the Movement was considered a

failure even though it led to segregationist laws being
removed and black voter registration in Albany.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC)

The SNCC, or Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee,
was a civil-rights group formed to give younger blacks a

voice in the civil rights movement. They were known for their
sit-ins, freedom rides, and the “freedom summer” in
Mississippi.

Brown v. Board of Education

By the early 50's, the NAACP had started challenging
segregation and they ended up building a case on 5 different
cases on school segregation. The ruling of Brown v. Board

of Education was that segregation had no place in public
education and that any segregation was unconstitutional
and illegal. Many Georgian's refused to abide by the ruling
and when civil rights groups challenged the ruling, many

Georgian's responded violently.

Sibley Commission

The Sibley Commission was a series of hearings made to
determine if Georgians would keep resisting the federal
government or if they would integrate schools. After the
hearings, 60% of Georgians stated that they would rather
close the public schools than to integrate them. Even after
he found out about this, John Sibley, the lawyer behind these
hearings, pushed for integrated schools on a limited basis.

1956 Georgia Flag

In 1956, Georgian law makers decided to change the
Georgia flag after the Brown v. Board Of Education ruling.
They changed it in order to show their dislike of the Supreme

Court ruling and changed it without a public poll. After
almost 50 years and multiple attempts to change it, they
were finally able to change it in 2001 with a popular vote.

John Lewis

John Lewis played a big part in the Civil Rights Movement.
He was involved in the 1960 sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, and
the “Bloody Sunday” event which brought a lot of attention

to the Civil Rights Movement. When he was in college, he
was the chairman of SNCC and fought against the Jim Crow

Laws. He also spent a lot of time trying to get African
Americans to register for voting since this would give them
power. In 1986, Lewis was elected to the U.S. Congress and

is still a Congressman there.

March On Washington

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a
large scale protest in 1963 with over 250,000 activists
promoting and pushing for civil rights legislation. During the
March, MLK Jr. gave his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.
This protest led to the passing of many laws like the Civil

Rights and Voting Rights Acts.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public
places and banned employment discrimination on the basis

of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. When it was
passed, many segregationists ignored it or strongly opposed

it, which led to protests like sit-ins, but most southerners
peacefully accepted it.

Ellis Arnall

Ellis Arnall helped modernize Georgia and made it the most
forward thinking southern states in terms of racism while he
was the governor of Georgia. He did things like get rid of the
poll tax, lower the voting age, make a retirement system for
teachers, and support liberal causes and leaders. Arnall also
played a role in the "Three Governors Controversy" when he

refused to give up office until the issue was worked out.

Lester Maddox

Lester Maddox was a segregationist that opened up a
restaurant and refused to integrate it, until he had been fined
for so much money that he had to close it down. Afterwards,

he decided to pursue a life in politics and was elected as
Governor the second time he ran. Ironically, when Maddox
was Governor of Georgia, he ended up appointing the most
African Americans to government positions out of all of the
previous Governors. However, this doesn’t mean that his

perspective changed, since he seemed to have contrary
views with Jimmy Carter when he was Lieutenant Governor.

Ivan Allen Jr.

In his time as mayor, Ivan Allen Jr. did many things to help
Atlanta’s economy and civil rights improve. He was able to
get many sports teams to come to Atlanta and was involved
in building Interstate 285 and M.A.R.T.A. Allen also worked

with Martin Luther King Jr. and business leaders so that
Atlanta could integrate smoothly.

William B. Hartsfield

William B. Hartsfield was Atlanta’s longest-serving mayor
and was very supportive of the civil rights movement. He
was also a key part in the opening of Atlanta’s first Airport.

He was instrumental in the calm integration of public
schools, tripling Atlanta’s size, and making Atlanta’s
expressways larger. While he was mayor, Atlanta was called

“The City Too Busy To Hate” by many.

Maynard Jackson

Maynard Jackson is going down in history for many things.
This includes the fact that he was the first African American
mayor of any Southern city and that he was instrumental in
expanding Atlanta’s airport. He also encouraged Atlanta into

becoming a financial and distribution center for the
southeast.

1996 Olympics And It’s Impacts

In 1990, it was announced that Atlanta would be hosting the
1996 Olympics. This led to Atlanta and all of Georgia

benefiting from it’s effects. Some short-term impacts were
the removal of trash and decay from Atlanta, new

apartments, hotels, offices, sidewalks, and streetlights.
Some long-term impacts include Atlanta being known
worldwide, the population increasing dramatically, and
Atlanta holding conventions and other sports events.

W.E.B. DuBois

W.E.B. DuBois wanted equality between African Americans
and Whites. DuBois thought that with education, African

Americans would be able to fight for their rights better and
also show that they had the right to be treated as equals.
DuBois spoke out about full civil, social, and political rights,
and helped promote education within the black community.
He even helped found the NAACP which helped struggling

African Americans.

Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington wanted equality between African
Americans and Whites and he thought that you could only
get it through working hard. Washington also thought that if
African Americans worked hard, with or without education,
eventually, they would be accepted by whites. But after the

Race Riot of 1906, his views weren’t seen as ideal.

1906 Race Riot

The 1906 Race Riot was the effect of racial tensions and
newspaper reports of white women being sexually assaulted

by African American men. Even though none of these
reports were true, they led to two days of white mobs
attacking, killing, and destroying homes and businesses of
African Americans. In the end, there was a reported death
toll of 25 African Americans dead even though unofficial
reports say that anywhere from 10-100 African Americans
died and 2 Whites died. The only reason why the riot ended
after 2 days, was because the Governor called in the Georgia
National Guard and some members of the police force had

been accused of taking part in the riot.