Fill - Free fillable Gpb Unit 8 Final PDF form

OUR STATE

nd O

R N

TION

ia Studies

UNIT

Modern

Georgia

1945 - Present

CHAPTER 19

Georgia Moves into the

Modern Era 

The Disappearing Farmer

Population Shifts

America in the Cold War

Georgia Politics in Action

Politics in the New Era

Growth and Change in

Metropolitan Atlanta

CHAPTER 20

The Civil Rights Movement 

Civil Rights and the Law

Civil Rights Movement Grows

The Federal Government Acts

Efforts Continue

CHAPTER 21

Georgia’s New Place in the Sun 

The Vietnam War

Georgia’s Image in Transition

Georgia’s Governors in

Recent Decades

Georgians in National Politics

Georgia’s Exploding Growth Rate

Important Events

Involving Georgia

Looking to the Future

CHAPTER 22

Georgia’s Cultural Heritage 

A Multicultural Society

Georgian’s Cultural Achievements

Support for the Arts

Preserving Culture

GEORGIA EVENTS

1946

“Three Governors Affair”

1947

12th grade added to

public schools

1948

WSB-TV broadcasts as first

TV station in Georgia

1951

Georgia’s first sales

tax (3%) enacted

1954

Marvin Griffin elected

governor; massive resistance

to integration begins

1956

General Assembly approves

new state flag

1961

Albany Movement

starts; token school

integration begins

1962

County unit system abolished;

Leroy Johnson elected as first

black legislator since 1906

1964

Georgia votes Republican in

presidential election

1973

Maynard Jackson elected

mayor of Atlanta

1976

State constitution revised

1980

CNN begins operating; new

Hartsfield Airport opens

1983

Constitution of 1983 becomes

effective; 250th anniversary

of Georgia’s founding

1991

Clarence Thomas nominated

to U.S. Supreme Court

1993

Georgia Dome opens;

Georgia lottery begins

1996

Atlanta hosts

Summer Olympics

2001

New state flag adopted

2003

Current state flag adopted;

first Republican governor in

135 years takes office

EVENTS ELSEWHERE

1946

Cold War begins

1947

Jackie Robinson

integrates baseball

1948

Berlin crisis

1950

Korean War begins

1951

First commercial computers

available; first commercial

color TV broadcast

1954

Supreme Court rules against

segregation in public schools

1956

Congress decides to build

interstate highway system

1961

American soldiers

begin training South

Vietnamese forces

1962

Cuban missile crisis

1964

Congress passes Civil Rights

Act; Martin Luther King, Jr.,

wins Nobel Peace Prize

1968

Martin Luther King, Jr., and

Robert Kennedy assassinated

1973

Arab oil embargo begins;

cease fire in Vietnam War

signed; Watergate affair

1976

United States bicentennial;

Jimmy Carter

elected president

1980

U.S. boycotts Olympics

in Moscow

1983

Congress establishes MLK’s

birthday as federal holiday

1991

U.S. and allies defeat Iraq

in Persian Gulf War; Soviet

Union breaks up

1993

Georgia sends first

majority Republican

delegation to Congress

1996

Bill Clinton wins second term

as president

2001

Terrorists attack United States

on September 11

Chapter 19

Foreword

Georgia Standards of Excellence

Correlations 

SS8H10

SS8E2

SS8H10

Evaluate key post-World War II developments in Georgia.

a. Explain how technology transformed agriculture and created a population shift within the state.

b. Explain how the development of Atlanta under mayors William B. Hartsﬁeld and Ivan Allen, Jr. impacted the

state.

SS8E2

Evaluate the inﬂuence of Georgia-based businesses on the State’s economic growth and development.

c. Evaluate the economic impact of various industries in Georgia including agricultural, entertainment,

manufacturing, service, and technology.

Chapter Outline

The Disappearing Farmer

Population Shift

America in the Cold War

Georgia Politics in Action

The 1946 Governor’s Race

Governors at Mid-Century

Rural/Urban Power Struggles

Politics in the New Era

Growth and Change in Metropolitan Atlanta

CHAPTER 19

After World War II, the growing use of mechanical harvesters made farming

more ecient.

503

UNIT 8 • MODERN GEORGIA

AT FIRST GLANCE

This chapter describes how, at

the end of World War II, many

returning GIs chose to relocate

in Georgia’s cities rather than

return to farm life. This factor and

the modernization of agriculture

contributed to a decline in the

state’s rural population. Also,

tractors and other mechanized

implements made farming more

ecient, resulting in the need for

fewer farmers. As urban areas

grew and rural areas declined,

a transformation in state politics

resulted. At ﬁrst, rural areas were

able to hold onto power through

an apportionment scheme

that favored small counties

and through the county unit

system, which is described in a

special feature in the chapter.

The rapid growth of Atlanta,

however, brought an end to rural

dominance, and in the 1960s,

the county unit system was

abolished. These circumstances,

together with “one person, one

vote” rulings by the U.S. Supreme

Court, meant that urban areas

were able to exert more and more

inﬂuence over state government.

Also included in Chapter 19 is a

Georgians in History feature on

Atlanta educator Benjamin Mays.

Georgia Moves

into the

Modern Era

The Disappearing Farmer

Population Shifts

America in the Cold War

Georgia Politics in Action

Politics in the New Era

Growth and Change in

Metropolitan Atlanta

In the fall of 1945, war-weary

Americans looked forward

to the return of a peacetime

economy. People were hungry

for consumer goods that they

could not get during the war.

Factories that once turned out

guns, tanks, and uniforms now

began producing tools, trucks,

and clothing.

One consumer item in great

demand was the automobile.

With the war over and gasoline

no longer scarce, owning a car

was a dream come true for many

Georgians. Drive-in restaurants,

drive-in movies, and even drive-in

banking became popular. Paved

highways replaced dirt roads,

allowing people who worked in

the city to live in the countryside.

Soon housing subdivisions and

shopping centers covered what

once was farmland. Suburban

growth skyrocketed, particularly in

the Atlanta region.

To ease the GIs’ return to civilian

life, Congress provided several

important beneﬁts in legislation

known as the GI Bill of Rights.

Among these were four years of

college education and low-interest

loans to buy a home, farm, or

business. GIs were also entitled

to $20 a week in unemployment

beneﬁts (for up to a year) and

help in ﬁnding a new job. These

beneﬁts were extremely popular

with ex-servicemen, giving them

the security to marry, buy a home,

and start a family. In fact, so many

births took place in the years

right after the war that people

described the period as a“baby

boom.”

For many, the GI Bill changed their

lives. By the thousands, veterans

enrolled in Georgia’s colleges and

universities. At the University of

Georgia, enrollment jumped from

1,836 students in 1944 to 6,643

students in the fall of 1946. Of

these, more than 4,000—some

60 percent of the student body—

were veterans.

504

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

The Disappearing Farmer

Between 1945 and 1950, almost 28,000

Georgia families—mostly tenant farmers—

left agriculture. Altogether, between 1920

and 1950, the number of Georgia farms

decreased by more than 100,000.

The number of farmers in Georgia

decreased for many reasons. Thanks

to the GI Bill, young men who had

farmed before the war now had new

opportunities. Also, agriculture was

undergoing great changes in the state.

Big improvements had been

made in seed technology,

fertilizer, and pesticides.

Farmers were being

encouraged to practice

crop rotation, terracing, and

erosion control to preserve

topsoil and land fertility.

Agricultural extension agents

from the University of Georgia

informed farmers of new

technology and research.

Also, more and more farmers

were able to aord tractors

and harvesters.

The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act

of 1944 (GI Bill of Rights).

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

signing the GI Bill of Rights. It

allowed thousands of former

soldiers to attend college following

World War II.

505

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

The days of mule-drawn plows and hand-

picked cotton were not entirely over,

but they were fast coming to an end. As

farming eciency improved, two important

things happened. Crop yield per acre

increased. At the same time, tractors and

other motorized implements allowed a

single farmer to work larger plots of land.

Farmers were becoming so ecient that

they were producing too much. This

further reduced the need for farmers. In an

eort to keep food prices from falling, the

federal government began paying farmers

not to plant on some of their land.

Also contributing to the decline of farming

was the clothing industry’s growing use

of synthetic ﬁbers instead of cotton. The

peak year for cotton had been 1911, when

2,769,000 bales were produced. During

the ﬁve years after World War II, the

harvest fell from 669,000 bales in 1945 to

490,000 bales in 1950. Farmers turned to

such crops as peanuts, soybeans, tobacco,

corn, and wheat, as well as to noncrops,

such as poultry and livestock.

Tractors and other mechanized farm

equipment reduced the need for

farm laborers.

In 1928, Georgia peach production

reached an all time high of nearly 8

million bushels.

506

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Also replacing cotton was another “crop”—

pine trees. The demand for pine wood to

produce pulp for paper, as well as lumber

and plywood, encouraged landowners

to become tree farmers. As a result,

thousands of acres of what once had been

cotton land were now covered with pine

trees. Forestry was becoming an important

part of Georgia’s economy.

250

225

200

175

150

125

100

199219821974196419551945 1950 19691959 1978 1987 1997

Even though the numbers of farms

decreased, the average farm size

(acreage) increased. New varieties

of crops, improved farming

techniques, and increased

mechanization allowed fewer

farmers to produce greater yields.

Compare the number of farms in

1945 to the number in 1974. How

many fewer farms were there in

1969 than in 1950?

Thousands

FARMS IN GEORGIA

Total Number of

Compare the number of farms in

1945 to the number in 1974. How

many fewer farms were there in

1969 than in 1950?

507

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Population Shifts

As tenant farming declined after World

War II, 91 of Georgia’s 159 counties—all

rural—lo st population.

Where were rural

Georgians going?

Many moved to other

states. The 1950 census

showed that 1.2 million

people born in Georgia

now lived in other states.

Many of these were black

Georgians who had migrated

to the large cities of the

North in search of jobs and

greater opportunities. This

trend of black migration had

begun in the 1880s, resulting

in a continuing drop in the

percentage of African

Americans in Georgia’s total

population up until the 1970s.

However, not all rural

migrants moved out of state.

Many moved to the city. Helping account

for Georgia’s city growth was the very

thing Henry Grady had

dreamed about 60 years

earlier—new business

and industry. For

example, in 1947,

General Motors

opened a new

assembly

plant at

POPULATION CHANGE

1960 - 1980

Gained More

Gained Less

Lost

DADE

CATOOSA

MURRAY

GORDON

BARTOW

CHEROKEE

WHITFIELD

PAULDING

COBB

LUMPKIN

UNION

FORSYTH

CARROLL

DOUGLAS

DEKALB

GWINNETT

HALL

WHITE

RABUN

BARROW

MADISON

CLARKE

OCONEE

WALTON

ROCKDALE

NEWTON

HENRY

COLUMBIA

MCDUFFIE

FAYETTE

CLAYTON

BUTTS

MONROE

JONES

HOUSTON

CHATTA-

HOOCHEE

BULLOCH EFFINGHAM

BRYAN

LIBERTY

LEE

TILF

BARNTLEY

WILKES

WARREN

TALIAFERRO

BIBB

HANCOCK

GLASCOCK

BURKE

SCREVEN

JENKINS

WILKINSON

WASHINGTON

TALBOT

TAYLOR

STEWART

WEBSTER

DOOLY

BLECKLEY

WILCOX

MARION

QUITMAN

RANDOLPH

CLAY

TERRELL

CALHOUN

BAKER

IRWIN

ATKINSON

BROOKS

WALKER

CHATTOOGA

FLOYD

FANNIN

GILMER

PICKENS

POLK

HARALSON

DAWSON

FULTON

TOWNS

HABERSHAM

STEPHENS

BANKS

FRANKLIN

JACKSON

HART

ELBERT

OGLETHORPE

LINCOLN

MORGAN

GREENE

JASPER

PUTNAM

RICHMOND

HEARD

COWETA

TROUP

SPALDING

PIKE

LAMAR

MERIWETHER

UPSON

HARRIS

JEFFERSON

JOHNSON

BALDWIN

TWIGGS

LAURENS

EMANUEL

PEACH

MUSCOGEE

CRAWFORD

MACON

SCHLEY

SUMTER

PULASKI

DODGE

CRISP

TREUTLEN

CANDLER

WHEELER

MONTGOMERY

TOOMBS

TATTNALL

EVANS

CHATHAM

LONG

APPLING

TELFAIR

JEFF

DAVIS

DOUGHERTY

TURNER

BEN HILL

EARLY

WORTH COFFEE

BACON

WAYNE

MCINTOSH

GLYNN

WARE

PIERCE

LANIER

CLINCH

CHARLTON

CAMDEN

BERRIEN

COOK

LOWNDES

ECHOLS

THOMAS

GRANDY

DECATUR

COLQUITT

MITCHELL

SEMINOLE

MILLER

Marietta

Atlanta

Macon

Columbus

Albany

Waycross

Valdosta

Augusta

Athens

Brunswick

Savannah

Rome

Dalton

Average growth for the state was

38.6 percent. Which parts of the

state grew at a greater rate?

508

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Doraville. Ford responded with a new

plant at Hapeville. Other factories came to

Georgia as well. In the decade after World

War II, the Atlanta region became home

to 800 new industries and 1,200 regional

oces for out-of-town companies.

Other urban areas in Georgia also

beneﬁted from postwar industrial growth.

During the 1940s and 1950s, almost every

Georgia city with at least 10,000 residents

gained population. Older cities such

as Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah were

growing at healthy rates, but the most

dramatic increase was in the newer cities

of Atlanta’s suburbs. During the 1940s,

the city of Atlanta grew by 10 percent, but

nearby College Park grew by 77 percent,

Marietta by 139 percent, and Forest Park

by 360 percent.

What accounted for the rush of business

and industry to the state? There were

many reasons. Atlanta continued to

develop as the transportation hub of the

Southeast. Except for summer Georgia

had a favorable climate, and the growing

use of air conditioning after the war

made even the summer heat bearable.

For the most part, Georgia workers were

not unionized, and thus labor was cheap

compared to other parts of the country.

Low state and local taxes in Georgia also

meant higher proﬁts than in the North or

Midwest.

The two decades after World War II

brought more change to Georgia than

the previous two centuries. Accepting

that change was another matter. As rural

populations decreased, urban politicians

looked forward to a greater voice in state

political aairs. Rural politicians, however,

prepared to defend Georgia’s traditional

way of life. ■

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Identify: GI Bill of Rights,

baby boom

2 What are some changes

automobiles made in how

and where Georgians

lived after the war?

3 What eect did new

agricultural technology

have on Georgia farmers?

4 What were some of the

crops Georgia farmers

switched to after the war?

Why?

5 What conditions made

Georgia attractive to new

businesses and industry?

509

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

America in the Cold War

Americans had entered the post–World

War II era with new hopes for world peace.

For the time being, the United States was

the only nation with the atomic bomb.

Also, a new international organization—

the United Nations—had been created to

prevent aggression and resolve disputes

among nations.

But by 1946, the United States was at war

again. This time, it was not a ﬁghting war.

It was a political war in which the two most

powerful nations in the world—the United

States and the Soviet Union—competed

for the loyalty of other nations. Nations

aligned with the Soviet Union were known

as the “East,” while America and its allies

were known as the “West.” In this Cold

War

, as it was called, tensions were high,

but no direct ﬁghting occurred between

the two superpowers.

The Cold War began soon after the end

of World War II. The Soviet Union took

political control of several countries of

eastern Europe. As the Soviets attempted

to spread their inﬂuence into other

countries, the United States adopted a

policy of containing (preventing the spread

of) communism

—the political system of

the Soviet Union. Communism is a system

in which goods, property, and capital

are controlled

by the central

government

rather than the

individual or

businesses.

At home, there

was increasing

concern that

agents of the

Communist party

were actively

at work in the

United States.

Watching as

B-29 bombers assembled at

Marietta. This Lockheed plant was

Georgia’s largest war production

facility.

510

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

the Soviets took over eastern Europe,

some Americans began to wonder if this

country would be the next target. That fear

was reinforced by some politicians who

charged that Communist agents, or those

who sided with them, were everywhere.

Many people who worked in government,

labor unions, civil rights organizations,

colleges, and the entertainment industry

found themselves being suspected of

having Communist ties.

In 1948, the Cold War almost became a

shooting war over the issue of Berlin. After

World War II, Germany had been divided

into four zones. Each of the four major

victors—the United States, Great Britain,

France, and the Soviet Union—was given

one of the zones to control. Berlin, the

capital of Germany, was also divided into

four zones.

Berlin lay far within the zone of Germany

that was controlled by the Soviet Union.

The Soviets had promised the other three

powers highway access to the city. In

1948, however,

the Soviet Union

changed its

policy, blocking

roads to western

access. When

food and

supplies began

to run out in

Berlin’s western

zones, the United

States began a

massive airlift.

Gen. Lucius

Clay, a Georgian,

General Lucius Clay

Transcript

A merchant in Barrow County

gives cigars to the ﬁrst group of

Georgia men leaving to serve in

the Korean War.

511

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

commanded the relief operation. For 11

months, U.S. planes ﬂew in more than 2

million tons of needed food and

supplies. Eventuall

ﬁ

y the

Soviets were forced to

lift their blockade.

Within two years

of the Berlin

crisis, the Cold

War began to

heat up in the

Asian country

of Korea. In

1910, Japan had

seized control

of Korea, holding

it until the end of

World War II. After

Japan’s defeat, the United

Nations temporarily divided

Korea into two parts. Until the country was

reunited, North Korea would be aided by

the Soviet Union, and South Korea by the

United States.

In June 1950, North Korean soldiers,

supplied by the Soviets, invaded the

south. The United Nations voted to

help defend South Korea,

but could not assemble

a military force

quickly. When it

appeared that

South Korea

would fall,

President

Truman sent

U.S. troops to

defend its ally.

A three-year

war followed, in

the end involving

Chinese Communist

forces. At times, people

feared that the ﬁghting

would escalate into another

world war. Although both sides suered

numerous casualties, the conﬂict ﬁnally

ended in 1953 with neither side claiming a

victory.

LINE OF DEMARCATION

Seoul

Pyongyang

NORTH

KOREA

SOUTH

KOREA

JAPAN

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC

OF CHINA

Yellow Sea

Sea of Japan

38th Parallel

0 50 100 150

SCALE IN MILES

Line of Demarcation

of Korea

512

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

During the Korean War, Marietta’s Bell

Aircraft plant, which had closed in 1946,

was reopened by the Lockheed Aircraft

Corporation. There, Georgians built and

modiﬁed B-29 bombers, still America’s

largest bomber. After the war, Lockheed

continued operating its huge facility as a

producer of military aircraft. ■

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Deﬁne: Cold War,

communism

2 Identify: East, West,Berlin

airlift

3 Why were Americans

concerned about

Communist agents at

work within the United

States?

4 How did the Korean War

start?

513

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Vocabulary

1 Cold War - The rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union after World

War II for international advantage using diplomatic, undercover, and economic means

rather than warfare.

2 Communism - Political system in which the central government, not the individual,

controls goods, property, and capital.

513

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Georgia Politics in Action

While the Cold War was changing the

course of world aairs, an old era was

about to end in Georgia. Although old-

style Georgia politics were alive and

well, power was shifting away from the

rural areas of the state. In addition to the

growth of cities, events were taking place

that would change the nature of state

politics.

During World War II, Gov. Ellis Arnall

had worked hard to modernize Georgia,

changing the way state government

operated. By the end of the war, he was

speaking out for political equality for

black Georgians. Though not opposing

segregation, Arnall argued that blacks

were entitled to equal opportunities. He

believed that one way to improve race

relations in Georgia was to attack poverty.

In fact, if economic growth could eliminate

poverty, he suggested, everyone’s lot

would be improved.

Both black and white workers in Georgia

and other southern states were poorly

paid compared to workers in other regions

of the country. In 1940, for example, the

average income for a Georgian was only

about half the national average. One

reason for low wages was a lack of labor

unions

(organizations of workers who

bargain as a group with employers over

salaries and working conditions). Governor

Arnall was among those urging Georgia

workers to unite and join labor unions.

Many black leaders agreed.

Generally, labor unions had never been

popular in the South. Higher wages meant

less proﬁts for mill and factory owners,

who sometimes threatened to close

their plants if workers unionized. Union

organizers from the North were often

viewed as “outside agitators.” Also, union

organization was hurt during the Cold War

era by charges that Communists were

involved in the labor movement. The eort

In 1946, a record number of black

citizens in Fulton County registered

to vote. The line of people waiting

to register circles the courthouse.

514

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

to expand labor unions in the South had

only limited success.

After World War II, black Americans

looked for ways to improve their lives.

Increasingly they adopted political and

legal strategies to ﬁght the discrimination

—deliberate unequal treatment—they

faced. One strategy was to mobilize black

voters. In large cities, to which more and

more African American families were

moving, voter registration drives met with

some success. By 1946, Georgia’s white

primary and poll tax had been eliminated,

and over 100,000 blacks across the

state were registered to vote. That year,

black voters in Georgia had their ﬁrst

chance to inﬂuence an election since

Reconstruction. When a vacancy occurred

in the congressional seat representing

Atlanta, Helen Mankin, a white woman,

ran to ﬁll the remainder of the term.

Actively seeking black support, she won,

becoming the ﬁrst Georgia woman elected

to Congress.

Despite the success of black voter

registration in Atlanta, statewide the

picture was far dierent. Out of every 100

Atlanta Congresswoman Helen

Mankin. What was special about

her election?

Transcript

515

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Georgia blacks of voting age, fewer than

5 were registered to vote. In rural areas,

this ﬁgure was even lower. Even though

some legal barriers had been eliminated,

others remained. For example, blacks

attempting to register to vote still faced

a literacy test requiring them to read and

interpret a section of the state constitution.

Also discouraging blacks from voting were

threats and various other pressures by

whites, especially in rural areas.

THE 1946 GOVERNOR’S RACE

Former governor Eugene Talmadge was

shocked that Atlanta’s black voters had

been able to swing the election to Mankin.

Deciding it was time to act, Talmadge

announced he would run again for the

oce of governor. His campaign called

for bringing back the white primary,

maintaining white supremacy, and

protecting Georgia from Communists and

other outside agitators.

