Post WWII EraPost WWII Era

1945 - Present

Growth and Change in Metropolitan Atlanta

• Atlanta experienced rapid growth

• Became the center of finance, transportation & communications for the SE US

• Became 1 of only 5 cities served by three separate interstate highways

• Today, just over 50% of the state’s population lives in metropolitan Atlanta

Population

• Rural areas lost population after WWII–Many moved to

other states

–Many moved to the city

Agriculture

• After WWII there was a decrease in the number of farmers & farms in Georgia– Due to WWII GA’s economy diversifies into

more industry– More and higher paying jobs available in

urban areas– Improved farm machinery requires fewer

workers– Development of synthetics require less

cotton production

Agriculture

• New Crops– Peanuts– Soybeans– Tobacco– Corn– Wheat– Pecans– Peaches

• Other farm products– Poultry

produces the most revenue today

– Livestock– Demand to

produce pulp for paper led to many farmers becoming tree farmers

William Hartsfield

• Atlanta Mayor from 1937-1961 (6 terms)

• Know for aviation because he worked to make Atlanta the air hub of the south

• Worked to improve civil rights– Worked with local African American leaders to integrated lunch counters– Worked on voter registration drives– Hired African American police officers

Ivan Allen Jr.

• Helped Atlanta become known as a racially tolerant city by working with Dr. Martin Luther King.

• Removed “colored” and “white” signs in Atlanta’s City Hall • Expanded the roles of African Americans for managerial

jobs in police dept • Integrated the Atlanta fire dept• Brought professional sports to Atlanta: Braves, Falcons

& Hawks to improve Atlanta’s reputation as a major American city.

Ellis Arnall

• First GA governor to serve a 4 yr term• Made Georgia the first state to grant voting rights to 18 year

olds• Restored accreditation to Georgia’s colleges and universities• Established the Board of Corrections for the GA prison

system

Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Movement

Moving Towards Equality

White Primary

• Law allowing only whites to vote in Primary Elections.

• GA essentially a one party state; the person elected in the primary won the general election

• Kept the black citizens from having political power by preventing input into party nominees.

• 1946: Declared illegal by a federal court.

• African Americans now had a voice in Georgia politics

.

US Supreme Court and Segregation

• Plessy v Ferguson (1896)– the court sided with the “separate but equal” doctrine, legalizing segregation.

• 1950 - Linda Brown tried to enroll in all white school in Topeka, Kansas. She was denied the right to attend that school. NAACP helped her parents sue the school board.

•Brown v Board of Education (1954) – Supreme Court reversed the Plessy & ordered racial integration of US public schools “with all deliberate speed.”

• Thurgood Marshall – NAACP lawyer who represented Brown. •He argued that “separate” could never be “equal.” • By their very nature, segregated schools violate the Fourteenth Amendment.

Georgia’s Flag• 1956: In response to the Civil Rights Movement,

segregationist Georgia Legislators changed the state flag to include the Confederate Flag

Albany Movement

• After the Brown decision city of Albany, GA attempted to halt segregation in its city.

• The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) successfully protested the city’s segregated bus system.

Sit-insMarchesBoycotts

The Sibley Commission

• 1955 - GA General Assembly voted to cut off state funding to any school system that integrated.

• 1960 – Gen. Assembly appointed John Sibley to head a commission to study problem of school integration

• By a 3 to 2 margin Georgians would rather close their schools than integrate

• Commission recommended local systems decide whether to comply with court ordered integration or close

• Many private schools opened to avoid the issue

Georgia Integrates Schools

•1961 - Hamilton Homes & Charlayne Hunter are first African Americans to enroll at UGA

•Supported by Gov. Ernest Vandiver

Lester Maddox

• Became Governor in 1967 when selected by the GA Gen Assembly after election that saw no candidate win a clear majority

• Segregationist• Appointed more African Americans to

state boards than all governors before him combined

• “People’s Days” -citizens could come and talk about what was on their minds with government officials

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

• In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for violating a local ordinance that gave bus drivers the right to decide were passengers sat.

• Rosa Parks was sitting in the white section when 6 whites boarded the bus. There was no more room in the section so Rosa Parks was asked to move by the bus driver.

• This is the bus that Rosa Parks was riding in when she was arrested in 1955.

• The bus is in a Civil Rights display at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan.

Montgomery Bus Boycott•Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became the spokesman for the Montgomery Improvement Association

- formed by a group of black ministers to protest the arrest of Rosa Parks.

- called for all African-Americans to boycott the Montgomery busses.

Goals and Results

Goals

1. Black passengers treated with courtesy.

2. Hire African-American drivers for primarily black routes.

3. Seating on first come basis.

Results

1. US Supreme Court ruled segregation on any public transportation system was unlawful.

2. MLK Jr. would become a national figure in the Civil Rights movement.

Martin Luther King Jr.

•MLK Jr. attended Morehouse College at the age of 15.

•While attending Boston University for his doctorate in theology he met and married Coretta Scott.

The Nonviolent Approach

• Dr. King developed his nonviolent approach to solving problems during his studies in theology.

• He based his ideas on the writing of Henry David Thoreau and on India’s leader, Mahatma Gandhi.

