Quick Facts for ss milestones testing

Below, find some notes over topics we may not have covered by the social studies Milestones test. Please look over these and be familiar with them.

Atlanta is the financial, communication, and transportation center for the Southeastern United States.

A diversified economy is the main reason for the migration of people into Georgia since the 1960’s.

More than 50% of the state’s population lives in metropolitan Atlanta.

William Hartsfield was Mayor of Atlanta for six terms. Under his leadership, Atlanta became the aviation hub of the southeast. He supported civil rights and help keep Atlanta (and GA) a peaceful state during the turbulent civil rights movement.

Ivan Allen was Mayor during the 1960’s. He integrated city governments and fire departments, reduced restrictions on African American police officers, and removed “colored” and “white” signs in Atlanta’s City Hall.

Atlanta became known as the “City too Busy to Hate.”

Atlanta pro teams included the Atlanta Braves baseball, Falcon’s football, Hawks basketball, and Thrasher’s hockey.

Ellis Arnall was the first GA governor to serve a 4 year term. All precious governors served for 2 years.

Arnall created the University system Board of Regents, a Board of Corrections (prison), abolished the poll tax, and had a new GA constitution adopted in 1945. The voting age in GA dropped to 18 under Arnall’s leadership.

Benjamin E. Mays was an educator who served on the Atlanta Board of Education and served as a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The White Primary was designed to keep African Americans from having input into the party nominee’s. African American’s were only allowed to vote in general elections, therefore the party nominees were always white. This was overturned in 1946 when the Supreme Court declared White Primary’s unconstitutional.

In 1946, Eugene Talmadge was elected Governor. He died before taking office, so instead of the Lt. Governor (Melvin Thompson) becoming governor, the state legislature chose Talmadge’s son Herman Talmadge to become governor. Thompson and Eugene Talmadge fought it out in court with Thompson eventually being officially name governor. In the election of 1948, Herman Talmadge was easily elected governor.

Herman Talmadge was a strict segregationist and opposed the integration of public schools. He also promised he would bring back the white primary (he didn’t). Talmadge did add grade 12 to the public schools and lengthened the school year to 9 months. He also improved school buildings, equipment, transportation, and curricula. Talmadge served as GA’s senator from 1956-1981.

Martin Luther King, Jr. favored non-violence.

In 1956, GA’s state flag was changed to resemble the Confederate Battle Flag. In 2000, Governor Roy Barnes wanted the flag changed. In 2003, the current state flag was adopted.

Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was organized in 1960 to help blacks register to vote. The first President was John Lewis (now a congressman from GA).

The Sibley Commission was started to find out how citizen’s all over the state felt about integration. Their recommendation was to allow local school systems to decide for themselves if they should integrate or not.

The first black students to enter the University of GA in 1961 were Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes.

The Albany movement wanted to integrate interstate bus station waiting rooms in Albany. The SNCC was involved with the Albany Movement.

Dr. MLK have his famous “I have a dream” speech at the march on Washington in 1963. This speech was given to urge the passage of the civil rights bill.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made segregation of all public facilities illegal.

Maynard Jackson was the first African American Mayor of Atlanta. He was elected in 1973. While Mayor, he increased programs for the arts, expanded the airport, and worked to have the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Lester Maddox was a segregationist who became governor in 1967. Maddox was actually elected by the general assembly rather than the people. Although a segregationist, Maddox appointed more African Americans to state boards than all prior governors combined. He also started “People’s Days” where anyone could visit the governor’s mansion twice a month to talk about whatever they wanted.

Andrew Young was a south GA pastor who got involved in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and eventually became it executive director. He started “citizenship schools” which taught non-violent organizing strategies to potential leaders. He was a trusted aide to MLK, Jr. and eventually got elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter named Young the U.S. Ambassador to the UN. In 1981 he was elected Mayor of Atlanta and served two terms.

In 1962, the GA federal court ruled that the county unit system violated the 14^th amendment. This shifted the power from the rural areas to the urban areas.

Because of the end of the County Unit System, the General assembly had to redraw its congressional districts based on equal population sizes.

Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer from Plains, GA. In 1962 he was elected to the state senate. In 1970, he was elected Governor of GA and in 1976 he was elected POTUS. As POTUS he led the Camp David Middle East Peace Accords, ratified the Panama Canal treaties, and established diplomatic relations with China. He also started the Department of Education.

GA is a two-party system state: the Democrats and the Republicans. Until 1980, GA was a democratic controlled state. In 1980, GA elected Mack Mattingly to the US Senate. By 1992, most of GA’s congressional districts were won by Republicans. In 1994, Newt Gingrich, a republican, became the US Speaker of the House and in 2002, Sonny Perdue became the first Republican Governor since reconstruction.

The 1996 Olympics were held in Atlanta. Mayor Andrew Young and Billy Payne were responsible for bringing the Olympics to Georgia. Georgia received international media attention and recognition for the state and Atlanta, which led to tourism and international business expansion. One of the biggest problems with Atlanta was the traffic congestion.