I. Beginnings: What happened in the 1940s & 50s? What do you need to know? See the standard below: 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. Materials in this PDF will contain the text from the website 40 Years of Georgia Civil Rights. To images and other web content, go to: http://ss8h11.wordpress.com/

II. Benjamin Mays

Benjamin Mays, Bates College Graduate

Benjamin Mays was a teacher, and in a way, his teaching was the beginning of a famous Civil Rights leader. Who do you think that was? Keep reading!

Benjamin Mays graduated Bates College in 1920 and then went on to earn his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago by 1935.

In 1935, he became dean of Howard University.

In 1936, he met Mahatma Gandhi.

He became president of Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1940.

Benjamin Mays mentored Martin Luther King, Jr. while MLK went to college at Morehouse. Mays.

Mays & King were friends until MLK was assassinated in 1968.

For more information on Dr. Mays, see the links below.

Here are some videos of an interview Dr. Mays gave:

Mays Interview Part 1 Mays Interview Part 2

Mays Interview Part 3 Mays Interview Part 4 Mays Interview Part 5

Click on the Benjamin Mays timeline below:

Benjamin Mays Timeline

Sources for this information:

http://www.bates.edu/benjamin-mays.xml

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2627

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/webexhibits/IntegratingTheLifeOfTheMind/BenjaminMays.html

III. 1946 Governors Race

1946 was a beginning for African-Americans, they could vote for Governor. 1946 was also the beginning of the Three Governor’s Crisis:

Melvin Thompson & Herman Talmadge, two of the three governors in January, 1947

Ellis Arnall, the last of the three, and the first to step down in February,1947

Photograph of E. Melvin Thompson with Herman Talmadge, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, 1947. geo036, Photography, Vanishing Georgia Collection, Georgia Division of Archives and History, Office of Secretary of State. Photograph of Ellis Arnall signing statement, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, 1947, geo035, Photography, Vanishing Georgia Collection, Georgia Division of Archives and History, Office of Secretary of State.

How did Georgia end up with three governors? Georgia had just created a new constitution in 1945. In Article 5, the office of Lieutenant Governor was created. Issues of contested elections were covered as well as succession if the governor became disabled or died. What it did not elucidate was what happens if the “Governor-elect” dies before he takes the oath of office.

Eugene Talmadge was elected governor in November, 1946, but died the next month.

No one had thought to stipulate what happens if the governor-elect dies

before taking office. Legally speaking, there has to be some sort of succession, but the constitution was silent on the issue. A legal “mess” resulted.

Ellis Arnall, the outgoing governor, figured he was still governor because there was no one to replace him.

Herman Talmadge (Eugene’s son) thought he should be governor because he had received write-in votes during the ’46 election.

M. E. Thompson was elected Lieutenant Governor—-he felt the office of governor fell to him because the Georgia constitution stipulated he would become the chief executive upon the death of the governor.

It was quite embarrassing for Georgians.

Herman Talmadge manipulated the Georgia Legislature into electing him governor in early 1947.

Ellis Arnall refused to accept the vote, saying the election of Talmadge was unconstitutional.

M. E. Thompson said he would await a Georgia Supreme Court decision—-he was quite confident the judiciary would decide he was the governor; he assumed the mantle of Governor as well.

So, there were three men who all said they were governor—-

Three Governors for the price of one

Reporters in frenzy over the “Three Governors” controversy

Photograph of reporters during “three-governor” dispute, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, 1947, geo038, Photography, Vanishing Georgia Collection, Georgia Division of Archives and History, Office of Secretary of State.

How did the “Three Governors” crisis resolve itself?

It was quite embarrassing for Georgians. Herman Talmadge manipulated the Georgia Legislature into electing him governor.

Ellis Arnall refused to accept the vote, saying it was unconstitutional. M. E. Thompson said he would await a Georgia Supreme Court decision—-he was quite

confident the judiciary would decide he was the governor; he assumed the mantle of Governor as well. So, there were three men who all said they were governor.

Meanwhile, “Governor” Talmadge changed the locks on the executive office, so Arnall couldn’t get into the office.

“Governor” Arnall moved his office to the lobby. The rest of the country viewed the comic opera as typical of Southern politics.

Many Georgians, however, were not happy about the tarnish on their state’s image.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that M. E. Thompson was the proper governor in March, 1947, and called for a special election in September, 1948, to resolve the issue. So, M. E. Thompson was governor until he lost in that September election to Talmadge.

For more info, please visit http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/3governo.htm. There is an audio presentation from Georgia Public Broadcasting on the subject. There is a caveat to the audio: GPB warns that there is some “questionable” language used.

IV. Ellis Arnall

Ellis Arnall was the beginning of a change in how Governors acted on racial issues. He did not do anything publicly, but he did work to help blacks vote in Georgia’s primaries.

Governor Arnall was very involved in Georgia politics during the 1940s and 50s. During his term as governor (1943-1947), the issue of Civil Rights came to the forefront of the national scene and in Georgia.

In the photo below, Arnall is signing a statement. The photo was taken during the period of conflict with Herman E. Talmadge, also known as the ”Three Governors” crisis. For more information on that topic please click here.