This platform was not particularly popular

in Atlanta and other large cities. But

Talmadge was not campaigning for

the urban vote. He was appealing to

white voters who lived in rural counties.

Talmadge was able to ignore city voters

because of the county unit system

In 1946, Georgia’s constitution prohibited

a governor from running for reelection.

Arnall gave his support

to James Carmichael,

head of Bell Aircraft at

Marietta, in that year’s

Democratic primary.

With no white primary

to exclude them,

thousands of black

Georgians participated,

helping give Carmichael

a victory in the popular

election. But Talmadge

pulled ahead in the

county unit vote and

claimed victory.

516

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

The primary victory ensured Talmadge’s

election as governor. At the time, only the

Democratic party nominated candidates in

Georgia.

THE THREE GOVERNORS

CONTROVERSY

Eugene Talmadge’s primary win came at a

cost. He was in ill health before the race,

and his condition worsened during the

hectic campaign. Some of his supporters

now feared that Talmadge was dying.

Even though no Republican was running

against him in the general election, what

would happen if he were to die before

being sworn in?

Georgia’s constitution provided that if no

candidate for governor received a majority

of the votes in the general election,

legislators should choose from the two

candidates with the highest number of

votes. But in 1946, only one candidate’s

name was on the ballot—Talmadge. Some

of Talmadge’s supporters decided to write

in the name of his son, Herman Talmadge,

on their election ballots. Write-in votes

were cast for other names as well.

In the November 1946 general election,

Eugene Talmadge won the uncontested

race for governor, though several

thousand write-in votes were cast for

other candidates. Among these were 669

votes for James

Carmichael,

637 votes for

Republican

D. Talmadge

Bowers, and 617

votes for Herman

Talmadge. Voters

in 1946 also

elected M. E.

Thompson to the

newly created

post of lieutenant

governor.

After the death of governor-elect

Eugene Talmadge in December

1946, there was a debate as to who

would serve as governor. This led to

the “Three Governors Controversy.”

Gov. Ellis Arnall (shown here

signing document) decided to

continue in oce until the courts

settled the matter.

Transcript

517

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

A month later, before either could be

sworn in, Eugene Talmadge died. No

one was sure who was to be governor.

Talmadge supporters said that the General

Assembly had to choose the write-in

candidate with the most votes. Suddenly

58 uncounted write-in votes were

“discovered” in Telfair County—Talmadge’s

home county. All were for Herman

Talmadge, giving him 675 total votes. The

General Assembly then declared Herman

Talmadge the next

governor.

Georgia went into

an uproar. M. E.

Thompson, the newly

elected lieutenant

governor, claimed he

should be governor.

Governor Arnall

agreed with Thompson

and refused to give up

the oce to Talmadge

until the issue was

settled in court.

One night, Talmadge forces seized the

governor’s oce in the state capitol and

changed the locks. Arnall set up in another

oce, while Thompson was in another.

Georgia had three governors! Secretary

of State Ben Fortson refused to let any

of the three use the ocial state seal on

government documents. Thus little ocial

action could be taken.

After two months of confusion, Georgia’s

Citizens in Hartwell follow the local

vote count in the 1948 governor’s

race. Acting Gov. M. E. Thompson

lost to Herman Talmadge. How

would voters get this information

today?

518

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Supreme Court ruled that Lt. Gov. M. E.

Thompson should be acting governor

until the next general election in 1948.

Arnall then resigned, and Thompson was

sworn in. Herman Talmadge gave up the

governor’s oce but promised to take the

case “to the court of last resort . . . the

people of Georgia.” ■

GOVERNORS AT MIDCENTURY

Herman Talmadge did come back,

defeating Governor Thompson in 1948

in a special election to ﬁll the remaining

two years of his father’s term. In the

campaign, civil rights emerged as the

main issue. Talmadge, like his father,

promised the return of the white primary.

Once elected, Talmadge fought hard to

preserve segregation of the races, but he

was unable to restore the white primary. At

the same time, he sponsored programs to

develop Georgia and improve the life of its

people.

One of Talmadge’s greatest achievements

was passage of the Minimum Foundation

Program for Education Act in 1949. After

his reelection in 1950, Talmadge also

pushed through Georgia’s ﬁrst sales tax.

The 3 percent tax was needed, he argued,

to improve public schools. Just one

year after the tax went into eect, state

funding of public education increased by

an amazing 74 percent! Black and white

schools were still unequally funded, but

Supporters celebrated Herman

Talmadge’s 1948 win as governor.

After serving another full term as

governor, Talmadge went on to

serve four terms in the U.S. Senate.

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Deﬁne: labor unions,

discrimination, county unit

system

2 Why did Governor Arnall

want labor unions in

Georgia?

3 How did the election of

Helen Mankin help bring

Eugene Talmadge back

on the political scene?

4 How did Georgia have

three governors at one time?

519

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

state support for teacher salaries no

longer diered by race.

In 1956, the popular ex-governor decided

to run for the U.S. Senate seat of Walter

George. George was widely recognized as

one of the most powerful members of the

Senate, having served there for 34 years.

Failing health, however, forced him out of

the race, and Talmadge won the election

easily.

Following Talmadge as Georgia’s chief

executive were Marvin Grin and Ernest

Vandiver. These three governors served

during a time of great social, political,

and legal changes in America. Blacks,

increasingly supported by the federal

government, began the movement for

civil rights. In the South, many white

political leaders responded with a policy

of “massive resistance.” Candidates

expecting to be elected had to publicly

pledge their support of segregation. They

also had to oppose federal interference

in state aairs. State legislatures across

the South passed laws to keep the races

separate, especially in the public schools.

RURAL/URBAN POWER STRUGGLES

Not all Georgians defended segregation.

Support for civil rights was greater in

the rapidly growing urban areas than in

rural areas. By the mid-1950s, a majority

of Georgians lived in urban areas, but

rural Georgia continued to control state

politics into the 1960s. This was possible

because of the county unit system,

which allowed rural counties to control

the election of the governor and other

statewide ocials. Also, election to the

House of Representatives in the General

Assembly was based mainly on counties,

not population. Every county in the state—

no matter how small—had at least one

representative. No county—no matter how

large—could have more than three.

520

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

In Gray v. Sanders (1963), Georgia’s

county unit system was declared

unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme

Court. The decision said that the votes of

rural citizens could not count more than

those of urban citizens. According to the

ruling, the Fourteenth Amendment to the

U.S. Constitution is clear in requiring “one

person, one vote.”

The Potbellied Pig Rufus

Transcript

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Vocabulary

1 Labor unions - Organizations of workers who bargain as a group with employers over

wages, beneﬁts, and working conditions.

2 Discrimination - Withholding rights, privileges, and equal treatment from minority

groups.

3 County unit system - A formula for determining statewide races in Democratic party

primary elections that placed political power in the hands of rural counties. Used from

1917 to 1962. Winners were selected by county “unit” votes rather than the statewide

popular vote.

521

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

EVENTS IN HISTORY

Georgia’s County

Unit System

The county unit system was a special formula for counting votes

in primary elections of the Democratic party. It applied only for

statewide races, such as governor and U.S. senator. Enacted

by the General Assembly in 1917, the county unit system was

intended to keep political power from shifting from rural areas to

the growing urban centers.

Under the system, the candidate who won the most popular

votes in a county won that county’s “unit” votes. These unit

votes, rather than the total statewide vote of the people,

determined the winner of the Democratic primary.

Under the county unit system, a county’s vote in statewide races

depended on the number of members it had in the state House

of Representatives. State law provided that the eight most

populated counties were entitled to three representatives. The

30 next-largest counties had two each, and all the remaining

counties had one representative. For each representative, a

county could cast two unit votes. Here’s how the breakdown

looked:

UNIT VOTES

Counties

According to

Population

Unit Votes per

County

Total Unit Votes

for Group of

Counties

largest counties

6 48

next-largest counties

4 120

121

remaining counties

2 242

522

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

In races for governor and U.S. senator, a majority of county

unit votes was needed. This meant at least 206 of the total 410

county unit votes. For other statewide races, a plurality

(more

votes than any other candidate) was needed.

How did the county unit system help rural counties and hurt

larger, urban counties? Two out of every three voters in Georgia

lived in the 38 largest counties. Yet these counties were entitled

to only 168 county unit votes. The 121 remaining counties,

however, got 242 unit votes. This meant that one-third of the

voters controlled 60 percent of the total county unit vote in the

state.

Defenders of Georgia’s county unit system pointed out that

the system protected the small rural counties from being

controlled by the large cities, particularly Atlanta. Opponents,

however, pointed out that the system violated the voting rights

of Georgians who lived in urban counties. For example, in

1940, Fulton County had 392,886 residents but was entitled

to just 6 unit votes in statewide races. In contrast, Quitman,

Echols, Towns, Long, Glascock, and Dawson counties had total

populations of 23,966 residents, but got 12 unit votes—twice

as many as Fulton. In the case of the smallest county, Echols

County got one county unit vote for each 1,247 residents. Fulton,

in contrast, got one unit vote for each 65,481 residents.

Another problem of the county unit system was that it was

possible—as had happened in 1946—for a candidate for

governor to receive a majority of the popular vote in Georgia

but lose the election. This could happen if another candidate

won a majority of the county unit votes.

In April 1962, a federal district court struck down Georgia’s

county unit system, saying it violated the Fourteenth

Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The case was appealed

to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1963 conﬁrmed the lower

court’s decision. In so ruling, the high court established its

famous “one person, one vote” rule. No matter where you

live, one person’s vote cannot count any more than any other

person’s vote.

INTERPRETING THE SOURCE

1 Deﬁne: plurality

2 What was the purpose of the county unit system?

3 Why was the county unit system unfair to the individual voter?

to urban areas?

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Vocabulary

1 Plurality - In elections with three or more candidates, winning more votes than any

other candidate, but less than a majority.

523

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Politics in the New Era

In 1962, the death of the county unit

system changed Georgia’s political

scene. In the Democratic primary, former

governor Marvin Grin opposed

Carl Sanders of Augusta.

While Grin campaigned

in the old way, appearing

at county courthouses

or barbecues in rural

areas, Sanders went

on television to appeal

to urban voters.

Sanders easily won the

election, becoming the

ﬁrst resident of a large city to

be elected governor of Georgia.

For the ﬁrst time, Georgia’s rural

counties had not determined the outcome

of the governor’s race.

In 1964, another Supreme Court ruling,

Reynolds v. Sims, led to more change.

Rural control of the General Assembly had

continued because the state constitution

guaranteed each of the state’s 159

counties at least one state representative.

The U.S. Supreme Court, however, ruled

that the practice violated the rights

of voters in more populous

counties. The Court

said that legislative

districts must be

drawn solely on the

basis of population.

This decision

forced Georgia’s

General Assembly

to reapportion

(redraw) election districts

so that each consisted of

similar numbers of people. Since

more Georgians lived in cities, urban

areas gained and rural areas lost

representatives.

Reapportionment not only aected rural-

urban political power. It increased the

variety of people elected to the General

Carl Sanders was Georgia’s

ﬁrst governor to use television

extensively in his campaign.

5 24

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Assembly. No longer

would state legislators be

all male, all white, and

all Democrat. In 1962,

Atlanta voters elected

Leroy Johnson, the ﬁrst

black legislator since

1906. In a few years,

other black legislators were

elected from urban areas.

Women and Republicans also

gained additional representation in the

chambers of the state capitol.

Carl Sanders had campaigned for

governor on the idea of a “new Georgia.”

Once elected, he tried to avoid the open

appeals to racism that had been part of

Georgia’s politics since Reconstruction.

His stress was on the need for progress

in Georgia. To move the state ahead, he

encouraged business and industry from

other states to invest in Georgia. Governor

Sanders worked to improve the state’s

public colleges and universities. He also

tried to improve Georgia’s

relations with the

federal government. But

presidents Kennedy and

Johnson, Congress, and

the federal courts took

actions in support of civil

rights that angered many

white Georgia citizens. As a

result, in the 1964 presidential

election, a majority of Georgia

voters supported Republican Barry

Goldwater in his failed bid to defeat

Pres. Lyndon Johnson.

Two years later, federal

support of civil rights was

still on the minds of many

Georgia voters. Governor

Sanders was prohibited

by the state constitution

from running for reelection.

Democratic contenders

included ex-governor Ellis

Arnall, Atlanta businessman Lester

525

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Maddox, and state legislator Jimmy Carter

from Plains. In the primary, voters chose

outspoken segregationist Lester Maddox,

who had closed his restaurant rather than

serve black customers.

In the general election, for the ﬁrst time in

almost a century the Republican party had

a serious candidate for governor—Howard

“Bo” Callaway. In 1964, Callaway had

been elected Georgia’s ﬁrst Republican

congressman since Reconstruction. Like

Maddox, he defended segregation and

opposed federal attempts to enforce civil

rights.

In the 1966 general election, Callaway got

more votes than Maddox. But because 7

percent of the voters had written in Ellis

Arnall’s name on their ballots, Callaway

did not receive a majority of the total vote.

According to the state constitution, the

General Assembly had to choose between

the two highest vote-getters. Even though

Callaway had received the most popular

votes, the Democratic legislature chose

Maddox.

The 1966 election proved to be an

important turning point in the relationship

between the governor and General

Assembly. Until then, a newly elected

governor got to name the speaker of

the House of Representatives and the

committee chairmen. As a result, the

legislature tended to be a “rubber stamp”

for the governor. But when

the General Assembly

met after the 1966

general election

to choose a

governor, for

the ﬁrst time

they were

free to name

their own

ocers. After

that, no governor

would dominate the

legislature as before. ■

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Deﬁne: reapportion

2 Identify: “one person,one

vote”

3 What were the beneﬁts

from the new sales tax

that began during Gov.

Herman Talmadge’s

administration?

4 How did the end of

the county unit system

change Georgia’s political

scene?

5 What was Carl Sanders’s

idea of a “new Georgia”?

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Vocabulary

1 Reapportion - To redraw election districts for representative bodies, such as Congress

and the General Assembly.

526

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

GEORGIANS IN HISTORY

Benjamin Elijah Mays

Atlanta’s Morehouse College is

today one of the most respected

institutions in the country. The

school’s rise to prominence is

credited to Benjamin Elijah Mays,

who served as its president from

1940 to 1967. Though known

primarily as an educator,

Dr. Mays was also a great

humanitarian, public servant,

author, and civil rights

advocate—as well as the

spiritual mentor of Dr. Martin

Luther King Jr.

Little in Mays’s

background hinted

at his future

accomplishments.

He was born in 1895 in rural, impoverished South Carolina. His

parents were former slaves turned tenant farmers. As an adult,

he would tell a story about praying while he plowed. In his

prayers, he would ask God to help him receive an education

during a time when most blacks couldn’t read.

At 22, Mays was graduated ﬁrst in his class at the high school

department of South Carolina State College. He enrolled in

an all-black Virginia college, then transferred a year later to

previously all-white Bates College in Maine, graduating with

honors in 1920. He went on to the University of Chicago for

further study. When his funding ran out, he left the school and

held a variety of jobs—including teaching and pastoring—before

earning his doctorate from Chicago in 1935.

Mays served as dean of Howard University’s School of Religion

for six years before moving to Morehouse. While he was

president, Morehouse’s enrollment doubled and its endowment

quadrupled. It was at Morehouse that he ﬁrst met a bright

eleventh grader who would become one of America’s greatest

527

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

leaders—Martin Luther King Jr. He became his friend and

mentor, and suggested that King study the nonviolent teachings

of Gandhi.

Mays was also involved in unraveling segregation. He ﬁled

a lawsuit in 1942 that ended the practice of separated dining

cars on Pullman trains. In 1954, he told the American Baptist

Convention that the Christian church was America’s most

segregated institution. In 1960, Mays encouraged students to

hold sit-ins at public establishments across Atlanta to protest

segregated conditions.

At age 72, two years after retiring from Morehouse, Mays was

elected to the Atlanta Board of Education, serving 12 years as

its president. During that time, he was instrumental in gaining

support for a compromise desegregation plan and averting a

strike by teachers and employees.

Mays was recognized widely for his contributions, receiving 49

honorary doctorate degrees from 1945 to 1981. An Atlanta street

and a public high school are both named for him. He died in

1984, at the age of 89.

Morehouse College.

Graves Hall building

528

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

Growth and Change in

Metropolitan Atlanta

Just as politics had changed, life for

Georgia’s people went through great

changes in the decades after World War

II. One big change was Atlanta’s rapid

growth. Helping contribute to this growth

was the decision by Congress in 1956 to

build a 41,000-mile national network of

interstate highways. Atlanta was chosen

as the southeastern hub on which the

national interstate system would be built.

It would become one of only ﬁve cities

in America served by three separate

Atlanta changed dramatically

during the late 1950s and decade

of the 1960s. Its ﬁrst regional

shopping mall, Lenox Square,

opened in 1959. About the same

time, construction began on a new

modern terminal for the Atlanta

Airport, which was completed in

1961. During the 1960s, Atlanta’s

skyline saw signiﬁcant changes.

529

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

interstate highways—I-75, I-85, and I-20.

The addition of I-285 (a perimeter freeway

around the city) further attracted business,

industrial, and transportation facilities to

Atlanta. Then came new industrial parks,

warehouses, oce complexes, shopping

centers, and a boom in housing and

apartment construction.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Atlanta

metropolitan region—an area consisting

of Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, and

Clayton counties—grew rapidly. Easy

access to Atlanta by train, truck, or plane

was a major reason for that growth.

Railroads and superhighways extended

out in every direction from the city.

During the 1960s, Atlanta mass

transportation consisted of city

buses. But in 1964, voters approved

creation of the Metropolitan Atlanta

Rapid Transit Authority. In 1979,

MARTA’s ﬁrst rapid rail service

began.

530

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

About one in ﬁve Americans lived within

overnight delivery of goods shipped from

Atlanta by truck. In 1961, a new $20 million

terminal helped make Atlanta’s airport one

of the busiest in the nation. Led by Delta,

Eastern, and Southern Airways, Atlanta

was the heart of air transportation in the

Southeast.

Atlanta was enjoying a diversiﬁed

economy, with a good mix of

manufacturing and industry, banking,

business, and services. A healthy industrial

sector included such transportation giants

as Lockheed, Ford, and General Motors.

Atlanta was recognized as the most

important business and ﬁnancial center

of the Southeast. By the 1960s, a majority

of the nation’s 500 largest corporations

had oces in Atlanta, and 8—including

Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines—had their

headquarters there. Metropolitan Atlanta

also was strong in the service industry.

Law, insurance, real estate, accounting,

and other professional ﬁrms prospered.

Other services were provided by

hotels, restaurants, wholesale and retail

businesses, and the communications,

transportation, utilities, and entertainment

industries.

In the public sector, Atlanta was home to

a very large city government,

as well as the governments

of Fulton County and the

state of Georgia. Also

important to

the economy

were several

independent

authorities,

notably those to

build and operate

Grady Hospital,

the Atlanta–Fulton

County Stadium,

and Atlanta’s public

housing. Many

federal agencies chose to locate their

southeastern regional oces in Atlanta,

ATLANTA’S

POPULATION

1950

1958

1973

BARTOW

POLK

HARALSON

DAWSON

CARROLL

HALL

BARROW

MORGAN

JASPER

HEARD

COWETA

SPALDING

PIKE

LAMAR

CHEROKEE

PAULDING

FORSYTH

DOUGLAS

WALTON

ROCKDALE

NEWTON

HENRY

FAYETTE

BUTTS

GWINNETT

CLAYTON

COBB

FULTON

DEKALB

CHEROKEE

PAULDING

FORSYTH

DOUGLAS

WALTON

ROCKDALE

NEWTON

HENRY

FAYETTE

BUTTS

GWINNETT

CLAYTON

COBB

FULTON

DEKALB

GWINNETT

CLAYTON

COBB

FULTON

DEKALB

COBB

FULTON

DEKALB

Atlanta’s metropolitan region grew

dramatically every decade. In

contrast, the population actually

living within Atlanta’s city limits

grew more slowly, with much of the

growth during the 1950s due to

annexing new land to the city. The

largest annexation came in 1952,

when 92 square miles were added.

This not only tripled the land area of

Atlanta, but gave the city 100,000

new residents.

METROPOLITAN ATLANTA

Year

Total

Population

Percent

Black

1940 442,294 29.3

1950 671,797 24.7

1960 1,017,188 22.8

1970 1,390,164 22.6

CITY LIMITS

Total

Population

Percent

Black

302,288 34.6

331,314 36.6

487,455 38.3

496,973 51.6

531

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

too. Other important federal facilities in

Atlanta included Fort McPherson, the

Federal Reserve Bank, the Centers for

Disease Control, and the Atlanta Federal

Penitentiary. The federal district court

for Georgia’s northern district was also

located in Atlanta.

Atlanta public and private colleges and

universities also helped contribute to

the growth of the region. By the 1950s

and 1960s, several had attained national

reputations. The Georgia Institute of

Technology was recognized for its

engineering and technology programs.

Emory University was known for its

liberal arts and theology programs,

medical school, and hospital. The Atlanta

University Center (which included seven

associated colleges) was famous as the

leading center for African American higher

education in the United States.

During this era, the Atlanta Division of

the University of Georgia, created in

1949, became the Georgia State College

of Business Administration in 1955 and

Georgia State College in 1961. The college

was elevated to university status in 1969.

Several Atlanta-area junior colleges were

also created in the 1960s.

In part, Atlanta’s success was due to the

eorts of its business and political leaders

Mayor Ivan Allen Jr.

Transcript

532

CHAPTER 19 • GEORGIA MOVES INTO THE MODERN ERA

to promote the city’s future. In 1961, for

example, Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr., launched

a “Forward Atlanta” program (similar

to that led by his father in the 1920s).

Atlanta’s ability to attract new business

and industry, Allen believed, depended on

achieving these goals:

1 Completion of the interstate highways

that served the city

2 A new sports stadium

3 Professional baseball and football teams

for the city

4 Rapid rail as part of the public

transportation system

5 Keeping the public schools open at

a time when some politicians were

calling for closing schools rather than

integrating them

During the ﬁrst three years of Forward

Atlanta, 173 new plants and 323 branch

oces opened in Atlanta, creating an

estimated 70,000 new jobs. By the end

of the decade, the city had professional

baseball, football, basketball, and hockey

teams. Atlanta also had a perimeter

expressway around the city, six four-lane

highways to enter and leave downtown,

and a new Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid

Transit Authority (MARTA).

