Transcript Topic C: Important People in the Civil Rights Era

 1955-1956 Led a successful effort to desegregate
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Montgomery, Alabama, buses
1957 Helped found and was the first president of the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
1963 Wrote 'Letter from Birmingham Jail,' arguing that it
was his moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws
1963 Delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech to civil rights
marchers at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
1964 Won the Nobel Peace Prize
1965 Organized a mass march from Selma to
Montgomery, Alabama, that created national support for
federal voting-rights legislation
1968 Was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in
Memphis, Tennessee
 King's nonviolent doctrine was
strongly influenced by the
teachings of Indian leader
Mohandas Gandhi.
 In 1964, King became the first
black American to be honored as
Time magazine's Man of the Year.
 King's efforts were not limited to
securing civil rights; he also spoke
out against poverty and the
Vietnam War.
 1938 Marshall is
appointed chief counsel
for the NAACP
 1954 Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka won
by Marshall
 1967 Marshall appointed
to the Supreme Court;
first African American
justice
 1933-The Negro’s Church
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published
1936-Meets Gandhi in India
1940-Becomes President of
Morehouse College
Mentor of MLK Jr.
Leadership roles in NAACP,
the International Young
Men's Christian Association
(YMCA), the World Council
of Churches, the United
Negro College Fund, and
many other organizations
 1956-Graduates at 18 from
Morehouse
 1973-Elected Mayor of Atlanta;
served for 8 years and re-elected in
1990
 Oversaw expansion of Hartsfield
Airport – later renamed HartsfieldJackson in his honor
 worked closely with Young, Atlanta
Olympics organizing committee
chair Billy Payne, and others to
bring the 1996 Olympic Games to
Atlanta.
 1961-Left Pastor position to work
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with SCLC where he registered
thousands of voters
1972-won Georgia's Fifth District
seat in the U.S. House of
Representatives
1977-Pres. Carter names Young as
ambassador to United Nations
1981-Elected Mayor of Atlanta
co chair of the Atlanta
Committee for the 1996 Olympic
Games and has been vocal on
such issues as economic
development and the state flag.
 Member NAACP
 1961-Admitted to UGA; graduated 1963 with Bachelor
of Science
 Fall 1963-1st black student admitted to Emory
University’s School of Medicine
 served as chief of orthopedics at the Veterans
Administration hospital in Atlanta, opened a private
practice, and became medical director of Grady
Memorial Hospital before finally being named head of
orthopedic surgery at Grady as well as associate dean
at Emory.
 1961-Along with Holmes, becomes first black student at UGA
 1963-Editorial job at New Yorker Magazine
 1968-begins work at New York Times; establishes Harlem bureau
 1999-joins CNN as bureau chief in Johannesburg, South Africa
 Hunter-Gault has received numerous awards, including two
National News and Documentary Emmy Awards as well as two
Peabody Awards.
 Elected to U.S. Senate in 1956-1980
 Served as GA governor for a brief time
in 1947 and again 1948-1954 (involved
in “three governors” controversy)
 Supported amendment that would
allow schools to close rather than
integrate
 Rural Development Act of 1972:
provided grants and loans to rural
areas for the improvement of
infrastructure. Industrial parks were
aided by this program, as were water
and sewage systems.
 1966-Runs for governor; defeats Ellis
Arnall
 The name of his cafeteria was
named after Lester’s nickname
“Pickrick”; Maddox closed the
cafeteria rather than desegregate it
 Although known as being generally
pro-segregation and anti-civil
rights, as governor he appointed
more African Americans to
government positions than all
previous Georgia governors
combined, including the first black
officer in the Georgia State Patrol
and the first black official to the
state Board of Corrections.