Citation: Photograph of Ellis Arnall signing statement, Atlanta, Fulton County Georgia, 1947, Photograph, Vanishing Georgia Collection, Georgia Division of Archives and History, Office of the Secretary of State

Click here to order a print from the Vanishing Georgia website

Arnall was not an equal rights advocate for blacks in public.

Arnall opposed Federal anti-lynching laws.

He thought poll taxes were constitutional.

He believed that white teachers should not teach black students in public schools.

He declared that blacks had no right use public schools for vocational training.

But, he did things behind-the-scenes.

Arnall did not allow Democrats to make their party a private club.

Democrats wanted to make their party private so they could keep blacks from voting.

Without saying so directly, Arnall essentially gave the right of blacks to vote in the primary.

Benjamin Mays said that Arnall did not use race as a weapon, which is a positive sentiment.

For more information on Arnall, please read the Henderson book cited below.

Citation for information found on this page:

Henderson, Harold Paul. The Politics of Change in Georgia: A Political Biography of Ellis Arnall. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1991.

Tom Murphy & Ellis Arnall

Ellis Arnall and Tom Murphy had no known personal contact. In an interview, Mr. Murphy said he read about the politics of the 1946 Georgia gubernatorial race in the newspapers. The interview can be accessed at: The Digital Library of Georgia, “Oral history interview with Speaker Tom Murphy, 1987 June 30,”

DigLibofGa_Tom Murphy_1987

V. The end of the White Primary

The 1944 case of Smith vs. Allwright was a case before U.S. Supreme Court. They decided that the

Texas White Primary was unconstitutional.

It forced Georgia to allow African-Americans to vote in the Democratic primary. But, the Democrats

had other ideas…they wanted to make their primary’s a private club. Governor Ellis Arnall prevented

that from happening, and the white primary neared its end. But, it would still be a struggle.

Primus King (below) registered to vote and then tried to vote at the Muscogee County Court

House, in Georgia.

He was thrown out. Primus was represented by NAACP and other lawyers.

In King v. Chapman et. al. , the Supreme Court upheld , by actually refusing to hear the case.

The ruling of lower courts won and African-Americans won the vote.

King would not be the last Civil Rights hero with that last name!

Primus King showing his check from the state of Georgia Muscogee County Courthouse, Georgia

Photo is from The Georgia Encyclopedia, http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2921&sug=y

VI. Herman Talmadge

Governor Talmadge was one of Georgia’s “Three Governors”.

He manipulated the Georgia Legislature and got them to elect him

Governor in January,1947.

The people did not elect him, but the legislature did. Or thought they

did.

Two other men thought they were governor: Ellis Arnall & E.M.

Thompson.

The Georgia Supreme Court stepped in and made E.M. Thompson

Governor (See 1946 Governors Race for more information).

Governor Talmadge became governor in 1948; he supported

segregation in schools and in everyday life.

He did not want whites and blacks being in the same school, the same

library, or the same restaurant. He did not want blacks to be on

television shows.

Here is an article about Herman Talmadge’s opinion about blacks being on TV

in the 1950s.

______________________________

Herman Talmadge, Georgia Governor 1948-1954

Herman Talmadge was there at the beginning.

He became governor as the Civil Rights Movement was beginning to make inroads.

He would be governor when Brown V. Board of Education would end segregation.

VII. Brown v. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education was the beginning of the end for segregation.

What is segregation? Click on the word, read about it, and then come back.

Welcome back.

Segregation meant that whites and blacks used separate facilities: schools, churches and restaurants, just to name a few. The Brown decision meant that black children would be allowed to go to any school, including white ones.

You can go to this link to read more about Brown.

VIII. 1956 State Flag

Georgia State Flag, since 2003

1956 was the beginning of a quasi revolt in Georgia. Upset over Brown v. Board of Education, some Georgians were able to create a new official flag for Georgia. Keep reading!

Georgia’s flag has gone through many changes since it became a state in January, 1788. In fact, according to the Georgia Department of State the symbols on flags prior to 1879 are basically unknown.

Georgia’s Flag from 1920 to 1956

In 1956, the flag above was replaced on July 1.

People in the Georgia Legislature wanted to send a message. Former Georgia representative James Mackay said, “There was only one reason for putting that

flag on there. Like the gun rack in the back of a pickup truck, it telegraphs a message.”(See citation 1)

Georgia legislators were upset because the Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education had ended legal segregation.

The order to allow blacks to attend white public schools created a hostile environment. The incorporation of the Confederate Battle flag into the Georgia flag was a blatant attempt

at intimidation.

Here is the Georgia 1956 Flag

What do you think the Confederate Battle Flag looked like? You can visit a website where you can try to figure that out!

1.

Is this the Confederate Battle Flag?

2.

Is this the Confederate Battle Flag?

3.

Is this the Confederate Battle Flag?

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For the correct answer go to the Georgia Department of State website, and then close out that window to return here: Georgia Department of State Picture of Confederate Battle Flag.

Some of the information for this page came from these sources below:

1. http://www.senate.ga.gov/sro/Documents/StudyCommRpts/00StateFlag.pdf 2. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2671

3. Flag images all came from the Georgia Department of State: http://sos.georgia.gov/archives/museum/html/georgia_flag_history.html