At the same time, Atlanta was undergoing

a major change in the makeup of its

population. Large cities such as Atlanta,

Savannah, and Augusta provided African

Americans with more opportunities than

they had found in rural areas, including

a growing number of jobs that came

with new businesses. As a result, during

the 1960s, some 70,000 blacks moved

into the city. During the same period,

60,000 whites left the city, often settling

in the suburbs to the north and east of

downtown. By the late 1960s, blacks were

a majority of Atlanta’s population. ■

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 What decision by Congress

helped make Atlanta a

transportation hub in the

Southeast?

2 Were the goals of Ivan Allen

Jr.’s Forward Atlanta program

met?

3 How did the population

makeup of Atlanta change

during the 1960s?

CHAPTER 19 QUIZ

Text Version

Chapter 20

Foreword

Georgia Standards of Excellence

Correlations 

SS8H11

SS8H12

SS8H11

Evaluate the role of Georgia in the modern civil rights movement.

a. Explain Georgia’s response to Brown v. Board of Education including the 1956 ﬂag and the Sibley Commission.

b. Describe the role of individuals (Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis), groups (SNCC and SCLC) and events

(Albany Movement and March on Washington) in the Civil Rights Movement.

c. Explain the resistance to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, emphasizing the role of Lester Maddox.

SS8H12

Explain the importance of developments in Georgia since the late 20th century.

a. Explain how the continued development of Atlanta under mayors Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young

impacted the state.

Chapter Outline

Civil Rights and the Law

School Desegregation

Desegregation of Public Facilities

Attitudes toward Civil Rights Progress

Civil Rights Movement Grows

Students Join the Movement

Increasing Violence

The Albany Movement

Birmingham and Beyond

The March on Washington

The Federal Government Acts

Voting Rights

Efforts Continue

The Focus Changes

CHAPTER 20

The March on Washington, 1963 was led by civil rights groups with the support of

religious organizations and labor unions.

534

UNIT 8 • MODERN GEORGIA

Georgia World War II, Segregation

Transcript

AT FIRST GLANCE

This chapter explores the civil

rights movement, beginning with

the initial protests to segregation

laws and practices around the

turn of the century. World War II

produced a new determination

among African Americans to

resist discrimination, laying the

groundwork for the civil rights

movement. Landmark events in

that movement such as the Brown

v. Board of Education decision,

the Montgomery bus boycott,

sit-ins, the Albany Movement,

and the March on Washington

are described in the chapter. A

primary source interview with

Rosa Strickland, a black school

teacher and principal in the 1940s,

describes the poor conditions

at her school. Other primary

sources include excerpts from

the writings of Dr. Martin Luther

King Jr., and from Ralph McGill. Dr.

King is the subject of a Georgians

in History feature. The chapter

concludes with an examination

of key legislation enacted by the

federal government and a look at

how the civil rights movement has

changed.

The Civil Rights

Movement

Civil Rights and the Law

Civil Rights Movement Grows

The Federal Government Acts

Efforts Continue

At the time America entered

World War II, segregation of

the races was still a way of life

in most of the United States.

This was particularly true in the

South, the region of the nation

with the highest percentage of

African Americans. Reminders

of America’s dual society were

common, especially in public

places. Signs reading “White”

and “Colored” marked water

fountains, restrooms, movie

theater entrances, and places to

sit on the bus and train.

In Georgia, blacks had organized

early to protest laws that

discriminated against them.

Resistance to segregation dated

back to the late 1890s and early

1900s. Black leaders in Atlanta,

Augusta, Rome, and Savannah

had organized boycotts to protest

new laws requiring segregation on

streetcars. But their eorts were

unsuccessful, and blacks were

forced to ride in the back of the

streetcars.

World War II was a turning point

for race relations in the United

States. During the war, many

young Americans of both races

served in the armed forces.

Though assigned to segregated

units, black soldiers fought and

died just like white soldiers.

After the war, some black war

veterans began to challenge the

segregated society back home.

Also, many black workers were

not willing to accept lower pay for

doing the same jobs as whites.

During the Cold War era, the

United States presented itself

to the world as the defender of

freedom and democracy. Yet

how could a country make this

claim and still practice racial

discrimination at home? In 1947,

President Truman appointed a civil

rights commission to recommend

ways to ensure equality for

all Americans. The next year,

he issued an order to end

segregation in the armed forces.

Most white southerners feared

ending the only way of life they

had ever known. But by the

1950s, black Americans, and

some whites, were showing a

new determination to break down

the barriers to equal opportunity

in America. Their determination

became the force behind the civil

rights movement of the 1950s and

1960s.

535

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Civil Rights and the Law

Segregation laws during the ﬁrst half of the

twentieth century were possible because

of the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court ruling

in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. This

ruling (described in Chapter 15) said that

segregation was legal as long as blacks

had access to facilities equal to those

for whites. Under this separate but equal

doctrine, however, facilities for blacks were

seldom comparable to those for whites.

In the decades that followed, black

leaders debated the best approach for

gaining social and political equality. In

Signs enforcing segregation were a

common sight in every community.

536

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

1910, the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

was established. Its approach was to

secure civil rights

—the protections

and privileges given to all citizens by

the Constitution—for blacks through the

nation’s courts. The NAACP frequently

ﬁled lawsuits against discriminatory laws

and practices. ■

SCHOOL DESEGREGATION

In the late 1940s, lawyers for the NAACP

and other civil rights groups went to court.

Their targets were the dual school systems

set up by law in Georgia and other states.

They argued that although black people

paid taxes just like white people, they

did not receive the same services from

government. In Georgia, for example, state

government spent over four times as much

to educate a white student as it spent to

educate a black student. White teachers’

salaries were more than double those paid

to black teachers.

With black and white schools so clearly

unequal, the legal basis for separate but

equal began to crumble. Courts began

ruling that educational opportunities for

blacks had to be improved.

Even segregationists began to approve

of spending more money on black

schools. Perhaps in that way, they thought,

1970s Voter Education Poster.

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Deﬁne: civil rights

2 Why was World War II

a turning point in race

relations in the United

States?

3 How were segregation

laws in the ﬁrst half of

the twentieth century

inﬂuenced by an 1896

Supreme Court decision?

537

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

separate schools could be maintained. In

Georgia, more money was pumped into

public education for blacks and whites.

However, inequalities still existed. In 1954,

Georgia spent $190 to educate each white

child, $132 on each black child. Through

an order of the U.S. Supreme Court, those

conditions were about to change.

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court

handed down a historic decision. The

case, Brown v. Board of Education, wiped

out the legal basis for racial segregation in

public education. According to the Court,

segregation laws were unconstitutional;

they violated the Fourteenth Amendment,

which guarantees all citizens equal

protection (or treatment) under the law.

Said the Court, “We conclude that in the

ﬁeld of public education the doctrine

of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.

Separate educational facilities are

inherently [by nature] unequal.” The ruling

threw the weight of the nation’s highest

court behind the movement to give all

citizens equal rights. In time, the entire

federal government would uphold this

principle.

The Brown ruling did not set a date for

achieving the integration of public schools.

In the South, most government and school

ocials opposed it. Georgia’s Governor

Talmadge denounced the Supreme

Court’s decision, saying it had reduced the

Constitution to “a mere scrap of paper.” An

Atlanta Constitution editorial advised that

this was no time to encourage agitators on

In May 1955, the U.S. Supreme

Court ordered that segregated

schools be ended. Public schools

had to take immediate steps to

desegregate.

Transcript

538

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

either side “or those who are always ready

to incite violence or hatred. . . . It is time for

Georgians to think clearly.’’

In May 1955, the U.S. Supreme Court

issued a second ruling in the Brown case.

The court now ordered that segregated

schools be ended “with all deliberate

speed.” Public schools had to take

immediate steps to desegregate

(enroll

black and white students in the same

schools).

Across the South, reaction was

immediate. Most white politicians and

newspaper editors expressed outrage

with the Supreme Court, calling its action

unconstitutional. Georgia’s new governor,

Separate schools for blacks and

whites, like these in Chatham

County and Camden County,

existed in Georgia for many years

after the 1954 Brown v. Board of

Education decision.

539

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Marvin Grin, spent most of his four years

in oce (1955–1959) pushing a program

of “massive resistance” to the two Brown

decisions. Ocials thought that a massive

eort to avoid

enforcing the

court’s decision

would result

in the federal

government

changing its

position on

segregation.

The General

Assembly

even went so

far as to pass

laws that would

abolish Georgia’s public schools if need

be. It voted to support private schools,

to close schools that desegregated, and

to prosecute local school ocials who

permitted desegregation. These laws

were never enforced.

Eventually, change did come. As the

1960s began, some Georgia political

leaders, including Gov. Ernest Vandiver,

called for the schools to be kept open,

even in the face of desegregation. After

holding hearings

around the

state, the Sibley

Commission

recommended

leaving

desegregation

in the hands

of local school

systems. In 1961,

token integration

of Atlanta public

schools began.

DESEGREGATION OF PUBLIC

FACILITIES

The schools were only one type of public,

or tax-supported, facility segregated by

law. After the Brown ruling, civil rights

In 1961 Hamilton Holmes and

Charlayne Hunter became the

ﬁrst black students to be admitted

to the University of Georgia. They

graduated in 1963 and went on

to successful careers, Holmes as

an Atlanta physician and Hunter

(now Charlayne Hunter-Gault) asa

journalist.

540

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

lawyers challenged segregation in other

areas, such as public transportation,

libraries, auditoriums, parks, and beaches.

In a series of rulings, federal judges struck

down segregation of these facilities, too.

While the courts were considering these

cases, blacks—and whites who supported

their cause—began using other methods

to arouse public support. In 1955, Rosa

Parks, a department store seamstress in

Montgomery, Alabama, tired from a long

day at work, refused to give up her seat

on the bus to a white passenger. She said

she had paid the same fare as everyone

else and had a right to a seat. Following

her arrest, the black community, led by Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr., organized a boycott

of the Montgomery bus system.

King, who was born and raised in Atlanta,

was the new pastor of the Dexter Avenue

Baptist Church in Montgomery. His role

in the bus boycott established him as a

national civil rights leader. He advanced

the cause of civil rights through the use

of a technique called nonviolence. His

followers might choose to disobey laws

they felt unjust and ﬁll up a community’s

jails by doing so. They might resist—and

take abuse—when ordered to move on.

But they would be peaceful. There would

be no violence on their part.

Until 1947, professional baseball, like

other aspects of American life, was

segregated, with black and white

ballplayers in separate leagues. On

April 15, 1947, Georgia-born Jackie

Robinson, wearing a Brooklyn

Dodgers uniform, took his position

at ﬁrst base—breaking baseball’s

so-called color barrier forever.

His courage in the face of intense

racism, as much as his athletic

ability, distinguished him throughout

his baseball career and life. Why

were people like Jackie Robinson

important to black Americans? To

white Americans?

541

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

For over a year, black residents of

Montgomery stayed o city buses. They

walked or organized car pools as their

means of transportation. Some whites

reacted harshly, trying to prevent the

changes that appeared to be coming.

There were bombings of churches and

homes, threats, and beatings. In the

end, however, Montgomery buses were

integrated.

ATTITUDES TOWARD

CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRESS

Many white Georgians, as well as other

southerners, were outraged at what

was happening. Some blamed the racial

unrest on outsiders—whites and blacks

from the North. Many accused the federal

government of tampering with southern

customs. Candidates for public oce and

leaders in state and local governments

spoke out against federal government

attempts to enforce civil rights laws.

Other voices among white southerners

attacked the unfair treatment of black

southerners. One such voice belonged

to Ralph McGill. Born in Tennessee in

1898, McGill went to work for the Atlanta

Constitution in 1929 as a sportswriter.

Later he wrote about politics, economics,

and life in the South. He was concerned

about the plight of the poor—black and

white—and worked to bring help to them.

In his writing, he attacked

the white supremacy

policies of Gov. Eugene

Talmadge. In 1942,

McGill managed Ellis

Arnall’s successful

campaign for governor.

That same year he

became editor of the

Atlanta Constitution.

In the 1950s, McGill

called on his fellow

southerners to tear

down the barriers that

Peaceful marches became a

frequent strategy in the civil rights

movement.

542

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

prevented blacks from participating fully

in community life. He said not to wait for

the federal government to step in. His

opinions gained national attention. By

1958 he was being called the “conscience

of the South.” Not all readers, however,

liked what Ralph McGill wrote. In some

places in Georgia, the Atlanta Constitution

vanished from newsstands. He was

threatened by the Ku Klux Klan and others.

Ralph McGill tried to see all sides of the

issues surrounding race relations in the

South—and tried to explain what he saw

to his readers. He also tried to explain to

Americans in other parts of the country

what was happening in the South in the

1950s and early 1960s. ■

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Deﬁne: desegregate

2 What was the argument

used by NAACP lawyers

to challenge the dual

school systems in Georgia

and other states?

3 What was the importance

of the U.S. Supreme Court

case Brown v. Board of

Education?

4 How were the black

residents of Montgomery

able to make the bus

boycott a success?

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Vocabulary

1 Civil rights - The protections and privileges given to all citizens by federal and state

constitutions and laws.

2 Desegregation - The act of opening once-segregated facilities to both races. Also

known as integration.

543

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

PRIMARY SOURCE

Rosa Strickland

In 1981, a black woman who had been a teacher and a school

principal was interviewed in Athens, Georgia. In the following

passage, Rosa Strickland describes her school of the 1940s.

The particular school where I was, was fair. But getting fuel was

bad. We had a pot-bellied stove in each room—we had three

rooms, three teachers. In the winter, the boys spent most of

the time going to the woods and picking up trash to burn in the

stoves. They couldn’t study for going to get wood, because the

county did not furnish wood to us.

Most of our books were used, second-hand books; some were

too old to really be used in school.

We had outdoor toilets—the boys’ was pretty bad. The principal

was very old and she didn’t feel like askin’ the superintendent—

you know how some black people were afraid to ask white

people to do anything—she

thought it was an imposition to ask

the superintendent to do anything.

I would ask her, “Why don’t you ask

him to ﬁx that ﬂoor in the boys’

toilet?” But she wouldn’t do it.

And we didn’t have any water

on the place—we had to walk

about four blocks or more to a

neighbor’s house to get water. The

children would bring buckets of

water from that distance to pour

in a big barrel. That’s the way

they got drinking water. [Of

course, many white pupils

in Georgia in the 1940s

went to schools that had

no indoor plumbing.]

Pot-bellied stove

544

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Then, I became principal and I went to the [main] oce more

and looked around and saw how we were cheated out of

books. I saw the many nice readers that they had on the shelves

and I asked the superintendent for them and why he hadn’t

given us any. He said, “Well, ah didn’t know yuh needed ’um,” or

something. So, in fact I got the readers, and workbooks along

with ’em, and other books—new editions we should have been

gettin’ all the while.

After that, I asked him about ﬁxing the boys’ toilet. He said,

“Well, ah am.” So, ﬁnally, one day, the ﬂoor fell through. And that

day I got hot. I went by the oce and said to the superintendent,

“The county could get sued.” So, then he sent somebody out to

put a new ﬂoor in.

Then, after that, I said, “We really need some water on the

grounds. It’s dangerous; the building could catch on ﬁre. It’s

not healthy for the children to bring water in the dust all up

and down that way, their little dresses getting in the water. It’s

bad.” So, I found somebody to come out and dig a well, and the

county paid for it.

Then, after that, I said, “I feel the county should furnish us some

fuel.” He said, “Well, we just don’t have the money for fuel.” So,

I called the parents together and told ’em the conditions we

had and I said if we pledged $2 each, I believed we could buy

enough coal and wood to supply us for a time. And we did—

enough to keep the boys in the classroom.

Later, I got a blacksmith to make us swings and seesaws for the

playground. He came out and put them up.

We even had lights in the building. I told the superintendent we

wanted to have some programs out there at night. He said the

county didn’t have the money. I asked him if we, the parents,

raised $10 would he do it? We raised the money and the county

sent the folks out to wire the building. Then we had lights.

Brotherhood in the South

One night I was asked to talk to the men’s Bible class of a

smalltown church. I tried to speak casually, yet seriously, noting

that we Southerners have a reputation for being Bible-oriented,

for quoting from it, and for using it in our politics. I said that

somehow along the way we had managed to exclude the

Negro from our concept of the Fatherhood of God and the

brotherhood of man. . . .

545

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Our basic national problem, but more especially ours in the

South, was to accept the Negro as one with us in human

brotherhood. We need him in the South, and in the nation, as

an educated, trained, participating citizen. This did not mean, I

insisted, that anyone’s privacy would be disturbed. It was only

necessary for us to grant the full rights of citizenship and to see

the Negro as just another human being. . . .

There was polite applause. Later, when the meeting was

concluded, an old man came up to me. “I just want you to

know,” he said, and there was no heat in his voice, “that I

believe in white supremacy. Even the Bible says as much. I hold

with our traditions.”

I patted him on the shoulder and said, “Well, the Bible is

interpreted in many ways.”

He was old and troubled and on the defensive. Also, there was

a genuine pathos [sorrowful quality] in him. There are many like

him, young and old. If they cannot hold on to the concept of

their superiority, their small universe will crumble. . . .

There was an impulse to put my arms about his frail shoulders,

showing so beneath his worn, clean, church-supper coat, and to

say to him, Everything will be all right. Don’t you try to change.

You go right on clinging to what gives you strength.

I put out my hand and he took it. I went away thinking about all

the cynical and bitter men, in politics and out, of this generation

and of those of the past who have had a part in making that old

man (and the thousands like him) what he was. . . .

[This excerpt by Ralph McGill was adapted from The South and

the Southerner, published by Little, Brown and Company, 1959,

1963.]

Ralph McGill won a Pulitzer prize in 1959 for a

column he wrote about the bombing of the Atlanta

Jewish temple and the burning of a black school.

Tra nscript

546

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Letter From Birmingham Jail

. . . For years now I have heard the word “wait.” It rings in the ear of

every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “wait” has always meant

“never.” We must come to see . . . that “justice too long delayed is

justice denied.”

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and

God-given rights . . . but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace

toward gaining a cup of coee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy

for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to

say, “wait.” But, when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mother

and father, . . . when you see the vast majority of your twenty million

Negro brothers smothering in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst

of an auent society; when you suddenly ﬁnd your tongue twisted

and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-

old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has

just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her

eyes when she is told Funtown is closed to colored children; . . . when

you take a cross-country drive and ﬁnd it necessary to sleep night

after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because

no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day

out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored,” . . . then you will

understand why it is dicult to wait.

—April 16, 1963

[This excerpt from a letter by Martin Luther King Jr. appeared in 1963

in Why We Can’t Wait, published by Harper & Row Publishers.]

King promotes his book Why We Can’t Wait at a

press conference. The book included a version of

the full text of his letter from Birmingham Jail.

547

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Civil Rights Movement Grows

In 1957, Martin Luther King Jr. helped

create a new civil rights organization, the

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

(SCLC). The headquarters of the SCLC

were in Atlanta. King became its ﬁrst

president, and his friend and fellow pastor

from Montgomery, Ralph Abernathy,

became the treasurer. Andrew Young, who

had worked as a minister in Thomasville,

Georgia, left a job with the National

Council of Churches to direct a voter

registration project for the SCLC. Young,

like Abernathy, became one of King’s top

aides. The SCLC developed into one of

the dominant civil rights organizations in

the country. The organization’s strategy

to end segregation was based on non-

violence. Its work included peaceful

marches and protests, boycotts, and sit-

ins. Sit-ins are organized protests in which

participants sit peaceably in a racially

segregated place, such as a restaurant or

a movie theater, to integrate it.

STUDENTS JOIN THE MOVEMENT

Early in 1960, four black students in

Greensboro, North Carolina, sat at a

Woolworth’s lunch counter and asked

to be served. When they were refused,

they stated that they would remain and

keep coming back until they were served.

Joined by black and white students from

nearby colleges, the sit-in continued for

months. Eventually the lunch counter

was integrated.

Following their example, other

students started sit-ins and boycotts

throughout the South. In Atlanta,

Lonnie C. King (no relation to Dr.

King) and Julian Bond became

student leaders. They announced

that their goal was to use legal and

nonviolent means to obtain their full

rights as citizens. Dr. King joined the

Student Nonviolent Coordinating

Committee (SNCC). was one of the

organizations of the American civil

rights movement in the 1960s.

548

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

students at a sit-in to integrate the lunch

counter at Rich’s department store.

To better organize and plan their

activities, students formed the Student

Nonviolent Coordinating Committee,

SNCC (pronounced snick), in 1960.

Headquartered in Atlanta, SNCC worked

closely with the SCLC to end segregation.

However, sometimes the student group

felt the SCLC was too passive and the

SCLC felt SNCC was too militant, so there

were strains in their relationship.

INCREASING VIOLENCE

Under the leadership of James Farmer,

another civil rights organization, the

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE),

prepared to challenge segregated

southern bus terminals. The Supreme

Court had outlawed segregation on

interstate buses and trains in 1946 and in

terminals in 1960. In reality, segregated

terminals remained. In 1961, trips on

interstate buses, known as “freedom

rides,” were organized. Black and white

members of CORE and SNCC volunteered

as freedom riders. On the ﬁrst trip, the

riders were beaten and one bus was

burned in Alabama. Angry mobs attacked

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

marched in Washington, DC, one

week after four young girls were

killed in a church bombing in

Birmingham, Alabama.

549

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

the riders at some stops, and riders were

arrested as they tried to enter segregated

terminals. Despite the violence, freedom

rides continued throughout the summer.

In September, the federal Interstate

Commerce Commission issued new

regulations putting an end to segregated

terminals as of November 1. But would

these rules be obeyed in the segregated

South?

THE ALBANY MOVEMENT

In the fall of 1961, three SNCC members

were in Albany, Georgia, conducting

a voter registration drive. They also

encouraged local black students to

become more involved in demanding

civil rights. In November, seven local

black organizations and SNCC met and

formed an organization they named the

Albany Movement. Their goal was to end

segregation in the city through negotiation

rather than demonstrations and violence.

