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How Georgia Impacted The Civil Rights Movement Essay

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How Georgia Impacted the Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement in the United States was a crucial period in American history. It was a time when African Americans and their allies fought for equality, justice, and freedom from discrimination. The state of Georgia played a significant role in the civil rights movement, both positive and negative. This essay will explore the impact of Georgia on the civil rights movement, including its contributions to the movement and the challenges faced by activists in the state. Georgia was home to some of the most prominent civil rights activists, including dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis. These leaders and their organizations played a critical role in the civil rights movement, using …show more content…

Georgia was known for its resistance to desegregation and voting rights, and many white Georgians were openly hostile to civil rights activists. For example, several people supported the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist terrorist organization. Georgia governor Lester Maddox was also an opponent of the civil rights movement. Maddox was known for his segregationist views and his support for the Ku Klux Klan. He believed that God shouldn’t have made different races if he wanted them to get along (document 13). He famously brandished an ax handle to chase away Black customers from his restaurant in Atlanta in 1964, which he would rather close than integrate. Another rival to the Civil Rights Movement was Georgia’s flag. In 1956, they changed their flag to the Confederate flag to show their unsupport for the Civil Rights Movement. Less than 2 years prior, the Brown v. Board of Education made its decision that the “separate but equal” doctrine was unconstitutional (document 3). Georgians were not happy about this, which resulted in them changing their flag to show how they are against the changes in

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