MLK’s four pronged approach

1. Direct nonviolent actions.

2. Legal solutions.

• (Like Brown v Board of Ed)

3. Elections

4. Economic boycotts

African-Americans Organize

SCLC – Southern Christian Leadership Conference was formed to use King’s nonviolent approach to civil rights issues.

SNCC – Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee members where college students who had adopted King’s nonviolent approach.

March on Washington

• The March on Washington to push for a federal civil rights law was a large political rally held at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963.

• Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech that called for racial harmony. Approximately 250,000 people took part in the march.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• The Civil Rights Act was the most important civil rights law since Reconstruction.

•Outlawed segregation in all public places. It also made discrimination in businesses and unions illegal.

• Also secured the right to vote for 18 year olds.

Civil Rights Continues• In spite of the Civil Rights Act, African Americans in many sections of the South could not vote.

• Whites & blacks from around the nation came south during the “Freedom Summer” of 1964 to help African Americans to register to vote.

Selma to Montgomery

• Dr. King organized the march to bring attention to the issue of voting rights.

•On "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965, 600 civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma on U.S. Route 80.

•They got only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge six blocks away, where state and local lawmen attacked them and drove them back into Selma.

Voting Rights Act of 1965• Several days after being forced back to Selma, Dr. King applied for a federal permit to hold a march and was granted federal protection against Alabama police officers.

• The march influenced Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act.

• The Voting Rights Act ended literacy test and allowed federal workers to register African-American voters in areas that practiced voting discrimination.

• April 4: MLK was on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis talking to Jesse Jackson when he was shot & killed by James Earl Ray

• King’s funeral in Atlanta and his final resting place at the King Center.

Andrew Young

• Worked with MLK. • Became executive director of SCLC• Member of the US House of Representatives

from GA (1972 – 1976) – 1st African American elected to the House

from GA since Reconstruction– Helped the poor and working classes

• Supported Jimmy Carter for President– Ambassador to the United Nations

• Served as mayor of Atlanta– Helped to solidify black political power

• Helped bring the Olympics to Atlanta in 1996.

Benjamin Mays

• Benjamin Mays – This Georgian was the president of Morehouse College

• Worked with the NAACP• Became 1st African

American president & later Chairman of the Atlanta Board of Education

• Mentor of MLK

Maynard Jackson

• 1st African American mayor of Atlanta in 1974.• Created Neighborhood Planning Units giving citizens a voice in

their politics• Led development & expansion of MARTA• Expanded Hartsfield Airport• Increased programs for the arts• Restored the Cyclorama• Helped bring the Olympics to Atlanta• Airport renamed Hartsfield-Jackson in his honor after his death in

2003

1970’s to the Present

1970’s to the Present

County Unit System

• The County Unit System declared unconstitutional in 1962

• Georgia federal court found it violated the concept of “One Person, One Vote” on the 14th amendment

• Power shifted from rural to urban areas

• African Americans now had equal opportunity to be elected to office in the General Assembly

County Unit System Abolished

Reapportionment• When the County Unit System

was declared unconstitutional the court ordered:– Districts should be based

on population rather than county lines

– Courts ordered reapportionment (re-draw) the district lines for voting based on population

– State must ensure all districts are of equal population size

1970’s1970’s

James Earl Carter• Born in Plains, Ga.• Went to GA Tech &

received an appointment to US Naval Academy

• First successful political position was state senator for his district– Promoted Education– Served on Senate

Education Committee

James Earl Carter• Governor from 1971 to

1975– Elected on a Traditional

Southern Democratic Platform.

– Reduced size of Executive Branch

– Reorganized the court system

– Appointed first female state judge

– Expanded special education, vocational education, & preschool

Jimmy Carter as President

• Elected Pres of US in 1976 (only US pres from GA)

• Added two new cabinet positions – Energy & Education

• Center piece of foreign policy was human rights– Negotiated Camp David

Accords, – Panama Canal treaties, – Established full diplomatic

relations with China

• Problems leading to losing bid for re-election– High interest rates & inflation– Recession– Hostage crisis in Iran

Jimmy Carter: After Leaving the Presidency

• Continued work for human rights through the Carter Presidential Library– Builds homes with

Habitat for Humanity– Helps negotiate peace

treaties, works to ensure fair elections around the world

• Authored many books• Awarded the Noble

Peace Prize in 2002

1980’s and 1990’s

1980’s and 1990’s

Rise of the 2 Party System

• Georgians begin to elect Republicans to state & national offices in 1980s and 1990s– 1980 - Mack Mattingly becomes 1st

Republican US Senator from GA since Reconstruction

– Major change in voting pattern since Reconstruction (1870s)

– GA no longer part of the Democratic party’s “Solid South”

• 1992 Republicans have a majority in the General Assembly

• 2002: Sonny Perdue becomes 1st Republican elected Gov of GA since Reconstruction

1996 Summer Olympics

• Atlanta hosted 1996 Summer Olympics– Atlanta & GA gained positive

international recognition– Boosted tourism– Expanded international business

opportunities for GA– Helped develop convention &

meeting facilities, world-class athletic facilities

– Brought millions of dollars into GA economy

• Highlighted 1 major problem – need for improved infrastructure to make transportation work more smoothly

New Georgians• 1990’s began a sharp

increase in immigrants coming to GA– Come for better

jobs– Better education– To escape war &

violence• Largest percentage

are from Hispanic countries