One of their ﬁrst eorts was to test the

Interstate Commerce Commission’s ban

on segregated railroad and bus stations.

Three weeks after the

ban went into eect,

three black high school

students walked into

the Albany bus station’s

waiting room for white

passengers. When

police told them to leave,

the students refused

and were arrested. That

afternoon, two Albany

State College students

tried the same thing and

also ended up in jail.

What followed was

almost a year of mass

meetings, protest

marches, and arrests.

Not only Albany’s jails

During the Albany Movement,

demonstrators marched to city

hall, where they knelt in prayer. At

this point, police would arrest the

protestors and put them in jail.

Transcript

550

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

were full but also those of surrounding

counties. Martin Luther King was asked

to help. In December, King led a march

of several hundred people to pray at city

hall. Police were waiting and arrested

most of them. By now, more than 500

marchers—including King and Ralph David

Abernathy—were in jail.

Released from jail, King continued his

campaign—and was arrested two more

times. But the Albany black community

was running out of willing marchers,

bail money, and enthusiasm. City

ocials refused to budge, and facilities

remained segregated or were closed.

Also, a split had developed in the Albany

Movement over strategy, including how

much inﬂuence outsiders such as King

and the SCLC should have. Eventually,

the movement failed in its immediate

objective—the desegregation of Albany.

But important lessons were learned that

would help bring future successes in

broader movements for civil rights.

BIRMINGHAM AND BEYOND

In 1963, SCLC leaders targeted the

city of Birmingham, Alabama, for

their next eort to integrate

public facilities. Eugene “Bull”

Connor, Birmingham’s police

commissioner, vowed to

stop integration no matter

what. King, Abernathy, and

others were arrested and

jailed as they began a

protest march. By then,

King was getting a lot of

criticism, not only from

segregationists

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC,

where Congress would pass many

signiﬁcant civil rights laws during

the 1960s.

551

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

but also from white moderates, even

members of the clergy. He was causing

too much turmoil by trying to move too

fast, they said. He should be patient. In

response, King, while being held in solitary

conﬁnement, penned a “Letter from

Birmingham Jail,” explaining his actions.

After his release, more marches were

planned. As promised, Bull Connor tried

to stop the marchers. He used police

dogs to attack and intimidate them. He

ordered that powerful ﬁre hoses, strong

enough to knock mortar o bricks, be

turned on the marchers to drive them

back. Hundreds were arrested, but more

and more marchers came. All the while,

the rest of the nation watched the violence

and brutality on the evening news. Finally,

Birmingham business owners agreed to

integrate. Angered, white supremacists

bombed local black churches, homes,and

businesses.

By now, racial unrest was rocking America.

Protesters in Maryland, Virginia, Florida,

and other states were beaten and

jailed. On national television, President

Kennedy asked “whether all Americans

are to be aorded equal rights and equal

opportunities, whether

we are going to treat

our fellow Americans as

we want to be treated.”

He went on to outline

his plans for civil rights

legislation. That same

night in Mississippi,

NAACP leader Medgar

Evers was shot and

killed in his driveway

as he returned from a

meeting. In the 10 weeks

after the Birmingham

agreement, 186 American

cities experienced racial

demonstrations. A total

of 14,733 arrests were

made, and the number of

demonstrations reached

758.

The most famous single event of

the civil rights movement was the

March of Washington in August

1963. Here, before a quarter million

people, Martin Luther King Jr.

gave his famous“I Have a Dream”

speech.

552

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON

The time was right. Leaders of the nation’s

civil rights organizations met in New York

to plan the March on Washington. Its

purpose would be to demonstrate the

tremendous support behind the civil rights

movement. Present at the July meeting

were Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, Martin

Luther King Jr., of the SCLC, John Lewis

with SNCC, James Farmer of CORE,

Whitney Young of the National Urban

League, and A. Philip Randolph of the

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. It

was agreed that Randolph would lead the

march.

In August 1963, more than 250,000

citizens—blacks, whites, Indians,

Hispanics, and others—gathered and

marched in Washington, DC The highlight

of the gathering was a speech by King,

from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

“I have a dream,” King said. In a speech

that would become a part of history, he

described his vision of racial equality.

The March on Washington generated

support for civil rights. The next year, 101

years after the Emancipation Proclamation

had been issued, Congress passed far-

reaching civil rights legislation. ■

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. greets

the crowd gathered at the Lincoln

Memorial before delivering his

famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Transcript

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 What strategy did the

Southern Christian

Leadership Conference

use to end segregation?

2 What was the purpose of

the freedom rides?

3 Why was Dr. King

criticized after his arrest in

Birmingham in 1963?

4 What was the purpose of

the March on Washington?

553

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

GEORGIANS IN HISTORY

Martin Luther King Jr.

Few who grew up in the Auburn Avenue area of Atlanta during

the 1930s could have predicted that Martin Luther King Jr. would

become Georgia’s most famous native son. King was born in

Atlanta in 1929. His father, Martin Luther King Sr., was pastor of

Ebenezer Baptist Church, and his grandfather, A. D. Williams,

founded Ebenezer. The bright “M.L.” (as he was called then)

ﬁnished Morehouse College at age 16, and entered Crozer

Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. That was

when he began to emerge as the brilliant thinker and speaker

who would later help found the Southern Christian Leadership

Conference, work to end segregation, and win the 1964 Nobel

Peace Prize.

At Crozer, King was exposed to ideas such as paciﬁsm, social

activism, and nonviolent civil disobedience. He would continue

to reﬁne and practice them his entire life, both at Boston

University, where he earned a Ph.D., and in the pulpits of

Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and Ebenezer

Baptist in Atlanta. Dr. King urged those in the civil rights struggle

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps of his

boyhood home in Atlanta in 1967. The house is

located only a few blocks from Ebenezer Baptist

Church where Dr. King preached.

554

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

to put New Testament teachings into practice, to meet violence

with passive resistance and prayer as they staged sit-ins, voter

registration projects, and marches during the changing 1960s.

After the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts,

King turned his attention to ﬁghting poverty and discrimination

in housing and jobs. For him, the issue wasn’t white

against black; it was justice against injustice.

While holding fast to his belief that all people, of

all colors, are created equal and should be treated

equally, Dr. King endured threats, beatings, and

imprisonment. He was assassinated in 1968 while

visiting Memphis, Tennessee, to support a city

garbage workers’ strike.

As news of the assassination spread, riots broke out

in Washington, DC, and in dozens of other cities.

But Atlanta, Dr. King’s home, was relatively quiet

as the city prepared for his funeral. Thousands

of mourners poured into Atlanta from all over the

country. Watching television, millions of Americans

saw Dr. King’s casket borne through the streets on

a mule-drawn wagon. They also saw the nation’s

leaders gather at Ebenezer Baptist Church to pay

tribute to King.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change

in Atlanta continues his work today. In 1986, Congress and the

president designated the third Monday in January as a national

holiday, to honor Dr. King’s January 15 birthdate.

555

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

I Have a Dream Speech

. . . I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live

out the true meaning of its creed, “We hold these truths to be

self-evident, that all men are created equal.” I have a dream

that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves

and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down

together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one

day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with

the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression,

will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have

a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation

where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by

the content of their character. . . .

[From a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. delivered on

August 28, 1963.]

Tra nscript

556

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

The Federal Government Acts

The legislative and executive branches of

the national government followed the lead

of the federal courts. In 1957, Congress

passed a law giving the U.S. Department

of Justice new powers to investigate

violations of civil rights. That same year,

Pres. Dwight Eisenhower used federal

troops to enforce court-ordered school

desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas.

In the early 1960s, Pres. John Kennedy

used the power of the federal government

to enforce desegregation of schools and

colleges in Alabama and Mississippi.

After President Kennedy’s assassination

in 1963, Pres. Lyndon Johnson pushed

for passage of more laws to protect civil

rights. Congress passed the Civil Rights

Act of 1964

. The act prohibited racial

discrimination in employment and labor

unions and in public facilities, such as

swimming pools and playgrounds. The

Civil Rights Act allowed the government

to withhold federal funds from school

systems that refused to desegregate.

One of the ﬁrst court cases to challenge

the Civil Rights Act originated in Atlanta.

In Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United

States, the Court ruled that discrimination

by race in privately owned public

accommodations, such as motels, was

illegal. Hotels, restaurants, theaters,

amusement parks, and sports stadiums

A civil rights protest, 1962. In front

of a segregated Atlanta hotel,

one man pickets for an end to

discrimination while another hands

out KKK leaﬂets.

Transcript

557

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

could no longer turn away black

customers or force them to sit in separate

sections.

In 1968, the Fair Housing Act outlawed

racial discrimination in the buying, selling,

renting, and leasing of real estate. This

law made it possible for blacks to choose

where they wanted to live. Property

owners and managers and real estate

agents could no longer refuse to allow

blacks access to housing.

VOTING RIGHTS

By 1960, most blacks in Georgia and other

southern states still were disfranchised.

Voter registration drives were conducted

throughout the South but with only limited

success. Some whites ﬁercely opposed

registration of black voters. They wanted

to keep blacks from gaining political power

even if they committed murder to do it. In

June 1964, two white civil rights workers,

Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner,

went to Mississippi to work in a voter

registration drive. They both disappeared

along with James Chaney, a local CORE

member. Their bodies were found two

months later. But even murder did not stop

people from continuing to work for black

voter registration.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

required state election ocials

to treat white and black voting

applicants the same way. Still

there were problems. In order to

focus attention on obstacles to

voter registration in the South,

King and Abernathy planned a

march in Alabama from Selma to

the state capitol in Montgomery.

Gov. George Wallace of Alabama

objected to the march. He sent

mounted state troopers to stop

the marchers. Troopers met them

at the Edmund Pettus Bridge

and used cattle prods and whips

Civil rights activist, educator, and

state legislator Grace Hamilton was

the ﬁrst African-American woman

elected to the Georgia General

Assembly, in 1965.

Transcript

558

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

to disperse the crowd. The marchers

persisted. With the help of federal troops

sent in by President Johnson, thousands

of people of all occupations, ages, and

races continued the march from Selma to

Montgomery in support of voting rights for

all Americans.

That fall, Congress passed the Voting

Rights Act of 1965

. Under this act, the

federal government, rather than state

government, had the power to register

voters in certain states. It could also

send federal examiners into counties

where local election ocials might be

discriminating against blacks. Finally, no

new law that aected voting in any way

could be passed without the approval of

the U.S. Justice Department. This was

to make sure that election laws were not

unfair to blacks.

Following passage of the Voting Rights

Act, hundreds of thousands of black

citizens registered to vote in Georgia and

six other southern states. As a result, black

candidates were elected to public oce. In

1965, eight black candidates were elected

to the Georgia House of Representatives.

Among the eight were Grace Hamilton,

the ﬁrst black woman to hold that oce,

and 25-year-old Julian Bond, who gained

national attention when the

House refused to seat him

because of his opposition to

the draft during the Vietnam

War. Andrew Young, after losing

his ﬁrst race, was elected to

Congress in 1972, becoming

the ﬁrst black congressman

from Georgia in the twentieth

century. In 1973, Maynard

Jackson became the ﬁrst black

mayor of Atlanta.

As a young lawyer, Maynard

Jackson won election as vice-

mayor of Atlanta in 1969. Four

years later, Atlanta voters elected

him mayor, making him the ﬁrst

African American to head a major

southern city.

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Vocabulary

1 Civil Rights Act of 1964 - Federal legislation that prohibited racial discrimination in

labor unions, employment, and public facilities.

2 Voting Rights Act of 1965 - Legislation that gave the federal government power to

the South.

559

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Eorts Continue

Nationally and in Georgia, the civil

rights movement was changing. There

were growing disagreements among

its leaders. Even though the civil rights

and voting rights acts had been passed,

continuing white resistance to change was

discouraging. Many new, young leaders

felt resentment and anger. Not all agreed

with Dr. King’s tactics of nonviolence as

the way to bring about change. Militant

groups were forming that rejected even

working with sympathetic whites. Rather,

they appealed to black pride and called

on fellow blacks to take control of their

own destiny. This was the beginning of

what was being called the Black Power

movement. African dress and natural

hairstyles called Afros became popular.

Such phrases as “Black Is Beautiful” and

“Black Power” came into use.

One of the most radical new leaders

was Malcolm X. Born Malcolm Little, he

changed his last name when he joined

the religious organization known as the

Nation of Islam. Popularly known as the

Black Muslims, the group had strict rules

of no alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. Black

culture and family life were emphasized.

Malcolm X preached separation and

economic independence from whites

as a means of power. He criticized

the civil rights movement for its

slow progress. In 1965, he was

assassinated by members

of the Nation of Islam—a

year after he had broken

away from the group.

In 1961, Stokely

Carmichael joined the

Student Nonviolent

Coordinating

Committee. Five years

later he became

its head. After

years of practicing

nonviolent techniques,

W.W. Law was a

leader in Savannah’s

civil rights movement

starting in the 1940s.

He became involved in

saving the last surviving

black neighborhood in

Savannah’s downtown

historic district.

560

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Carmichael was frustrated with the results.

He urged black militants to act now. The

next head of SNCC, H. Rap Brown, was

even more radical. He and other militant

African-American leaders told blacks it

was time to take over America. On the

West Coast, the Black Panther Party

preached against whites and frequently

clashed with police. They urged their

followers to use force and strike back

when they met with resistance.

By the mid-1960s, many urban blacks

rejected peaceful solutions to their

problems. In the large cities of the

North and West, black residents began

striking out against police brutality, high

unemployment, residential segregation,

poor schools, and other problems. They

were no longer willing to accept peaceful

solutions to the problems. Moreover,

people of both races were frustrated over

what to do next.

In a climate of hopelessness and anger,

massive rioting broke out in the black

neighborhoods of some large cities.

The worst was in 1965, in an area of Los

Angeles known as Watts. Detroit, New

York, Chicago, and other cities faced

similar outbursts. Most of the people

killed in the riots were black. Estimates of

property destruction were in millions of

dollars. After the assassination of Martin

Luther King, Jr. in 1968, yet another round

of rioting spread across the nation. It was

evident that racial problems were not

exclusive to the South.

THE FOCUS CHANGES

At the same time, something else was

happening. By the late 1960s, public

attention began shifting away from civil

rights to America’s involvement in the

Vietnam War. Antiwar protest marches

and free speech demonstrations made

the nightly news. Much of the criticism

561

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

was directed against President Johnson,

who had increased U.S. involvement in

Vietnam. To many Americans, ending

the war was more urgent than ending

discrimination.

President Johnson was a powerful

advocate of the civil rights movement.

Before leaving oce, he could claim major

civil rights accomplishments—in particular,

the Civil Rights Act (1964), the Voting

Rights Act (1965), and the Fair Housing

Act (1968). In addition, Johnson appointed

Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme

Court, making him the ﬁrst black justice to

serve on the Court.

Civil rights victories brought hope for

better lives to many black Americans.

The civil rights movement began to

expand as other groups identiﬁed with

it. New gains were made for blacks as

well as newly identiﬁed minority groups

of Hispanics, Native Americans, women,

and the handicapped. All were seeking

fair treatment under the law. The Equal

Employment Opportunity Act passed

by Congress in 1972 helped eliminate

employment discrimination for minorities.

Georgia state and local governments

began taking steps to end minority

After serving in the U.S. Congress

and as U.S. Ambassador to the

United Nations, Andrew Young

became mayor of Atlanta in 1982.

Known internationally, Young

helped Atlanta win the bid for the

1996 Summer Olympics.

Transcript

562

CHAPTER 20 • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

discrimination in employment. Eorts

were made to hire minorities for positions

in police, ﬁre, and other departments of

government.

As a result of the civil rights movement,

blacks and other minority groups gained

opportunities and rights they had been

earlier denied. For the most part, de jure

(legal) discrimination has ended. Moreover,

the idea of equal treatment for all citizens

has become an accepted belief for the

great majority of Americans. In this sense,

the movement has achieved many of its

original goals.

After the early 1970s, the movement

shifted to attack de facto (actual)

discrimination as well as the legacy of

past discrimination. Armative action—

government policy intended to increase

minority opportunities—became a

new focus. Another objective was the

reapportioning of legislative districts to

increase the number of black elected

ocials. Many of those who marched

with Martin Luther King Jr. at Selma or

Washington—such men and women as

Ralph Abernathy, Coretta Scott King,

Andrew Young, Joseph Lowery, John

Lewis, and Jesse Jackson—would

continue the work of the civil rights

movement. ■

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Deﬁne: Civil Rights Act of

1964, Voting Rights Act of

1965

2 What resulted from the

Voting Rights Act of 1965?

3 Why did the Black Power

movement begin?

4 What were some of the

reasons for the urban riots

in the mid-1960s?

CHAPTER 20 QUIZ

Text Version

Chapter 21

Foreword

Georgia Standards of Excellence

Correlations 

SS8H11

SS8H12

SS8E1

SS8E2

SS8H11

Evaluate the role of Georgia in the modern civil rights movement.

c. Explain the resistance to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, emphasizing the role of Lester Maddox.

SS8H12

Explain the importance of developments in Georgia since the late 20th century.

a. Explain how the continued development of Atlanta under mayors Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young

impacted the state.

b. Describe the role of Jimmy Carter in Georgia as state senator, governor, president, and past president.

c. Evaluate the short-term and long-term impacts of hosting the 1996 Olympics on Georgia’s economic and

population growth.

e. Analyze Georgia’s role in the national and global economy of the 21st Century, with regard to tourism,

Savannah port expansion, and the ﬁlm industry.

SS8E1

Explain how the four transportation systems (road, air, water, and rail) of Georgia contribute to the

development and growth of the state’s economy.

a. Evaluate the ways in which the Interstate Highway System, Hartsﬁeld-Jackson International Airport, deepwater

ports, and railroads interact to support the exchange of goods and services domestically and internationally.

b. Explain how the four transportation systems provide jobs for Georgians.

SS8E2

Evaluate the inﬂuence of Georgia-based businesses on the State’s economic growth and development.

c. Evaluate the economic impact of various industries in Georgia including agricultural, entertainment,

manufacturing, service, and technology.

a. Explain how the continued development of Atlanta under mayors Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young

impacted the state.

Chapter Outline

The Vietnam War

Georgia’s Image in Transition

Lester Maddox Supports Segregation

Jimmy Carter’s Term as Governor

Georgia’s Governors in Recent Decades

George Busbee Takes a Business Approach

Joe Frank Harris Leads the State

Zell Miller—A Governor Makes Changes

Roy Barnes—A Senator, Representative, and Governor

Sonny Perdue Makes History

Nathan Deal Takes Office

Georgians in National Politics

A Georgian in the White House

Georgia’s Exploding Growth Rate

A Booming Decade

Growth Brings Change

Changing Political Alignment

Important Events Involving Georgia

Looking to the Future

CHAPTER 21

President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter. A few minutes after being sworn in, the

president and Mrs. Carter broke with tradition and walked the mile from the inaugural

stand at the Capitol to the White House.

564

UNIT 8 • MODERN GEORGIA

AT FIRST GLANCE

This chapter covers Georgia’s

history from the Vietnam War

to the present. The state’s

involvement in the Vietnam War

is detailed, with a special look

at the work of Dean Rusk and

Richard Russell. Georgia’s eorts

to become a more progressive

state are traced through the

administrations of governors

Carter, Busbee, and Harris.

The administrations of Miller,

Barnes, Perdue, and Deal are

also covered. Also discussed are

the roles of such Georgians as

Vinson, Russell, Talmadge, and

Nunn in the national government

and Jimmy Carter’s term as U.S.

president. An Event in History tells

the story of Georgia’s two Nobel

Peace Prize winners. The chapter

concludes with a discussion of

Georgia’s dramatic population

growth, its changing political

alignment, and notable recent

events.

Georgia’s New

Place in the Sun

The Vietnam War

Georgia’s Image in Transition

Georgia’s Governors in

Recent Decades

Georgians in National Politics

Georgia’s Exploding

Growth Rate

Important Events

Involving Georgia

Looking to the Future

By the end of the 1960s, much of

the nation’s attention turned to

a far-o country called Vietnam.

American troops were ﬁghting

and dying there in what had

already become this nation’s

longest war.

On the nation’s college campuses,

students (and some professors)

held sit-ins, marches, and

other types of demonstrations,

sometimes openly defying police

and campus authorities. For the

most part, they protested against

the war and the draft (compulsory

military service). They also

showed support for such causes

as student rights, free speech,

and social justice. The late sixties

also marked the ﬁrst time illegal

drug use became widespread in

America. At Georgia’s colleges

and universities, students took

part in a variety of protests and

demonstrations. Most were

peaceful, although that was not

always true in other states.

A variety of factors accounted for

the social change and political

unrest in this country. Foremost

was the long and deadly war

in Vietnam, a conﬂict which

increasingly divided Americans.

565

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

The Vietnam War

Since the 1800s, France had controlled

an area of Southeast Asia known as

Indochina. After World War II, revolutionary

forces led by communists began ﬁghting

for the independence of a region known

as Vietnam. By 1954, France had lost the

ﬁght to hold on to its former colony. That

year an international conference of major

world powers met and divided Vietnam

into two parts. North Vietnam would be

led by a communist government with ties

to Communist China and the Soviet Union.

South Vietnam’s new government would

be allied with the West.

Elections to reunify Vietnam were

scheduled, but South Vietnam ocials

canceled them when they feared the

communists would win. Thereafter, South

Vietnamese communists—known as

Vietcong—began a guerrilla war

with

support from North Vietnam. In this type of

war, small groups of armed revolutionaries

conduct surprise attacks on government

forces, then quickly retreat into the jungle

or countryside.

In 1961, President Kennedy sent units

of American soldiers to train South

Vietnamese forces to ﬁght the Vietcong.

By 1964, however, South Vietnam’s army

was losing control of the countryside.

President Johnson’s

military experts warned

that without U.S. help,

South Vietnam would fall

to the communists.

As yet, American soldiers

had not been directly

involved in the ﬁghting in

Vietnam. The president

now had a critical decision

to make.

Among those whom

Johnson consulted

were two inﬂuential

Georgians in the national

government. One was

Secretary of State Dean

As U.S. Secretary of State, Georgia’s

Dean Rusk was a key advisor to

President Lyndon Johnson.

566

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Rusk, who had also served in that post

under President Kennedy. Rusk joined

some of Johnson’s other advisors in

recommending greater U.S. involvement.

In particular, Rusk argued that under a

1954 treaty, America had a legal duty to

defend South Vietnam from aggression

(attack by another country).

The other Georgian consulted was Sen.

Richard Russell, chairman of the Senate

Armed Services Committee. Russell, one

of the most powerful men in Congress,

opposed U.S. military involvement and

advised caution.

In August of 1964, the U.S. Navy reported

that two of its ships had been ﬁred on by

North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the

Gulf of Tonkin. Johnson asked Congress

for new authority to deal with the crisis.

Though still troubled, Senator Russell

believed our national honor was at stake

and that we had a responsibility to protect

American men and women serving in

South Vietnam.

Under the U.S. Constitution, only Congress

can declare war. However, the Constitution

also makes the president commander-in-

chief of the nation’s armed forces. So in

Senator Richard Russell displays

a model of the Lockheed C-5A

Galaxy, produced in Marietta.

567

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

that role, Johnson sought congressional

approval to protect American troops in

South Vietnam.

In Congress, Russell worked for approval

of what came to be called the Gulf

of Tonkin Resolution

. Under it, the

president was given authority to resist

aggression by North Vietnam “by any

means necessary, including the use of

arms.” From this point on, Russell no

longer publicly questioned the U.S.

presence. As he explained, “The ﬂag is

there. U.S. honor and prestige are there.

And most important of all, U.S. soldiers are

there.”

In early 1965, the Vietcong attacked

a camp of American military advisors.

President Johnson then ordered the

bombing of North Vietnam, which was

supplying the guerrillas with arms and

supplies. When Vietcong forces struck an

American air base, Johnson ordered U.S.

ground forces to be sent in.

North Vietnam responded by sending

regular army units into the south. Soon

U.S. and North Vietnamese units were

battling each other. By 1967, almost half a

million American troops were involved.

As Democrats in Congress began to

question whether the war should continue,

Georgia’s delegation stood with President

Johnson. The state was tied to the war

eort in other ways, due in part to Senator

Russell’s long service on the Senate

Armed Forces Committee.

As in previous wars, thousands of U.S.

soldiers received their training in Georgia.

About 100,000 military personnel and

33,000 civilians were employed at the

state’s 15 military bases. Thus, many

Georgians were directly or indirectly

connected with the war. Georgia also was

among the top 10 states receiving U.S.

defense contracts during the war. One

of the most important contracts was for

Lockheed’s C-5A Galaxy—the world’s

largest aircraft.

By 1968, as the war continued to expand,

568

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Americans were deeply divided over

President Johnson’s policies in Vietnam.

Hundreds of U.S. soldiers were dying

each week, with no end to the

war in sight. That spring,

President Johnson

announced that he

would not run for

reelection.

Richard Nixon,

Johnson’s

successor,

adopted a policy

of slowly pulling

U.S. troops out

and letting South

Vietnamese forces do

more of the ﬁghting.

Still, the war lingered on. Finally,

in January 1973, a cease-ﬁre was signed.

By April, all U.S. troops were out of South

Vietnam. It was now only a matter of

time before that country’s government

and army would shut down. Many South

Vietnamese began ﬂeeing their country.

By 1975, there was only one Vietnam,

and it was under a communist

government.

It had been a long,

painful war for all

sides. During the

nine-year war,

some 56,000

American

soldiers—1,700

from Georgia—

had died,

and more than

300,000 had been

wounded. The loss

of soldiers and civilians

in the two Vietnams was

even greater. The cost of the war to

America’s economy was staggering and

would be felt for decades. Socially and

politically, this nation had been torn apart.

But in time, the wounds began to heal. ■

China

Cambodia

Laos

Myanmar

Thailand

VIETNAM

Hainan

NORTH

SOUTH

VIETNAM

Hanoi

Saigon

South China

Sea

Gulf of

Tonkin

Gulf of

Thailand

Mekong

Delta

0 50 100 150

SCALE IN MILES

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Deﬁne: guerrilla war,

aggression, Gulf of Tonkin

Resolution

2 What was the main reason

for demonstrations by

Americans in the 1960s?

3 At what point did

Richard Russell change

his position on the

involvement of the

American military in

Vietnam?

ﬁ

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Vocabulary

1 Guerilla war - A war of revolution carried on by small, independent bands of ﬁghters

often aided by other countries.

2 Aggression - Action by one country to attack or invade another.

3 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution - Approval from Congress in 1965 for the president to take

military action to defend U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam and to resist aggression by

North Vietnam.

569

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Georgia’s Image in Transition

Although great changes had taken place,

Georgia entered the 1970s still suering

a problem with its national image. Some

Americans who had never been to

Georgia had a mental picture of the state

based on what they had read in novels or

seen in movies. Often this meant a land

of cotton ﬁelds, dirt roads, chain gangs,

and Klan meetings. Southerners of both

races were frequently portrayed as poor,

backward, and illiterate. Because of such

views, national businesses sometimes had

diculty getting their workers to transfer to

new jobs in Georgia.

In fairness, Georgia did have many

problems. On such measures as income

and education, Georgians historically

have trailed the national average. Even

today, rural and inner-city poverty remains

a real problem facing the state. It is also

true that eorts to achieve racial equality

had long been resisted throughout the

South. Forms of racial discrimination still

remained, although other parts of the

country could not be considered free of

discrimination either.

Additionally, there

was the sensitive

matter of Georgia’s

ﬂag. In 1956, the

General Assembly

had approved a

new state ﬂag—one

that included the

Confederate battle

ﬂag. At the time,

some Georgians

were beginning to

make plans for the

Civil War centennial,

and supporters of

the new ﬂag said

that it better marked

Georgia’s southern

heritage. The

change, however,

Gov. Marvin Grin signed

legislation creating a new state ﬂag

in 1956.

570

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

also came on the heels of the Brown

v. Board of Education desegregation

case. Thus, some people saw a dierent

message behind the new ﬂag—one of

protest against the federal government

and desegregation.

Yet much of Georgia’s national image was

out-of-date, inaccurate, or exaggerated. By

1970, most Georgians lived in urban areas,

with incomes moving toward the national

average. The state’s economy was

principally based on manufacturing and

services, not farming. For those who did

farm, cotton was no longer a major crop.

Georgia’s highway system was now one

of the best in the South. Extensive prison

reforms had taken place, and chain gangs

were a thing of the past. Except for an

occasional speech or small demonstration,

the Klan had all but disappeared.

Georgia’s struggle to be recognized

as a modern and progressive southern

state was set back by several highly

publicized events. In 1965, black civil

rights activist Julian Bond had been

elected to the Georgia General Assembly.

Bond opposed the Vietnam War and was

particularly critical of the draft. Because

of his views, the House refused to seat

him for two years. He ﬁnally got his

seat after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled

that lawmakers had deprived him of

his constitutional rights to freedom of

speech.

While Bond was ﬁghting for his seat,

another Georgian was making national

news. Atlanta restaurant owner

Lester Maddox openly

deﬁed the Civil Rights

Act of 1964. That law

prohibited restaurants

and other public

accommodations

from

discriminating

because

Julian Bond in 1966, the year after

his election to the Georgia House of

Representatives.

571

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

race. Maddox, however, refused to serve

blacks. Rather than comply with the law,

he sold his restaurant. In 1966, he entered

the race for governor.

LESTER MADDOX SUPPORTS

SEGREGATION

In 1967, Lester Maddox, an outspoken

segregationist, became Georgia’s

governor. He strongly opposed forced

integration and even encouraged parents

to put their children in private academies

rather than send them to integrated

schools. As governor, he fought federal

eorts to enforce federal civil rights and

voting rights laws. Yet Maddox denied

being a racist. Rather, he claimed his

views were based on his belief in states’

rights, free enterprise, the Bible, and

ﬁghting communism. Though believing

in segregation, he appointed blacks to

some boards and commissions in state

government. He also supported many

programs that helped Georgians of all

colors, especially the poor.

Despite many accomplishments during

his four years as governor, Maddox is

Lester Maddox, Georgia’s governor

from 1967 to 1971, ran for oce

promising voters a program of

“truth, patriotism, and Americanism.”

Transcript

572

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

remembered most for his segregationist

stand and criticism of the federal

government. Frequently, to state and

national audiences, he charged that the

civil rights movement was made up of

liberals, socialists, and—worst of all—

communists. Maddox made similar attacks

against the president and other ocials

in the federal government. To many

Americans, the fact that this message

was coming from the governor of Georgia

suggested that a deep racism lingered in

the state. ■

JIMMY CARTER’S TERM AS GOVERNOR

Among the candidates in the 1966 race

for governor was a peanut farmer from the

rural community of Plains. His name was

Jimmy Carter. When he lost, the former

naval ocer and state senator decided

that the next election would be dierent.

For four years, Carter and his wife,

Rosalynn, traveled throughout the state to

talk with voters about what was on their

minds.

Based on what he heard, and his own

beliefs, Carter’s 1970 campaign platform

called for racial equality. He said that

Georgians should no longer resist

integration or ﬁght the federal government.

Also, he promised to modernize state

government, operate it more economically,

and better serve the people of the state.

At the time, Georgia’s constitution said that

governors could not serve consecutive

terms, so Governor Maddox ran instead for

the oce of lieutenant governor, and won.

In the Democratic primary runo

(an

election between the top two candidates

when no one has received a majority

of votes), Jimmy Carter defeated former

governor Carl Sanders. In November,

Carter went on to beat Republican

candidate Hal Suit, an Atlanta television

news personality.

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 How did the image of the

state aect the willingness

of some Americans to

move to Georgia?

2 Even though Gov

Lester Maddox was a

segregationist, he did

some things to help black

Georgians. What were they?

573

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

In January 1971, Governor Carter

announced to a joint session of the

General Assembly, “I say to you quite

frankly that the time for racial discrimination

is over.’’ This was not just a message to

legislators. Aware of the state’s sagging

image, Carter promised that at the end of

his four-year term, “We shall be able to

stand up anywhere in the world—in New

York, California, or Florida and say ‘I’m a

Georgian’—and be proud of it.”

As governor, Carter moved to reorganize

the executive branch of Georgia’s

state government. He believed that

reorganization would save money while

improving services for citizens. Carter’s

term contributed to an improved image of

Georgia in the nation.

Jimmy Carter’s ﬁrst priority as

governor was to reorganize

and modernize Georgia’s state

government.

574

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

SUN BELT GROWTH

Several other events were occurring at the

same time that would change Georgia’s

image. In October 1973, citizens of Atlanta

elected Maynard Jackson as the ﬁrst

black mayor of a major southern city. That

same month, an Arab embargo

(ban) on

exporting oil to the United States started

a series of events that would bring more

people and businesses to Georgia.

The oil embargo was a reaction to U.S.

support of Israel during that country’s

conﬂict with Arab nations in the Middle

East. America was heavily dependent on

foreign oil, and the embargo caused oil

prices to shoot up almost overnight. The

price of a gallon of gas quickly rose from

35 cents to 50 cents, then to a dollar and

higher. Where would it stop? Gas was not

only expensive—it was in short supply.

Customers faced long lines at service

stations, as well as limits on how much gas

they could buy.

In many ways, directly or indirectly,

America runs on oil, and rising oil prices

caused severe damage to the national

economy. The price of almost everything

was aected, which led to high rates of

inﬂation

—a period of rapidly rising prices

and interest rates. Inﬂation had a double

impact on American manufacturing ﬁrms

trying to compete with cheaper imports

from foreign mills and factories. Although

the entire nation was aected, older

businesses and industries in the Northeast

and Midwest suered the most. Many

closed or had to lay o workers.

For years, mild winters in the South—

especially in Florida—had attracted

northerners who could aord to move

there upon retirement. The jump in heating

oil prices and the economic downturn

after 1974, however, helped convince

many families in the North not to wait until

retirement. This was especially true since

the economy in southern states was not as

severely aected as in the Northeast and

Midwest.

575

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

During the 1970s, Americans in large

numbers packed their belongings and

headed southward and westward into

an area nicknamed the Sun Belt

. They

came in search of jobs, warmer climates,

and cheaper costs of living. Over the

decade, states such as New York,

Pennsylvania, and Michigan actually lost

population, while states such as Georgia,

Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California grew

at healthy rates. ■

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Deﬁne: runo, embargo,

inﬂation, Sun Belt

2 What one point in Jimmy

Carter’s 1970 campaign

platform best showed that

he had dierent views

from Lester Maddox?

3 What were two purposes

of Governor Carter’s

reorganization of the

executive branch of state

government?

4 Why was the Sun Belt a

popular place to move to

in the 1970s?

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Vocabulary

1 Runo - A follow-up election between the two top candidates in an election in which

no candidate received a majority of votes.

2 Embargo - A ban on trade, commerce, and assistance to a particular country.

3 Inﬂation - A period of rapidly rising prices and interest rates.

4 Sun Belt - Popular name for the southeastern and southwestern areas of the country,

which have attracted many Americans in search of a warmer climate and a lower cost

of living.

576

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Georgia’s Governors in

Recent Decades

After Carter, Georgia governors

increasingly took on the role of business

spokesman for the state. They looked for

ways to promote economic development,

traveling abroad to attract foreign

investments.

GEORGE BUSBEE TAKES A

BUSINESS APPROACH

The leading contender to replace Carter

as governor was George Busbee, an

Albany lawyer who had served 18 years in

the Georgia House of Representatives. He

was convinced that he could govern the

state with no new taxes. His businesslike

manner appealed to Georgia voters, who

elected him in 1974.

Busbee singled out education as his ﬁrst

priority. In particular, he pushed for teacher

pay raises and state-funded kindergarten

in public school. Another priority was a

new constitution for Georgia. Georgia had

one of the longest and most confusing

state constitutions in the nation. To change

this, the long Constitution of 1945 was

reorganized and presented to voters in

1976.

Also on the ballot in 1976 was a

constitutional amendment to allow a

(L to R) Governors Ernest Vandiver,

Zell Miller, George Busbee, Carl

Sanders, Jimmy Carter, Joe Frank

Harris, and Herman Talmadge

represent a half-century of state

leadership from 1948 to 1999.

577

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

governor to have two successive terms

in oce. Both the amendment and the

revised constitution were approved. Two

years later, Busbee ran for reelection and

won easily.

During Busbee’s second term, a

commission of experts and citizens

was appointed to write a new, modern

state constitution for Georgia. The study

lasted over ﬁve years, but ﬁnally a draft

document was ready. In November 1982,

Georgia voters approved the rewritten and

shortened constitution. Because it became

eective the following July 1, it is known as

the Constitution of 1983.

In addition to pushing for a constitutional

change, Busbee promoted Georgia as

a progressive state for business and

industry.

JOE FRANK HARRIS LEADS THE STATE

The next governor, Joe Frank Harris, was

a bu

sinessman from Cartersville. He had

served in the House 18 years and was

chairman of the House Appropriations

Committee before his election. He was

probably the most knowledgeable of all

governors in budgetary matters.

Governor Busbee signing a bill into

law. He is ﬂanked by two future

governors, Joe Frank Harris on the

far left and Zell Miller on the far

right.

578

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

During his eight years in oce, Governor

Harris, like Busbee, stressed economic

development. He worked to bring more

industry and investment into the state,

helping to account for 850,000 new jobs

in Georgia.

Through Harris’s eorts, the General

Assembly passed a massive educational

reform bill in 1985. Known as the Quality

Basic Education Act, or QBE, the bill

created statewide standards—including

a core curriculum that applied to every

school system.

ZELL MILLER—A GOVERNOR MAKES

CHANGES

In 1990 and again in 1994, Georgia voters

elected Zell Miller as governor. In his

campaign, he promised many changes

and reforms—but most important was a

state lottery for education.

Soon after his election, Miller pushed

through legislation that, with the voters’

approval, created a state lottery. All

proceeds, except prizes and administrative

costs, had to be used for new educational

programs, not previously existing ones.

Lottery revenues funded new programs,

such as pre-kindergarten and the

Zell Miller served Georgia as a

mayor, state senator, lieutenant

governor for sixteen years,

governor for eight years, and U.S.

senator.

Transcript

579

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

purchase of school computers. But no

program was more popular with Georgians

than the HOPE (Helping Outstanding

Pupils Educationally) Scholarship

program—which gained considerable

national publicity. During Miller’s eight

years as governor, salaries for public

school teachers increased signiﬁcantly.

After leaving oce, Miller was elected to

the U.S. Senate to serve the remaining

four years in the late Sen. Paul Coverdell’s

term.

ROY BARNES—A SENATOR,

REPRESENTATIVE, AND GOVERNOR

In 1998, Georgia voters elected Roy

Barnes as governor. A Democrat, Barnes

had served 24 years in the General

Assembly—ﬁrst in the Senate and later

in the House. As governor, Barnes saw

how state and local governments could

better manage Georgia’s high population

growth rate as a priority. In particular, he

looked at regional transportation planning.

Barnes also sought to improve student

performance on standardized tests—an

area in which Georgia fell near the bottom

of national rankings. However, Barnes is

most remembered for his role in getting

the 2001 General Assembly to change

the state ﬂag that had been adopted

Roy Barnes served one term as

governor from 1999 to 2003. He

brought many years of legislative

experience to the executive branch

when elected.

Transcript

580

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

in 1956. Soon after the 2001 legislative

session, groups known as “ﬂaggers”

began following Governor Barnes and

holding protest demonstrations at many

of his public appearances. They carried

the 1956 ﬂag and signs demanding a

public referendum (vote) on the state ﬂag.

Their opposition to Barnes in the 2002

governor’s race was one of several factors

contributing to his loss. Criticism of his

education and transportation policies

along with the growth of the Republican

party in Georgia helped bring about his

defeat.

SONNY PERDUE MAKES HISTORY

Every governor since 1976, when the

Georgia Constitution was amended

to allow a second term, has held two

consecutive four-year terms. That changed

in 2002, when underdog Sonny Perdue

defeated incumbent governor Roy Barnes.

Perdue, who switched to the Republican

party in 1998, was a surprise winner.

Georgians had not elected a Republican

governor since Rufus Bullock during

Reconstruction.

Among Perdue’s campaign promises was

one to support a referendum on Georgia’s

state ﬂag. What choices voters would have

Sonny Perdue, elected in 2002,

was the ﬁrst Republican to serve as

governor since Reconstruction.

Transcript

581

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

and whether the referendum would be

binding was not detailed. Flaggers and

others who supported returning to the

1956 ﬂag assumed that it would be on the

ballot. As promised, Perdue supported

a ﬂag referendum at the 2003 session.

Initially, the bill called for a referendum

between the 1956 and 2001 ﬂags. By the

end of the session, the measure had been

amended to design a new ﬂag, to give

voters a choice between it and the 2001

ﬂag, and to provide that the referendum

was advisory and not binding on the

legislature. Governor Perdue signed the

legislation into law, outraging ﬂaggers,

who once again began public protests—

this time against the new governor.

While the ﬂag issue got the most publicity

during his ﬁrst year in oce, other more

important issues dominated Perdue’s

attention. The most critical was the

continuing economic downturn and the

repeated need to cut back state spending.

His attention was also focused on

maintaining the HOPE Scholarship program

at a time when college tuition, fees, and

book prices were continuing to rise.

In 2006, Perdue was successful in getting

Kia, a South Korean car manufacturing

company to locate their ﬁrst factory in the

United States, in Georgia. The assembly

plant began production of cars during

Perdue’s second term in oce, and

brought more than a thousand jobs to

Georgia.

NATHAN DEAL TAKES OFFICE

In 2010, a second Republican, Nathan

Deal, was elected to the governor’s oce.

His long career in public service meant

he brought a variety of experiences to

the oce. As an attorney in Gainesville,

he worked in the state’s judicial branch of

government serving as an assistant district

attorney and later a juvenile court judge.

He was elected to the Georgia Senate

582

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

in 1983 and ten years later won a seat in

Congress representing northeast Georgia.

After voters elected him to nine terms in

Congress, Deal resigned his seat to run for

the governorship.

Like his predecessor, Deal faced

economic challenges in leading the

state. Slow growth in the economy meant

reductions in spending. He worked with

the legislature to keep HOPE programs

from going broke. As governor, he

called on state agencies to reduce the

state workforce and program budgets.

He pushed for reforms in the criminal

justice system to make programs for

adults and juveniles more eective and

ecient. In order to strengthen trade and

the economy, Deal focused on eorts

to deepen the Savannah River port to

increase Georgia’s import and export

business. ■

Nathan Deal ﬁrst elected in 2010,

was reelected to a second term in

2014. Both of his inaugurations were

held inside the State Capitol due

to bad weather—a ﬁrst since the

inauguration of Herman Talmadge

in 1956.

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 What were some

criticisms of Geor gia’s

state constitution when

George Busbee became

governor?

2 What jobs and past

positions made Gov. Joe

Frank Harris especially

knowledgeable about

budgetary matters?

3 How did the lottery

improve education in

Georgia?

4 In how many branches

of government did Roy

Barnes serve? Explain.

5 What was historic about

Governor Perdue’s election?

6 List the branches of state

or federal government

and the positions held in

each by Governor Deal.

583

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Georgians in National Politics

For many years, such Georgians as Carl

Vinson, Walter George, Richard Russell,

and Herman Talmadge had a good deal

of inﬂuence in the national government.

This was particularly true in the area of

military aairs. In 1972, Sam Nunn, the

great-nephew of Carl Vinson, was elected

to the U.S. Senate. He went on to become

chairman of the Senate Armed Services

Committee. In this role, he gained a

national reputation as an expert on military

aairs. Other prominent Georgians who

became national leaders were Senators

Paul Coverdell and Max Cleland and Rep.

Sam Nunn, after his election

to the U.S. Senate, frequently

sought the advice of his well-

known great-uncle, Carl Vinson,

on military matters.

584

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Newt Gingrich, who served as Speaker of

the U.S. House of Representatives from

1995 to 1999. He was the third Georgian to

serve as Speaker after Howell Cobb (1849–

1850) and Charles Crisp (1893–1895).

In July 1991, Pres. George H. W. Bush

announced his nomination of Clarence

Thomas as associate justice on the U.S.

Supreme Court. Thomas, who was born in

1948 near Savannah, became the second

African American and the ﬁfth Georgia-born

jurist to sit on the nation’s highest court.

A GEORGIAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE

By the mid-1970s, no Georgian had ever

served as president of the United States.

This was about to change. Shortly after

leaving the governor’s oce, Jimmy

Carter began to think seriously about the

presidency.

At that time, many Americans had lost

conﬁdence in national politics. In 1974,

because of a scandal known as Watergate,

Pres. Richard Nixon had been forced to

resign from oce, something no president

had ever done before. Some of his closest

aides even went to prison over Watergate.

When Jimmy Carter began his campaign,

most Americans had no idea who he was.

Few people recognized the name. But he

and a group of supporters known as

the “Peanut Brigade” crisscrossed

the nation in 1975 and 1976,

stressing the need for honesty

and for restoring conﬁdence in

government.

What Carter had to say

appealed to a majority of the

nation’s voters. In 1976, he

became the ﬁrst candidate

from the Deep South to be

elected president of the United

States. Suddenly, there was a

new fascination in America with

peanuts, grits, and other southern

foods and customs. After the election,

Jimmy Carter’s Nomination

Transcript

585

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

reporters from national TV networks,

newsmagazines, and newspapers ﬂocked

to Georgia to ﬁnd out more about the

new president’s home state. For the most

part, the message they reported showed

a modern and progressive state. More

than any single event, Carter’s election

changed the national image of Georgia.

Jimmy Carter’s presidency faced dicult

domestic and foreign problems. At home,

the oil embargo had made the nation

realize it faced an energy crisis. Inﬂation

caused by rising oil prices resulted in

higher prices for almost everything.

Interest rates went up, too, making it more

dicult for Americans to buy homes. The

president and Congress tried to solve

these problems, but they couldn’t.

President Carter’s foreign policy stressed

peace and human rights. He won praise

for working out a peace agreement

between Israel and Egypt. But in

November 1979, 52 Americans were taken

hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Iran. Carter

tried to free the hostages without success.

In 1980, President Carter ran for reelection,

but the nation was ready for a change. In

the November election, Republican Ronald

Reagan polled 51 percent of the popular

April 1980, President Jimmy

Carter announces new sanctions

against Iran in retaliation for

taking U.S. hostages.

586

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

vote, compared to 41 percent for Carter.

After Reagan was sworn in as president,

Iran freed the 52 hostages, who returned

to the United States.

Since leaving the White House, the former

president has continued to be active,

nationally and internationally. He has

devoted his time to a variety of causes

on behalf of peace, human rights, health,

and improved living conditions for the

world’s poor. Working side by side with

other Habitat for Humanity volunteers, he

has helped build houses for low-income

Americans in communities across America.

He is involved in the programs of the

Carter Presidential Center, established in

Atlanta in 1982. Jimmy Carter remains a

champion of human rights and peaceful

resolution of conﬂicts. ■

The Carter Presidential Center,

situated in a 35-acre park located

1.5 miles east of downtown

Atlanta, attracts thousands of

visitors each year.

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 What national event had

occurred that made Jimmy

Carter’s campaign pledge

of honesty in government

appealing to the voters?

2 How did Carter’s election

as pres ident help change

Georgia’s national image?

3 What were some of the

problems President Carter

faced during his term in

oce?

587

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

EVENTS IN HISTORY

Georgia Peacemakers

Men and women from Albert Schweitzer to Mother Teresa have

received it, along with people from all walks of life, including

archbishops, prime ministers, secretaries of state, presidents,

and professors. On occasion, organizations such as the United

Nations and the Red Cross have been honored with it. Since

1901, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to persons or

organizations whose work has been of the greatest beneﬁt to

mankind. Georgia can boast two winners of the Nobel Peace

Prize—Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964 and Jimmy Carter in 2002.

King received the prize in recognition of his civil rights work.

In his acceptance speech, Dr. King said of the peace prize that

“this award which I receive on behalf of that movement [civil

rights] is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer

to the crucial political and moral question of our time—the need

for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting

to violence and oppression.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. displays his 1964

Nobel Peace Prize in Olso, Norway, December 10,

1964. The 35-year-old Dr. King was honored for

promoting the principle of non-violence in the civil

rights movement.

588

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Carter’s award recognized decades of work ﬁnding peaceful

solutions to international conﬂicts. Carter revealed why he was

so dedicated when in his acceptance speech he remembered

what he had learned from a favorite teacher in Plains, Georgia.

He said, “She also taught us that an individual is not swept

along on a tide of inevitability but can inﬂuence even the

greatest human events.”

Visitors in Atlanta

can walk the 1.5

mile Carter-

King Freedom

Peace Walk

that connects

the Carter

Center and the

Jimmy Carter

Library and

Museum with the

Martin Luther King Jr.

National Historic Site.

The path through Freedom

Park is bounded by the national

landmarks to President Carter on the east and Dr. King on the

west. Dedicated in 2003, it celebrates the lives of these two

peacemakers.

President Jimmy Carter displays his 2002 Nobel

Peace Prize medal in Oslo, Norway. Carter was

honored for his decades of untiring eort to ﬁnd

peaceful solutions to international conﬂicts, to

advance democracy and human rights, and to

promote economic and social development.

589

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Georgia’s Exploding

Growth Rate

With release of the 1980 census, Georgia

boosters had reason to celebrate. During

the 1970s, Georgia’s population had grown

by 19.1 percent—the highest since 1900

and almost twice the national average.

Measured in another way, in 1980 Georgia

had 876,000 more citizens than it did in

1970. Just over half of this gain came from

residents of other states and countries

moving to Georgia. Only California, Texas,

Florida, and Arizona had larger increases.

Also signiﬁcant was the fact that for

the ﬁrst time in almost a century, the

Accompanying Georgia’s growing

population has been a boom in

home and apartment construction.

590

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

percentage of blacks in Georgia rose

instead of falling. Helping account for this

were job opportunities and an improving

civil rights picture.

The high growth rate in the 1970s

continued into the 1980s. The 1990

census revealed a 10-year growth rate

of 18.6 percent, again almost twice the

national average. Census ﬁgures showed

a continuing migration of residents into

Georgia. By the 1980s, more than one in

three Georgians had been born in another

state.

Yet this impressive population growth was

not spread across the entire state. It was

concentrated mostly in regions known as

Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs).

In the 1980s, 8 out of every 10 new

Georgia residents moved to a metropolitan

region. Most settled in the Atlanta MSA,

which was home to almost half of all

Georgians. In contrast, during the same

period, a total of 43 counties—more than

one in four—lost population. Most of these

were rural counties south of the Fall Line.

A BOOMING DECADE

Georgia’s dramatic growth rate continued

hroughout the 1990s. At the beginning

of the decade, there were just under 6.5

591

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

million Georgians. By 2000, the number

had jumped past 8 million—an increase of

26.4 percent. This meant that one in four

Georgians in 2000 had not been born or

lived somewhere else in 1990. By 2010,

Georgia’s population grew by 1.5 million,

an 18.3 percent increase.

Today, Georgia ranks as one of the

fastest-growing states in the nation.

Here is how Georgia stacks up on three

measures of population growth.

1 Rate (expressed in terms of percent).

Georgia is the seventh fastest-growing

state in the nation, and the fastest-

growing state in the South behind Texas

and North Carolina. In the decade

of the 2000s, Georgia grew by over

1.8 percent a year—almost twice the

national average.

2 Number of residents. With a net

increase of more than 150,000 new

residents each year, Georgia is the

fourth fastest-growing state in the

country. Only Texas, California, and

Florida gained more people.

3 Total population. By 2000, Georgia

was the tenth most populous state in

the nation. During the 1900s, Georgia

gained 1,708,304 new residents, for a

total of 8,186,453 in 2000. In the 2000s,

Georgia

gained

1,501,200

POPULATION CHANGE

1990 - 2000

Gained More

Gained Less

Lost

CHATTA-

HOOCHEE

TALBOT

STEWART

RANDOLPH

CLAY

JEFFERSON

DOUGHERTY

MURRAY

BARTOW

CHEROKEE

PAULDING

COBB

LUMPKIN

UNION

FORSYTH

DOUGLAS

GWINNETT

HALL

WHITE

RABUN

BARROW

OCONEE

WALTON

ROCKDALE

NEWTON

HENRY

COLUMBIA

FAYETTE

CLAYTON

BUTTS

MONROE

BULLOCH EFFINGHAM

BRYAN

LEE

BARNTLEY

MARION

GILMER

PICKENS

DAWSON

TOWNS

HABERSHAM

BANKS

JACKSON

OGLETHORPE

JASPER

PUTNAM

HEARD

COWETA

PIKE

HARRIS

CRAWFORD

LONG

WORTH COFFEE

LANIER

CAMDEN

ECHOLS

DADE

CATOOSA

GORDON

WHITFIELD

CARROLL

DEKALB

MADISON

CLARKE

MCDUFFIE

JONES

HOUSTON

LIBERTY

TILF

WILKES

WARREN

TALIAFERRO

BIBB

HANCOCK

GLASCOCK

BURKE

SCREVEN

JENKINS

WILKINSON

WASHINGTON

TAYLOR

WEBSTER

DOOLY

BLECKLEY

WILCOX

QUITMAN

TERRELL

CALHOUN

BAKER

IRWIN

ATKINSON

BROOKS

WALKER

CHATTOOGA

FLOYD

FANNIN

POLK

HARALSON

FULTON

STEPHENS

FRANKLIN

HART

ELBERT

LINCOLN

MORGAN

GREENE

RICHMOND

TROUP

SPALDING

LAMAR

MERIWETHER

UPSON

JOHNSON

BALDWIN

TWIGGS

LAURENS

EMANUEL

PEACH

MUSCOGEE

MACON

SCHLEY

SUMTER

PULASKI

DODGE

CRISP

TREUTLEN

CANDLER

WHEELER

MONTGOMERY

TOOMBS

TATTNALL

EVANS

CHATHAM

APPLING

TELFAIR

JEFF

DAVIS

TURNER

BEN HILL

EARLY

BACON

WAYNE

MCINTOSH

GLYNN

WARE

PIERCE

CLINCH

CHARLTON

BERRIEN

COOK

LOWNDES

THOMAS

GRANDY

DECATUR

COLQUITT

MITCHELL

SEMINOLE

MILLER

Marietta

Atlanta

Macon

Columbus

Albany

Waycross

Valdosta

Augusta

Athens

Brunswick

Savannah

Rome

Dalton

Average growth for the state was

26.4 percent. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau, Georgia’s

population growth continues

to boom, but unevenly, as

shown in the map.

POPULATION TOTALS BY RACE (2000)

Race

Other

Total

Percent of

Population

Percent Change

1990 - 2000

White 5,327,281 65.1 14.9

Black

2,349,542 28.7 34.2

Indian

21,737 0.3 58.4

Asian

173,170 2.1 125.4

435,227 persons (5.0 percent of

(one race)

200,535

2.5

(two or more races)

114,188

1.4

the Georgia’s total population)

listed themselves to be of

Hispanic origin, which can be of

any race. Their number grew by

300 percent.

592

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

people for a total of population of

9,687,653. Because representation in

the U.S. House of Representatives is

based on population, Georgia got two

new seats in Congress after the 2000

census, and one new seat after 2010

census.

What accounts for this growth? Some of

it occurs because more Georgians are

born than die each year. But the majority

of Georgia’s growth is a result of people

from other states and countries moving to

Georgia. Many factors account for this in-

migration. Job opportunities, cost of living,

quality of life, location, physiographic

diversity, and mild climate are key reasons.

One consequence of this growth is that

almost 40 percent of today’s Georgia

residents were born in another state or

country.

In the 1990s, Georgia’s population grew

more rapidly than in any other decade

of the twentieth century—but the growth

was uneven. Although every racial group

grew in number, Georgia’s composition

changed. Continuing a trend since the

1960s, the percentage of Georgians who

are white and non-Hispanic fell in the

1990s from 70 percent to 62 percent,

and in the 2000s to 55 percent. At the

same time, the percentage of both African

Americans and Asians is increasing. In

the 2000s, Georgia’s black population

increased by 25 percent. Currently, only

Atlanta’s skyline is constantly

changing as new skyscrapers are

built.

593

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

New York, Texas, and Florida have more

African-American residents than Georgia.

Georgia’s Asian population increased

by 91 percent during the 2000s. But

the fastest-growing segment by far is

Georgia’s Latino population, which in the

2000s grew by 96 percent.

Another way population increase has been

uneven is in the way it is spread across

the state. It would be one thing if growth

occurred uniformly throughout the state—

every county would gain new residents.

But that’s not what happens. In the 2000s,

8 out of every 10 new residents moved to

one of Georgia’s 15 metropolitan

areas. Even then, growth was

uneven—at least 7 of those 10 new

residents moved to the Atlanta

metropolitan area. By the end of

the twentieth century, almost 60

percent of all Georgians lived within

a 60-mile radius of downtown

Atlanta. Outside the Atlanta area,

growth has been much slower.

With all the growth, the number

of counties losing population

dropped in the 1990s. Only eight

counties lost population during the

decade (compared to 40 during the

1980s). However, 29 counties lost

population in the 2000s ■

Within an hour’s drive of Atlanta and

throughout Georgia are small towns

that have changed little in size or

appearance in the last half-century.

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 In which metropolitan

region do most people

moving to Georgia

choose to live?

2 Within the United States

according to the 2010

census, how does

Georgia rank in rate of

growth? in net increase?

in population size?

3 What reason accounts for

the majority of Georgia’s

growth?

594

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

GROWTH BRINGS CHANGE

In the 1970s, some people began talking

about there being two Georgias—Atlanta

and the rest of the state. By the 1980s and

1990s, however, some people observed

that there might be four dierent Georgias:

large central cities with little growth,

growing suburban areas, growing rural

areas, and declining rural areas.

What that means is that Georgia has

become a land of contrasts. Over half

the state’s population lives within 60

miles of Atlanta. In the city once burned

by Sherman, you can ﬁnd skyscrapers,

professional sports, rapid rail transit,

and one of the nation’s busiest airports.

You can see shopping malls, crowded

interstates, and other indicators of a large,

modern city. Yet only an hour away are

communities that don’t have a single fast-

food franchise, shopping mall, or oce

complex, and where the tallest structure

in town is often a church steeple. As you

travel even farther away from Atlanta,

particularly in areas of eastern and

southwestern Georgia, you ﬁnd areas with

few jobs or opportunities to attract or keep

residents. Populations in these areas are

small, and the people tend to be older

Centennial Olympic Park oers

relief from the hectic pace of life in

downtown Atlanta.

595

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

and poorer—quite a contrast to the image

of one of the fastest-growing states in

the nation.

CHANGING POLITICAL ALIGNMENT

Until recent decades, Georgia was a one-

party state. The reality was that almost

anyone serious about running for political

oce in Georgia ran as a Democrat. This

began to change in the 1964 presidential

election, when a majority of Georgia

voters supported Barry Goldwater—a

conservative Republican—over Pres.

Lyndon Johnson—a liberal Democrat.

Many white Southern Democrats were

incensed over Johnson’s support of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964. Across the South,

some Democrats even changed their

party aliation. More common, however,

was voting Republican in the presidential

election every four years—while voting

Democrat in state and local races. The

real growth of the Republican party in

state and local politics, however, did not

occur until the 1980s and 1990s. As late

as 1977, out of 236 total members of the

Georgia General Assembly, only 31 were

Republican. By 1997, this number had more

than tripled to 101. By 2003, Republicans

controlled the Georgia Senate, and by

2005, the Georgia House.

Excluding Reconstruction, Georgia’s

congressional delegation historically

had been all-Democrat and, with a few

exceptions, all-white and all-male. Change

came in 1966, when voters in Atlanta’s ﬁfth

congressional district elected Fletcher

Thompson—Georgia’s ﬁrst Republican

congressman since Reconstruction.

Andrew Young, a black Democrat, won

the seat in the 1972 election, once

again giving Georgia an all-Democrat

congressional delegation.

In 1977, Young resigned from Congress

to become America’s ambassador to the

The donkey and the elephant are

traditional but unocial symbols of

the two major political parties in the

United States – the Democrats and

the Republicans.

596

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

United Nations, and Democrat Wyche

Fowler won the ﬁfth congressional district

seat. The next year, Republican Newt

Gingrich won election to the House of

Representatives. Two years later, Mack

Mattingly defeated Herman Talmadge

to become Georgia’s ﬁrst Republican in

the U.S. Senate. After one term, in 1986

Mattingly was defeated in his bid for

reelection by Congressman Fowler. That

same year, Atlanta city councilman John

Lewis won the ﬁfth congressional district

seat.

In 1992, Senator Fowler lost to Republican

challenger Paul Coverdell, former head

of the U.S. Peace Corps. But it was in

the 1992 elections for the U.S. House of

Representatives that Georgia Republicans

won the most dramatic victories.

Newt Gingrich won reelection in the

sixth district, while fellow Republicans

were elected in the ﬁrst, third, fourth,

seventh, eighth, and tenth districts.

Black Democrats won the second and

ﬁfth districts, and in the new eleventh

district Cynthia McKinney became the

ﬁrst African-American woman elected

to Congress from Georgia. By 1995, of

Georgia’s 13-member congressional

delegation, only one—Sen. Sam Nunn—

was white, male, and a Democrat.

Thus, in only a few decades, Georgia

had become a true two-party state, with

Republicans continuing to gain political

power. By 2005, Republicans held a

majority of Georgia’s seats in the U.S.

House, both seats in the U.S. Senate, the

governorship of Georgia, and a majority

in the state house and senate. For the

ﬁrst time since 1870, the Speaker of

the House was a Republican. And, by

2007, for the ﬁrst time since the oce

was created in the Georgia Constitution

of 1945, a Republican held the oce of

lieutenant governor. Also, except in large

urban areas, Republicans held a majority

of elective oces in many city and county

governments. ■

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Describe how Georgia is a

land of contrasts.

2 Prior to the 1990s, what

was the makeup of

Georgia’s congressional

delegation, excluding the

period of Reconstruction?

3 During the decades of the

1980s and 1990s, which

political party gained

strength in Georgia?

597

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Important Events

Involving Georgia

The period since 1990 has been an

eventful time for Georgia. Atlanta

continues to attract major corporations

and is now national or international home

to such companies as Coca-Cola, Delta,

UPS, Home Depot, and Chick-ﬁl-A.

Atlanta has become a major convention

and sports center. Construction of a

domed stadium was completed in 1993 as

home football ﬁeld for the Atlanta Falcons.

Since then the Georgia Dome has hosted

the 1994 and 2000 Super Bowls, as well

as numerous other events. Since 1991,

baseball fans have enjoyed many thrilling

moments provided by the Atlanta Braves.

During the 1990s, the Braves played

in ﬁve World Series—and in 1995 beat

the Cleveland Indians to become world

champions.

No sporting event in the history of

Georgia will ever compare to the 1996

Summer Olympics. For ﬁve years, the

Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games

prepared to host the games. With ﬁnancial

help from the Braves, a new Olympic

Stadium was built just south of the existing

Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium. A tower to

hold the Olympic ﬂame was constructed

just north of the stadium. On the night

of July 19, 1996, opening ceremonies

were held in the new stadium, and the

ﬂame was lit. For 17 days, the eyes of the

world were on Atlanta. Many legacies of

the Atlanta Olympic Games remain. The

ﬂame tower stands and is visible from the

interstate highways near the stadium. After

the 1996 games, Olympic Stadium was

modiﬁed for use by the Atlanta Braves and

renamed Turner Field. Centennial Olympic

Park with its many fountains is a favorite

play area for children and is near the home

of the new Atlanta Aquarium.

Professional ice hockey returned to

Georgia in 1999 when the Atlanta

Thrashers began their ﬁrst season. The

team left Atlanta in 2011, moving to Canada

to become the Winipeg Jets. Also in 1999,

1996 Summer Olympics

participation medal. The Centennial

Olympics, was a major international

multi-sport event that took place

in Atlanta, Georgia, from July 19 to

August 4, 1996.

59 8

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Philips Arena was completed to serve as

home of the Thrashers and the Atlanta

Hawks basketball team.

During the late 1990s, Georgia’s economy

grew at a dynamic pace. In part, this was

due to the strength of Atlanta’s service,

ﬁnancial, and information technology

(IT) sectors (parts of a whole). By 2000,

however, the period of unprecedented

economic growth was about to come

to an end. Fortunes had been made by

entrepreneurs who invested early in IT—

particularly Internet-related stocks. But

for many, fortunes and jobs were about

to be lost. Stock prices began falling

as IT companies experienced diculty

generating income. Also, new technology

made traditional products and services

obsolete. The loss of manufacturing jobs

to other countries continued, forcing mills

and industries to close or cut back.

Then, on September 11, 2001, Islamic

terrorists ﬂew four jet passenger airplanes

on suicide missions. One crashed into the

Pentagon in Washington, DC. One crashed

in the Pennsylvania countryside without

hitting its target. But the greatest damage

was done by two jets that crashed into

the twin towers of the World Trade Center

in New York City. The intense heat of the

ﬁre weakened the frames of the towers,

causing them to collapse. Nearly 3,000

people died in the tragedy that became

known simply as “9/11.”

Americans soon learned that more

terrorists were being trained in

Afghanistan and other countries and

that some of these might already be in

the United States. After determining that

Al Qaeda terrorists under Osama bin

Laden were responsible for 9/11, Pres.

George Bush launched a worldwide war

on terrorism. At home, life changed for all

Americans. New security measures were

instituted at airports, with passengers

subjected to prohibitions on what they

could carry, detailed searches, and long

599

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

lines. Metal detectors were installed at the

entrances of government buildings. There

also was fear that large sporting events

and popular attractions would become

targets for terrorists. As a result, sectors

of the economy that depend on travel and

tourism—such as hotels and airlines—were

hurt. Because tourism is one of Georgia’s

top industries, the state’s economy was

signiﬁcantly aected. Businesses closed,

jobs were lost, and state and local tax

revenues were down.

By 2003, it was clear that Georgia—

as well as the rest of the nation—was

in a recession

(a sustained period

A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook. First

introduced in 1962, this American

twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-

lift helicopter was primarily used for

troop movement, artillery placement

and battleﬁeld resupply.

600

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

of economic decline). At consecutive

legislative sessions, the General Assembly

had to cut the state budget. Teachers

and state employees went

without pay raises, while new

construction was delayed or

eliminated. But Georgia has

weathered many recessions,

recovering when the economy

picks up.

Georgia’s economy has

beneﬁted from the presence of

numerous military bases across

the state. However, Congress

has looked to reducing the

number of bases in the nation as a

cost-cutting measure. Georgia has

not been spared, and so far three

military installations have been

closed (Fort McPherson and Fort

Gillem) or moved (Navy Supply

Corps School). Thousands of

military personnel are stationed

at these bases, which also need

civilian workers. In addition to salaries,

military bases purchase food, supplies,

and equipment—thus boosting the state

and local economy.

Georgia’s military

bases are

important

for another

reason.

They

play a

vital

U.S. MILITARY BASES

TODAY

(Kings Bay)

(Savannah)

(Valdosta)

(Hinesville)

(Augusta)

(Warner Robins)

(Albany)

(Columbus)

(Marietta)

(Atlanta)

(Forest Park)

(Athens)

Naval

Submarine Base

Hunter

Army Airﬁeld

Moody Airﬁeld

Fort Stewart

Fort Gordon

Robins

Air Force Base

Marine Corps

Logistics Base

Fort Benning

Dobbins Naval

Air Station &

Reserve Base

Fort McPherson

Fort Gillem

Navy Supply

Corps School

Numerous U. S. Army, Air Force,

and Navy bases and other military

facilities are found across the state

of Georgia. These bases have a

major economic impact on the

state and the counties where they

are located.

601

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

role in the nation’s military preparedness.

Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 led Pres.

George H. W. Bush to mobilize U.S. forces

to drive Iraqi soldiers out. Georgia military

bases, especially Fort Stewart, played an

important role in “Operation Desert Storm.”

In 1998, units from Fort Stewart were again

deployed to the Middle East to force Iraq

to allow United Nations inspectors into

the country to search for chemical and

biological weapons. After Pres. George

Bush initiated “Operation Iraqi Freedom”

in 2003 in search of weapons of mass

destruction, numerous Georgia soldiers

stationed at Fort Stewart and other

bases, as well as units of the Georgia

National Guard, were sent to Iraq. Under

Pres. Barack Obama, soldiers stationed

in Georgia have continued to serve and

ﬁght in the Middle East as the war on

terrorism continues. Military personnel

are also involved in the rebuilding of Iraq

and Afghanistan and the return to civilian

government.

U. S. Army Rangers train in patrol

maneuvers in preparation for being

sent overseas.

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Vocabulary

1 Recession - A sustained period of economic decline.

602

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

Looking to the Future

Because of many factors—including an

economy more diverse than most states,

mild climate, low cost of living, excellent

highways and other transportation

facilities, and strategic location—Georgia

is expected to continue as one of the top

states in the nation in terms of population

growth.

Yet population growth has been a mixed

blessing for Georgia. New residents mean

new taxpayers and a growing economy.

But they also force local governments to

expand many services, including schools,

streets, water and sewer facilities, trash

disposal, police and ﬁre protection, parks,

and animal control. The fact that Georgia’s

Latino population is one of the fastest-

growing in the nation puts a specials train

on local governments, who need teachers,

nurses, caseworkers, police, and other

employees that can speak and understand

Spanish.

The intersection of I-85 and

I-285 north of Atlanta, known as

Spaghetti Junction.

603

CHAPTER 21 • GEORGIA’S NEW PLACE IN THE SUN

New residents also put a strain on

Georgia’s environment, particularly

with regard to air and water quality and

sucient sources of water. Nowhere is this

more evident than the Atlanta metropolitan

region, which is primarily dependent on

the Chattahoochee River for its supply of

water.

Georgia continues to face other problems.

In terms of national ranking, Georgia

student test scores continue near the

bottom, while the school dropout rate is

one of the highest. Crime and drug abuse

exist throughout the state. No matter

how many new beds are added, prisons

seem to stay permanently overcrowded.

Teenage pregnancy and infant mortality

are continuing health problems. Medical

costs continue to rise, especially those

associated with Medicaid (a federal-state

program to fund health care for low-

income persons). Many rural areas face a

shortage or lack of doctors and hospitals.

New drugs allow Americans to live longer,

but an aging population further threatens

Georgia’s health care crisis.

Yet today’s problems can be tomorrow’s

opportunities. Georgia is a big state, a

diverse state, and a growing state. An

exciting future lies ahead for Georgia in

the twenty-ﬁrst century. ■

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Deﬁne: recession

2 What are some of the

facilities that have been

constructed in Atlanta

that make it a major

convention and sports

center?

3 Describe some of the

changes that have

occurred in American

life as a result of the

September 11, 2001,

terrorist attacks

4 Name three factors that

contribute to Georgia

continuing as a growth state.

CHAPTER 21 QUIZ

Text Version

Chapter 22

Foreword

Georgia Standards of Excellence

Correlations 

SS8H12

SS8E1

SS8E2

SS8H12

Explain the importance of developments in Georgia since the late 20th century.

e. Analyze Georgia’s role in the national and global economy of the 21st Century, with regard to tourism,

Savannah port expansion, and the ﬁlm industry.

SS8E1

Explain how the four transportation systems (road, air, water, and rail) of Georgia contribute to the

development and growth of the state’s economy.

a. Evaluate the ways in which the Interstate Highway System, Hartsﬁeld-Jackson International Airport, deepwater

ports, and railroads interact to support the exchange of goods and services domestically and internationally.

SS8E2

Evaluate the inﬂuence of Georgia-based businesses on the State’s economic growth and development.

a. Describe how proﬁt is an incentive for entrepreneurs.

b. Explain how entrepreneurs take risks to develop new goods and services to start a business.

c. Evaluate the economic impact of various industries in Georgia including agricultural, entertainment,

manufacturing, service, and technology.

Chapter Outline

A Multicultural Society

Georgians’ Cultural Achievements

Achievements in Sports

Music in Georgia

Literature

The Performing Arts

The Visual Arts

Support for the Arts

Preserving Culture

CHAPTER 22

Atlanta’s High Museum of Art is visited annually by nearly half a million people.

Additional galleries featuring folk art and photography are located downtown.

605

UNIT 8 • MODERN GEORGIA

AT FIRST GLANCE

This chapter looks at Georgia’s

multicultural heritage by

identifying the diverse cultures

that make up the state and

examining how they interact and

assimilate while attempting to

maintain their separate identity.

The chapter also features a review

of the many cultural achievements

of Georgians in the areas of

sports, music, literature, the

performing arts, and the visual

arts. It concludes with a discussion

of support for the arts and of

the variety of eorts to preserve

culture across the state.

Georgia’s

Cultural

Heritage

A Multicultural Society

Georgians’ Cultural

Achievements

Support for the Arts

Preserving Culture

In the summer of 1996,

worldwide attention focused on

Georgia. Atlanta was the site of

the 1996 Summer Olympics. For

two weeks, Georgians had an

opportunity to greet and mingle

with thousands of people from

around the world who came

for the Olympics. This event

provided Georgians with a

chance to learn ﬁrsthand about

people from many dierent

cultures. At the same time,

having the Olympics conﬁrmed

Atlanta’s reputation as an

international city.

What does being an international

city mean? For Atlanta, it means

that the city is recognized

throughout the world. It is

connected to the rest of the

world by transportation facilities,

business ties, cultural exchanges,

and communications. People from

other countries visit and live there.

Many foreign governments have

trade oces in the city.

Throughout history, people with

dierent backgrounds have

contributed to Georgia’s culture in

many ways. Anthropologists tell us

about the cultures of prehistoric

mound builders and other Indian

groups who lived here long

ago. Later, their descendants,

the Creeks and Cherokees,

developed distinctive cultures.

With the arrival of Europeans

and Africans, Georgia became a

multicultural

society—a society

with many cultures.

Though forced from the state,

Georgia’s Native Americans left

something that daily reminds

us of their presence. You may

know what it is. Hundreds of

geographical features across

the state still bear Creek and

Cherokee names. These include

rivers, such as the Chattahoochee,

Amicalola, Etowah, Oostanaula,

and Tugaloo. Muscogee, Oconee,

and Chattooga counties have

Indian names. The Okefenokee

Swamp is named for an Indian

word “o-wa-qua-phenoga,” which

meant “land of the trembling

earth.” In some cases, towns such

as Talking Rock bear the English

translation of the original native

name. And the city of Ball Ground

in Cherokee County got its name

because long ago Cherokees

played a ball game much like

lacrosse.

Georgia’s ﬁrst people left another

legacy. They developed paths

and trailways that crisscrossed

the state. Today, many of those

pathways, originally developed by

Georgia’s native inhabitants, are

covered with asphalt and used by

motorists.

Chattahoochee River

UNIT 8 • MODERN GEORGIA

Vocabulary

1 Multicultural - Made up of many cultures.

606

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

A Multicultural Society

After thousands of years, Georgia’s native

population was replaced by Europeans,

Africans, and others. As each new ethnic

group

—people with shared customs,

languages, or background—arrived,

they brought with them their unique or

special way of doing things. That included

their food, dress, skills, occupations,

customs for occasions such as weddings

or funerals, and ways of expressing

themselves in art, music, story, and dance.

Not only did these newcomers have to

adapt to Georgia’s physical environment,

they had to adapt to its larger cultural

The McIntosh County Shouters

in performance at the Savannah

Music festival.

607

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

environment. At the same time, they

contributed to the existing culture. As a

result, cultural change became a two-way

process and a continuing one.

While adapting to new environments,

ethnic groups often attempt to recognize

and hold on to important aspects of their

culture. For example, in recognition of their

African heritage, many black Americans

have chosen to call themselves African

Americans. Also mindful of their heritage

are those who prefer to be known as

Hispanic Americans and Native Americans.

Ethnic groups also try to maintain their

cultures by creating networks of churches,

businesses, and social organizations.

Today, Georgia has a multicultural society.

This means that its population is made

up of people of many cultures, living

and working together. The majority—56

percent in 2010—are white, mostly

descendants of immigrants from Great

Britain and other European countries.

Blacks, or African Americans, make up the

largest minority in the state, accounting for

30 percent of all Georgians. But there are

other cultures as well.

With nearly 9 percent of the population,

Hispanics (also known as Latinos) are

Georgia’s second-largest

minority. Between 2000

and 2010, their number

increased by 96 percent,

making Latinos the fastest-

growing culture in the state.

Historically, traveling

migrant workers from

Mexico came to Georgia

to harvest farm crops. But

today, most Hispanics are

moving to the state for other

types of jobs. Georgia’s

carpet manufacturing,

poultry processing,

construction, lawn

maintenance, landscaping,

Hispanic workers sort and pack

apples for shipping. Georgia’s

population has more than doubled

over the past four decades.

This growth has resulted in a

multicultural society that is growing

increasingly diverse.

608

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

and service industries oer jobs that

are scarce in Mexico, Central America,

and other Spanish-speaking regions in

this hemisphere. Many of those seeking

work come to this country without legal

permits approved by the U.S. government.

But many farmers and other employers

depend heavily on undocumented

workers to perform low-paying jobs.

Also, these workers and their families

are important retail customers. Their

purchases of food, clothing, cars, and

other goods contribute to the local

economy and sales tax revenue.

Generally, undocumented immigrants

cannot become U.S. citizens unless they

marry a citizen. However, children—if born

in this country—automatically become

U.S. citizens. They join a substantial and

growing number of Hispanic U.S. citizens.

Some are second-generation Georgians,

but most moved here

from other states. Many

are entrepreneurs

people willing to take

a ﬁnancial risk to start

and manage a business.

Often they are involved in

restaurants, food stores,

ﬁnancial institutions,

law ﬁrms, newspapers,

radio stations, travel

agencies, and a host

of other businesses

that primarily serve the

The Plaza Fiesta mall in Atlanta

is home to many Latin American

entrepreneurs. In addition to nearly

300 stores selling everything

from shoes to insurance, the mall

attracts many visitors with its

special occasion events.

609

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Hispanic community. In addition, there

are a growing number of Latino-owned

companies involved in trade between

Georgia and Latin American countries.

Asians form Georgia’s second-fastest-

growing cultural group. Between 2000

and 2010, their number doubled, and it

currently accounts for nearly 4 percent

of Georgia’s population. Represented

are a variety of ethnic groups, including

Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Thai,

and Hmong (mung), a people from the

mountains of northern Laos. Although

most of the newcomers have settled in

the Atlanta area, for over 100 years there

has been a sizeable Chinese community in

Augusta.

Georgia’s ethnic groups observe their

traditions in dierent ways. They may

celebrate holidays or other special

events unique to their culture. Atlanta’s

Greek community, for example, holds

an annual festival that has become a

popular event. Through food, music,

dance, costumes, and programs, visitors

learn of their traditions. Every Mother’s

Day in Brunswick, Portuguese shrimpers

participate in a religious tradition known

as Blessing of the Fleet. Atlanta’s growing

Hispanic population holds an annual

festival to renew cultural ties and to share

their customs with the community. Each

fall, people of Scottish descent gather

at Stone Mountain for a festival and to

compete in an event called the Highland

Games.

These men from Savannah’s Greek

community took part in the 1907

St. Patrick’s Day parade. Today, the

parade has become an international

event, attracting entrants and

thousands of visitors from around

the country and the world.

Celebrating the Day of

the Dead

Transcript

610

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

These festive occasions give Georgians

an opportunity to learn more about each

culture by tasting the foods that are

considered special, seeing the costumes

and crafts of a particular group, and

enjoying other unique features such as

singing and dancing.

All these many cultures—living, working,

and playing together —create the culture

of Georgia, and America. Some aspects

of Georgia culture are shared with

neighboring southern states. For example,

foods such as grits and boiled peanuts are

not usually found outside the South. They

are a southern tradition.

Festivals are a popular way to celebrate

Georgia culture. They recognize Georgia’s

history, products, music, hobbies, even

pests! Georgia Week each February in

Savannah marks the arrival of James

Oglethorpe and the ﬁrst colonists. In

Dahlonega, annual “Gold Rush Days”

commemorate the time when gold was

ﬁrst discovered. There is a Taste of the

South celebration at Stone Mountain

and an Andersonville Historic Fair at the

former Confederate prison. Camilla is

the home of the annual Gnat Days. The

state sponsors the Georgia National Fair

in Perry with livestock shows, exhibits,

and carnival rides. Some celebrations

recognize well-known Georgia products

such as cotton, seafood, Vidalia onions,

blueberries, mayhaws, peanuts, peaches,

and marble. These products are a part

of the state’s culture and represent how

some Georgians make a living. At various

times of the year, you can hear bluegrass,

beach music, or jazz at festival gatherings.

You can also attend or participate in arts

festivals, crafts shows, road races, horse

shows, and hot air balloon races. All these

events help people to come together,

learn about our culture, appreciate

dierences, and have a good time. ■

The Seed & Feed Marching

Abominable band performs at

the Inman Park Festival, an event

that celebrates a historic Atlanta

neighborhood.

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Deﬁne: multicultural,

ethnic group, entrepreneur

2 What are some

distinguishing

characteristics of an

international city?

3 What are some features

by which an ethnic group

might be identiﬁed?

4 Grits and boiled peanuts

are common in Georgia.

Why are they considered

a part of our southern

culture?

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Vocabulary

1 Ethnic group - A group of people who share the same customs, languages, or

background.

2 Entrepreneur - A person willing to take a ﬁnancial risk to start and manage a business.

611

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Georgians’ Cultural

Achievements

Over the years, many Georgians—both

native-born and those who have adopted

the state—have excelled in many areas,

ranging from sports and entertainment to

art and literature. Their achievements have

been a source of pride and enjoyment not

only to Georgians, but to other Americans

as well.

ACHIEVEMENTS IN SPORTS

Competing with one another, ourselves,

or nature has become an important

part of American culture. This is true in

Georgia, where such sports as football,

basketball, baseball, golf, hunting and

ﬁshing, and auto racing are enjoyed by

so many people—either as participants

or observers. Sports and recreation are

popular in our culture for several reasons,

including tradition, school pride, desire for

physical ﬁtness, and need for relaxation.

Georgians not only compete for fun;

many have become national, and even

international, champions. Atlanta golfer

Bobby Jones is recognized as one of the

game’s greatest players. After retiring

Bobby Jones, considered by many

to be the greatest golfer in history,

won four major championships in

the same year. A month later he

shocked the world by retiring from

golf at age 28.

Transcript

612

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

from the game, Jones spearheaded the

eort to build the Augusta National Golf

Course. The Masters Tournament, one

of the premier golf tournaments in the

world, is held there every spring. Three

Georgians have won the Masters—Claude

Harmon from Savannah in 1948, Tommy

Aaron from Gainesville in 1973, and

Augusta-born Larry Mize in 1987. Twice,

in 2012 and again in 2014, Bubba Watson

a former UGA golfer, won the Masters.

Another golfer from Georgia is Louise

Suggs, known as “Little Toughie.” One

of the greatest female golfers of all time,

she was the leading winner on the ladies

professional circuit from 1953 to 1960.

Georgia has produced a number of

Olympic gold medalists. The earliest

was sprinter Ralph Metcalf, who was on

the 400-meter relay team at the 1932

Olympics. University of Georgia track star

Forrest “Spec” Towns won ﬁrst place in

the 110-meter high hurdles at the 1936

games. In 1948, Albany’s Alice Coachman

Davis won the women’s high jump.

Weightlifter Paul Anderson won a gold in

1956, going on to be recognized as the

“World’s Strongest Man.” Sprinters Martha

Hudson Pennyman (1960), Edith McGuire

Duvall (1964), Wyomia Tyus (1964), and Mel

Pender (1968) also brought home Olympic

gold medals.

Edwin Moses, who attended Morehouse

Uga, the University of Georgia

mascot. In 1997, Sports Illustrated

magazine named Uga V the number

one college mascot. He played

himself in the movie Midnight in the

Garden of Good and Evil.

613

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

College in the 1970s, became the premier

400-meter hurdler of his day. He won

the event at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics

and set the world record in 1983. Another

Georgian participating in the 1984 games

was swimmer Steve Lundquist, who

won two gold medals and set two world

records. Georgia swimmer Angel Martino,

who lives in Americus, won a gold medal

at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The

only U.S. basketball player—male or

female—to participate in four Olympic

games is Teresa Edwards. Born in Cairo,

she was a gold medalist in 1984, 1988,

and 1996, and a bronze medalist in 1992.

Gwen Torrence, a sprinter from Decatur,

won gold in the 1992 Olympics in the

200-meter dash and in the 4 x 100 meter

relay. In 1996, she won Olympic gold again

in Atlanta in the 4 x 100 meter relay.

Georgia has produced other world

champions. Camilla’s Theo (Tiger) Flowers

was world middleweight boxing champion

in 1926—the ﬁrst African American to hold

the title. Sidney Walker, once a shoeshine

boy at the Augusta National Golf Course,

became the lightweight boxing champion

in the early 1940s. In 1951, Georgian Ezzard

Charles held the world heavyweight title.

More recently, in 1996, Atlanta’s Evander

Holyﬁeld became the second boxer

to win the world heavyweight boxing

championship three times. Working as

Holyﬁeld’s strength coach was another

Atlanta champion, bodybuilder Lee

Haney. In 1991, Haney won his eighth “Mr.

Olympia” title, setting the record for the

most consecutive wins.

In 1942, University of Georgia running

back Frank Sinkwich became the ﬁrst

Georgian to win the Heisman Trophy,

symbol of the best college football player

in America. The trophy is named for John

Heisman, an innovative football coach who

was at Georgia Tech from 1904 to 1919.

He developed the forward pass and the

snap from center. Also, he was the ﬁrst to

put numbers on players’ jerseys. In 1961,

Since 1935, the Heisman Trophy

has been awarded to the most

outstanding college football player

in the United States.

614

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

University of Georgia quarterback

Fran Tarkenton was drafted by

the Minnesota Vikings football

team. There, the “scrambling

quarterback” achieved career

passing records for touchdowns,

completions, and yardage.

Georgia’s second Heisman trophy

winner came from Wrightsville.

Running back Herschel Walker

had a spectacular career at the

University of Georgia, winning

the nation’s top football honor

in 1982. He went on to a

professional career with the

New Jersey Generals, Dallas

Cowboys, and Minnesota

Vikings.

In other professional sports, Ty Cobb of

Royston was considered to be one of the

all-time best baseball players. His lifetime

batting average (.367) is the highest in

history. Buena Vista’s Josh Gibson was the

all-time home run champion in the Negro

League in the 1930s and 1940s.

Many called him “the black Babe

Ruth.” Another baseball great was

Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves,

who in 1974 set the all-time major

league record for home runs.

With 755 home runs, he broke

the lifetime record of 714 long

held by Babe Ruth. The Atlanta

Braves were the winningest team

in major league baseball in the

1990s. They won the World

Series in 1995 and played

in four more (1991, 1992,

1996, and 1999). The Braves

played in postseason games

in every year but 1990. In

1999, the Atlanta Falcons played

unsuccessfully for the National

Football League championship—their ﬁrst

Super Bowl game. In basketball, University

of Georgia standout Dominique Wilkins

went on to play with the Atlanta Hawks,

where he became one of the league’s top

scorers. In stock car racing, Dawsonville’s

The 1966 arrival of a major league

team in Atlanta—the Braves—

increased the popularity of the

sport in Georgia. Ten years later

the Braves became “America’s

Team” when team owner Ted Turner

broadcast their games on WTBS.

Transcript

615

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Bill Elliot has won numerous national

championships.

In addition to individual sports greats,

Georgia colleges and universities have

won many team championships in dierent

sports, including several national titles.

MUSIC IN GEORGIA

Many musicians, some known around the

world, claim Georgia as their home. They

represent a wide variety of musical styles.

Some of those styles, such as blues, jazz,

gospel, bluegrass, and country music,

had their origin in the South. Blues and

jazz became popular, appealing to both

black and white audiences in the United

States and abroad. Songwriter and singer

Thomas Dorsey, born in Villa Rica in

1899, earned the title of “father of gospel

music” with his many blues arrangements

of gospel hymns. Gertrude “Ma” Rainey

of Columbus was known as the “Mother

of the Blues.” Fletcher Henderson Jr., of

Cuthbert, recognized as one of America’s

Albany native Ray Charles

performed the state song

“Georgia on My Mind” at a special

ceremony for legislators at the

state capitol in 1979.

Transcript

616

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

great jazz musicians, helped the careers of

young jazz instrumentalists who played in

his orchestra. He became known to white

audiences when he worked as an arranger

for Benny Goodman. Joe Williams, a jazz

vocalist from Cordele, and Albany-born

trumpeter Harry James made names for

themselves during the “Big Band Era.”

In 1987, blues singer Robert Cray won a

Grammy Award for his work.

The Sea Island Singers and the McIntosh

County Shouters are groups nationally

known for continuing coastal music

traditions. They have performed at the

National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta

and the National Folk Festival in Virginia,

presenting songs, narratives, and dances

as handed down by black Georgians

along the coast.

In classical music, Roland Hayes, an

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Ocially founded in 1945 and

played its ﬁrst concert as the

Atlanta Youth Symphony under the

direction of Henry Sopkin.

617

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

African American tenor from Calhoun,

sang for British royalty in 1921. James

Melton of Moultrie performed as an opera

tenor, recording artist, and actor during

the midcentury. Mattiwilda Dobbs of

Atlanta (an aunt of Atlanta mayor Maynard

Jackson) and Jessye Norman of Augusta

are internationally recognized opera

singers. Both have performed with the

New York Metropolitan Opera.

Several Georgia cities have symphony

orchestras, including Atlanta, Augusta,

Columbus, Macon, and Savannah. The

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra began in

1945 and rose to prominence under the

direction of Robert Shaw. The orchestra

performed for the inauguration of

President Carter in 1977.

Songwriter Johnny Mercer of Savannah

published 701 songs between 1933 and

1974. Among them are “Moon River” and

“I’m an Old Cowhand.” He wrote music for

movies, radio, and recordings, and

won four Academy Awards. Georgia

has an abundance of famous

performers of popular music. Ray

Charles of Albany popularized

“Georgia on My Mind,” now

our state song, and won 12

Grammy Awards. At the time of

his death in 2006, soul singer

James Brown from Augusta

had a long list of hit records

over a career that began in the

1950s and inﬂuenced many other

artists. The city of Macon

produced many

Johnny Mercer was best known

as a lyricist, but he also composed

music. He received nineteen

Academy Award nominations, and

won four.

Otis Redding

was a singer,

songwriter, record

producer, arranger

and talent scout.

He is considered

one of the greatest

singers in popular

music and a major

artist in soul and

rhythm and blues.

618

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

musicians, including Otis Redding (soul),

“Little Richard” Penniman (rock and roll),

and the Allman Brothers Band (southern

rock). Atlanta rhythm and blues singers

Gladys Knight and the Pips have recorded

several gold albums and won Grammys

for their music. Amy Grant, a singer of

Christian and popular music, has won ﬁve

Grammy Awards and continues to make

recordings. The works of many rhythm and

blues artists were recorded and produced

in Atlanta during the 1990s.

Fiddlin’ John Carson was the ﬁrst person

to broadcast and record country music.

In 1922, he performed live on WSB radio,

and a year later recorded “Little Old

Log Cabin” and “The Old Hen Cackled

and the Rooster’s Going to Crow.” Other

well-known country singers from the

state include Brenda Lee, Bill Anderson,

Ronnie Milsap, Travis Tritt, and John Berry.

Songwriters who also perform include

Ray Stevens, Jerry Reed, T. Graham

Brown, Joe South, and Billy Joe Royal.

Recognized as male and female country

vocal entertainers of the year on many

occasions, respectively, are Alan Jackson

from Newnan and Trisha Yearwood of

Monticello. Both entertainers have gold

records and have won Grammy Awards.

In the 1980s, the city of Athens developed

a reputation as a home for alternative

music. Athens bands such as the B-52s

and R.E.M. and the Indigo Girls of Atlanta

went on to become nationally famous, and

continue to perform.

“Ma” Rainey was one of the

earliest known American

professional blues singers and

one of the ﬁrst generation of such

singers to record.

619

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

In the last decade, Atlanta has established

itself as the “Motown of the South.” The

success of producer Jermaine Dupri and

his So So Def recording label propelled

Atlanta to the top of the hip hop and urban

charts. L. A. Reid and partner Kenneth

“Babyface” Edmonds created La Face

Records, which introduced Atlanta artists

TLC, Toni Braxton, and rap duo OutKast.

OutKast has won multiple Grammy

Awards, including album of the year

(2003), and had many number one hits.

Other urban artists to emerge from Atlanta

include Usher, Monica, and Ludacris.

LITERATURE

Georgia writers have received national

recognition for their poems, short stories,

and novels. Often their works have been

based on ﬁctional accounts of life in

Georgia or the South. Most noteworthy in

the nineteenth century were poet Sidney

Lanier and folktale author Joel Chandler

Harris. Popular when it was published in

1910, Corra Harris’s The Circuit Rider’s

Wife was based on her life as a traveling

Methodist minister’s wife.

In 1925, poet and Atlanta journalist Frank

Stanton was named as Georgia’s ﬁrst

poet laureate—an honorary title given by

the governor. Byron Herbert

Reece, who grew up in

Union County in the 1920s,

wrote poetry and novels that

reﬂected the isolation of his

north Georgia mountain

home.

Three Georgians won

Pulitzer prizes in the 1930s

for their literary works. In

1930, Conrad Aiken from

Savannah won the award for

his Selected Poems. Later,

in 1973, Governor Carter

named him poet laureate of Georgia.

A historical marker identiﬁes the

location of the home of Savannah

poet and author Conrad Aiken.

620

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Waycross native Caroline Miller won the

1934 Pulitzer prize for Lamb in His Bosom,

a ﬁctional account of frontier life before the

Civil War. Margaret Mitchell of Atlanta won

the 1936 Pulitzer prize for her novel, Gone

with the Wind.

Another famous Georgia author of the

1930s was Erskine Caldwell, who grew up

in Wrens. Caldwell painted a harsh picture

about the lifestyles of poor Georgia

sharecroppers. His best-known books

were Tobacco Road, which became a

long-running Broadway play, and God’s

Little Acre.

Three important women writers who

published in the 1940s and 1950s were

Carson McCullers of Columbus, Flannery

O’Connor of Milledgeville, and Lillian

Smith of Clayton. McCullers wrote about

the lonely side of contemporary life in the

South. Her best-known works are The

Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and The Member

of the Wedding. Flannery O’Connor is

recognized as one of America’s best short

story authors. Her stories and novels

often use violent and shocking events to

describe southern culture. Lillian Smith

wrote about racism and its crippling eect

on the South.

James Dickey

was a well-known

Atlanta-born poet.

His work includes a

popular book called

Deliverance, a

violent tale of three

city men canoeing

through the wilds

of north Georgia.

Pat Conroy, from

Atlanta, has written

novels based on his

experiences at The

Citadel, a military

school in South

Carolina, and as a

schoolteacher on

Flannery O’Connor at an

autograph party for her book

Wise Blood.

Transcript

621

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

one of that state’s barrier islands. Harry

Crews draws on his childhood in Bacon

County for many of his stories and novels.

Olive Ann Burns of Banks County became

famous for Cold Sassy Tree, an account

of turn-of-the-century life in a small

Georgia town. Eugenia Price, who lived

on St. Simons Island, is best known for her

historical novels about coastal Georgians.

Ferrol Sams, from Fayette County, has

written best-selling novels about a young

boy growing up in Georgia before World

War II. Terry Kay uses many Georgia

locations in his books, such as The Year

the Lights Came On, a story of the eect

of rural electriﬁcation on a small Georgia

town.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

by John Berendt, a book about a murder

in Savannah, has brought fame to the city.

A national best seller for several years,

the popular book was made into a movie

ﬁlmed in Savannah, and many tourists

have visited the city because of it.

Several black Georgia authors have

achieved national recognition. Raymond

Andrews, son of a Madison-area

sharecropper, wrote several novels about

life for black people in the segregated

South of the 1940s and 1950s. Frank

Yerby, an African-American writer from

Augusta, published popular, action-packed

historical ﬁction. He wrote many novels

and won a short story award in 1944. Poet

and author Alice Walker is from Eatonton.

For her best-known novel, The Color

Purple, she won the Pulitzer prize in 1983.

The book, written as a series of letters,

tells the story of a black woman growing

up in Georgia. It was later made into a

movie.

THE PERFORMING ARTS

Atlanta is the home of several professional

theater companies. Among them is the

Alliance Theatre at the Woodru Arts

622

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Center. The Alliance, besides its regular

play season, also has a children’s theater

and a theater school. Jomandi Productions

is an African-American theater company

that performs in Atlanta and nationally. The

Center for Puppetry Arts not only presents

performances but also has a museum

and oers classes in the art of puppetry.

Touring theatre companies stage

productions, often in the restored Fox

Theatre or the Atlanta Civic Center. The

Atlanta Ballet, created in 1929, is the oldest

continuously operating ballet company in

America.

Throughout the state, numerous

community theater groups stage and

present plays, giving local residents the

opportunity to see performances or to

perform. In Columbus the Springer Opera

House, established in 1871, is the setting

for many types of productions. Governor

Carter named it the State Theatre of

Georgia in 1971.

Today, many Georgia actors and actresses

perform on stage and in movies and

television programs. Ossie Davis (Cogdell)

has had a long career in movies and

television as an actor, director, and

Ballet dance of Michael Garrison’s

Pirates of the Phantom Waves

at the Gwinnett Performing Arts

Center in Atlanta.

623

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

screenwriter. The original Star Trek

television series featured DeForest Kelley

(Atlanta) as Dr. “Bones” McCoy. Other

faces seen on television are Demond

Wilson (Valdosta) in Sanford and Son;

Claude Akins (Nelson), Sheriff Lobo;

Pernell Roberts (Waycross), Trapper John,

M.D.; Alvin “Junior” Samples (Cumming),

Hee Haw; and Je Foxworthy (Atlanta).

Long-established stars include the

character actor Charles Coburn

(Savannah); Oliver Hardy (Harlem) of the

comedy team Laurel and Hardy, popular

in the 1930s; Melvyn Douglas (Macon),

who was in Hud and Hotel; and Joanne

Woodward (Thomasville), famous for

her role in The Three Faces of Eve.

Thelma “Butterﬂy” McQueen, who grew

up in and later retired to Augusta, had

an unforgettable supporting role in the

movie Gone with the Wind. Burt Reynolds

The Fox Theatre on Peachtree

Street opened in 1929 as the Great

Depression was beginning. Now

a National Historic Landmark, it is

used for concerts, musicals, and

even occasional movies.

Transcript

624

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

(Waycross) popularized the good old boy

image in such movies as Smokey and

the Bandit. Academy Award–winning

actresses Holly Hunter (Conyers), Julia

Roberts (Smyrna), and Kim Basinger

(Athens) have appeared in popular

movies. Laurence Fishburne (Augusta) has

appeared in the Matrix movie series and

numerous other ﬁlms. Spike Lee (Atlanta)

has produced and directed many movies

that examine race relations in America.

Since the 1970s, Georgia ocials have

promoted the state as a setting for

movies and television shows. Movies

such as Drumline, Glory, and Driving Miss

Daisy were made in Georgia, as were

Deliverance, Smokey and the Bandit, and

Fried Green Tomatoes. Television series

ﬁlmed in the state include The Dukes of

Hazzard, In the Heat of the Night, I’ll Fly

Away, and The Walking Dead.

Georgia has another tie to motion pictures

and television—the Turner Broadcasting

System, which merged with Time Warner

in 1997. Formerly owner of an outdoor

advertising ﬁrm, business entrepreneur

Ted Turner purchased an Atlanta UHF

television station in 1970. By bouncing its

signal o a satellite, Turner transformed

the operation into Superstation WTBS.

Today, through satellite broadcasting, the

TBS network reaches a national television

audience, and in the case of its cable

news network, CNN International, a global

audience.

THE VISUAL ARTS

Georgia has a rich variety of artists, from

painters to potters. Some Georgia artists

have exhibited their work in national and

international settings.

At the beginning of the twentieth century,

Lucy May Stanton of Atlanta and Athens

received international recognition for her

miniatures painted on ivory. Some of her

works are in the Smithsonian’s National

625

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Portrait Gallery and at Emory University.

Lamar Dodd was the most recognized

Georgia artist in the

twentieth

century.

Space missions and open heart surgery

are among the subjects of his later works.

Benny Andrews, an artist and illustrator,

illustrated the books of his brother

Raymond Andrews. His work is in the

collections of major museums around

the country. Athens resident Beverly

Buchanan is known for her drawings

and sculptures, often accompanied by

a story. Her work, which appears in

major museums, celebrates the spirit

of shack dwellers in the rural South.

Along with many other Americans,

you may already have seen the work

of two Georgia sculptors. University of

Georgia professor William J. Thompson

did the Prisoners of War sculpture

of three ﬁgures—humanity, suering,

and death—at Andersonville National

Historic Site. His sculpture of Sen.

Richard B. Russell can be seen at the

state capitol. Frederick Hart

of Atlanta designed and

sculpted a biblical scene for

Prisoners of War memorial at

Andersonville National Historic

Site near Americus, by sculptor

Bill Thompson.

In 1963, NASA invited Lamar Dodd

to produce a series of paintings

documenting the conquest of

space. The best-known of these

is his 1972 work Cruciﬁed Sun.

This piece later hung in the White

House, where it was one of

President Carter’s favorite paintings.

626

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

one of the main entrances to the National

Cathedral in Washington, DC. More widely

known is Hart’s bronze statue of three

soldiers at the Vietnam War Memorial in

the nation’s capital.

FOLK ART

Folk arts and crafts are items made by

hand using skills that are generally self-

taught or learned at home. These skills are

often passed along through generations. It

is not uncommon to ﬁnd families who are

known for a particular craft or style. In the

past, folk objects were usually functional

and served a useful purpose, such as

a quilt to keep a bed warm. Because of

changing times and modern inventions,

the functional value of some objects may

be lost, but those same objects are prized

for their decorative value. Popular folk arts

and crafts today include pottery, quilts,

baskets, and wood carvings.

Locally produced clay pottery items such

as butter churns, milk pans, and jugs were

once practical containers for holding every

product in the Georgia kitchen. After the

introduction of glass and metal containers

in the twentieth century, folk potters found

new uses for their products. The Meaders

family of Mossy Creek is known for face

jugs. The Hewell and the Merritt families

produce ﬂowerpots and other garden

pottery items. Members of the D. X.

Gordy family produce ﬁgurines, along

with more traditional pottery items.

Howard Finster of Summerville

was a folk artist known for his

religiously inspired visions and

art. He completed over 7,000

paintings, drawings, and sculptures

and constructed a multistoried chapel

of art. A self-ordained preacher, he

used wood, concrete, car parts, and

other discarded items in his work.

His art often contains messages, Bible

verses, warnings, and prophecies. Nellie

Face jugs like this one have been

produced by three generations of

the Meaders family. Collectors now

pay up to $10,000 for an original.

Mark of the Potter

Transcript

627

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Mae Rowe was a visionary folk artist from

Fayette County who became well known

for her small sculptures and drawings. Her

work has been shown in major exhibitions,

including an exhibit of black folk art 1930–

1980, and is in the collections of the High

Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Library

of Congress. Mattie Lou O’Kelley, a self-

The Georgia Farm. For her

paintings, artist Mattie Lou

O’Kelley drew on childhood

memories of growing up in Banks

County, Georgia.

628

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

taught folk artist from Maysville, became

nationally known for her colorful primitive-

style paintings. She did not start painting

regularly until she was nearly 60 years old.

Her paintings are in folk art collections in

many museums. ■

The late folk artist Howard

Finster points out a detail at his

Chapel of Art in Summerville.

Transcript

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Why are sports a part of a

people’s culture?

2 Name four types of music

that had their origin in the

South.

3 Like the historian, writers

and authors have a

frame of reference. How

do the Georgia authors

mentioned in this section

show a Georgia frame of

reference in their work?

4 How have Georgians

been active in the

performing arts?

5 What are folk arts and crafts?

629

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Support for the Arts

The arts in Georgia have been helped by

people who recognize their importance

to the community. One way people

have helped is by encouraging the

development of cultural centers—

places where artists can work or display

their works to the public. Many cities

have cultural centers that oer studio,

performance, and gallery space to artists.

Some may also have museum space.

The Nexus Contemporary Arts Center

in Atlanta, the Madison-Morgan Cultural

Center, the Sacred Heart Cultural Center

in Augusta, and the Arts Experiment

Station in Tifton are among the many

centers throughout Georgia supported by

a combination of individuals, businesses,

and dierent levels of government.

Some institutions have been started

or continued through the actions of

philanthropists, people willing to

contribute money for causes they feel are

worthy. Mary Telfair of Savannah left most

of her estate for the establishment of the

Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences. In

1886, the Academy became an art gallery

open to the public. The High Museum

of Art is a memorial to Harriet Wilson

High. The donation of her home and art

collection to the Atlanta Art Association

was the seed that started the museum and

school.

Associated with the

High Museum is the

Robert W. Woodru

Arts Center.

Formerly known

as the Memorial

Arts Center, it

was renamed as

a birthday tribute

to the generosity

of Woodru. The

center was built

in memory of 122

Atlantans who

Formerly an elementary school, the

Madison-Morgan Cultural Center

today is a museum and home

for area performing, visual, and

decorative arts.

630

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

were killed in a plane crash at Orly Field

near Paris in June 1962. Financed almost

solely by private donations, the center

includes the Alliance Theatre,

the Atlanta Symphony

Orchestra, and the

High Museum of

Art.

Alfred H.

Holbrook, a

New York

attorney,

collected

paintings by

American artists

as a tribute to the

memory of his wife.

In 1945, he presented

the Eva Underhill

Holbrook Memorial Collection

of American Art to the University of

Georgia with the stipulation that a museum

be established on campus. As a result, the

Georgia Museum of Art got its start and

houses the collection along with many

other holdings.

Philanthropy can be used to

encourage distinguished

achievements in a

particular area.

George Foster

Peabody, a

Columbus

ﬁnancier

and talented

businessman,

used his fortune

to endow the

Peabody Awards.

The awards,

established in 1939,

recognize achievements

by radio and television

networks, cable organizations,

and individuals. These prestigious awards

are given every spring in a ceremony in

New York, but the program is administered

by the University of Georgia.

The George Foster Peabody

medal. This award is given for

distinguished achievement

and meritorious public service

by television and radio

stations, networks, producing

organizations, individuals, and

the World Wide Web.

631

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Preserving Culture

Knowing about the past is important to

preserving a people’s culture. Of course,

reading books is one way to learn about

that past. Another way is seeing actual

artifacts from history. This is one reason

museums are so important. Through

exhibits and displays, museums tell us

about our past.

Although Georgia does not have a

state museum of history, a variety of

smaller, specialized museums across the

state explore Georgia’s past. Museums

dedicated to Native American history

and prehistory can be found at New

Echota and at the Etowah, Ocmulgee, and

Kolomoki Indian mounds. Interpretative

exhibits and displays tell the story of

Atlanta’s past at the Atlanta History Center.

The history of agriculture in the state is

told at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture

and Historic Village in Tifton. Museums

and state historic sites associated with

the Civil War are found in such cities as

Columbus, Savannah, and Crawfordville.

Additionally, the National Park Service

operates two Civil War national battleﬁelds

at Kennesaw Mountain and Chickamauga,

and the National Prisoner of War Museum

at Andersonville.

Not all museums are called museums. For

example, Atlanta’s APEX (African-American

A Civil War exhibit at the Atlanta

History Center depicts a woman

receiving a telegram informing her

of her husband’s death.

The Etowah Indian Mounds State

Historic Site in Cartersville tells the

story of the Mississippian Indian

culture that once existed in Georgia.

632

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Panoramic Experience) displays artifacts

from black history as well as contemporary

exhibits. The birth home of Martin Luther

King Jr. part of a national historic site, is a

type of museum. Historic exhibits can be

found at the Carter Presidential Center

and Library in Atlanta.

Historic buildings and structures in your

community are a type of museum. But

sometimes, distinctive old buildings

are lost in the rush to build new oce

buildings and parking lots. Out of a desire

to protect these structures from the past

came a movement known as historic

preservation

Savannah was one of the ﬁrst cities to

take advantage of its standing historic

structures. Run-down shops, factories,

residences, churches, and public

buildings were restored, and the historic

areas attracted many tourists. The idea

caught on in cities throughout the state.

Sometimes, a historic structure has been

A decorative mask at the APEX,

the African-American Panoramic

Experience in Atlanta.

633

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

saved by adapting it for a

dierent use. Traveling

around the state, you will

ﬁnd many oces in

antebellum homes,

museums in former

schools, or art galleries

in old factories. Historic preservation

allows Georgians of all ages and cultures

an eyewitness view of the past. ■

The Seney-Stovall Chapel in

Athens, dedicated in 1885, was

constructed with a donation from

philanthropist George Seney. Part of

the Lucy Cobb Institute, the chapel

deteriorated after the girls’ school

closed in 1931. Community members

- including many former students -

rallied and rescued the chapel. It is

now used as a performance center

by the community and University of

Georgia groups.

LOCATING the M A I N

IDEAS

1 Deﬁne: philanthropist,

historic preservation

2 What purpose do

community cultural

centers serve?

3 How did an interest in

historic preservation

beneﬁt Savannah?

CHAPTER 22 • GEORGIA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE

Vocabulary

1 Historic preservation - A movement that attempts to preserve and restore buildings

and other structures of the past.

CHAPTER 22 QUIZ

Text Version

Download
Save PDF to desktop

Email
Email completed PDF

Send for Signing
Email for others to sign

Print
Print document

NAME

Gpb Unit 8 Final

View Audit Log
Print With Audit Log
Duplicate Document

Fill Online, Printable, Fillable, Blank Gpb Unit 8 Final Form

Related forms

Fillable Gpb Unit 8 Final

Fill Online, Printable, Fillable, Blank Gpb Unit 8 Final Form

Related forms

First 20 documents completely FREE!