The Bourbon Triumvirate

1. The Bourbon Triumvirate Joseph E. Brown – a.k.a. Sweet Chin Hair” John B. Gordon Alfred Colquitt • Elected governor of Georgia in 1876 • Advocated for the industrialization of GA • Governor of GA during the Civil War • Brown served as a U.S. senator from 1880 to 1890 • Governor of GA from 1886 to 1890 • Served multiple terms in the US Senate • Wanted to keep the power of the government in the hands of White Southern Democrats!!!

2. The Bourbon Triumvirate • Democrats controlled Georgia’s government after Reconstruction. • Powerful Democratic leaders, known as the “Bourbon Triumvirate” were Joseph E. Brown, Alfred H. Colquitt, and John B. Gordon. • Their goals were: • expand Georgia’s economy and ties with industries in the North; • maintain the tradition of white supremacy.

3. The greatest hype man the South has ever known! Announcing… HENRY GRADY!!!

4. Henry Grady • Henry Grady was a speaker and newspaper editor. • Grady described Georgia as a place which could have competitive industry and more efficient farming. • Grady envisioned improved race relations in a “New South” which left its antebellum past behind.

5. The International Cotton Exposition In the late 1800s, fairs and expositions were an important way for cities to attract visitors who, in an era before radio and television, were eager to see new technological marvels on display. These events provided civic leaders with a showcase to lure visitors, who were urged to come and do business in the host location.

6. Tom Watson and the Populists • Thomas E. Watson, 1904 • Watson was elected to Congress in 1890. He shocked Georgians by quitting his party, joining the Populists, and founding a newspaper called the People's Party Paper. • The Populist Party mainly appealed to white farmers, many of whom had been impoverished by debt and low cotton prices in the 1880s and 1890s. Populism directly challenged the dominance of the Democratic Party, and as a result Populists sought out the black votes as well. • Tom Watson, famous Georgia populist, worked for Rural Free Delivery bill to deliver mail to rural areas for free

7. The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 • Occurred Sept. 22-24, 1906 in downtown Atlanta • White mobs killed dozens of blacks, wounded scores of others, and inflicted considerable property damage.

8. The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 • By the 1880s Atlanta had become TOP DAWG! • The city's overall population soared from 89,000 in 1900 to 150,000 in 1910; the black population was approximately 9,000 in 1880 and 35,000 by 1900. • Such growth increased job competition among black and white workers. • Such conditions caused concern among elite whites, who feared the social intermingling of the races. • The emergence of black elite also added to the racial tension.

9. The Decline of the Bourbons and Rebecca Latimer Felton • A tireless advocate for the poor and lower middle class • A leader in the suffrage and temperance movement in GA • Wrote for The Cartersville Courant and later took a job as a columnist with the Atlanta Journal. • Worked w/ husband to reform the convict lease system. • Served as the first woman to serve in the US Senate after Tom Watson died.

10. Prison Reform • 1908: end of convict lease system • Work camps and chain gangs replaced the lease system • Black-and-white uniforms • Chained together • Poor food & housing • No preparation for life after prison • Progressive legislators created the Juvenile Court System

11. The County Unit System

12. The County Unit System • 1917: Neil Primary Act created “county unit system” • Plan designed to give small counties more power in state government • Under this system, the 8 most populated counties had 6 county votes each (total of 48), the next 30 most populated counties had 4 county unit votes (total of 120), and the remaining 121 counties had 2 county unit votes (total 242). • The largest 38 counties had 2/3 of voters, but the other 121 counties together could decide the election. • People could be elected to office without getting a majority of votes • Declared unconstitutional in 1962

13. The Trial of Leo Frank

14. "The Ballad of Mary Phagan" Little Mary PhaganShe left her home one day;She went to the pencil-factoryTo see the big parade. She left her home at elevenShe kissed her mother good-by;Not one time did the poor child thinkThat she was a-going to die. Leo Frank he met herWith a brutish heart, we know;He smiled, and said, "Little Mary,You won't go home no more." --- as reproduced by F.B. Snyder in The Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1918

15. The Trial of Leo Frank • 1913: man accused of killing a 14-year-old employee, Mary Phagan in Atlanta • Mr. Frank was a Jewish man from New York • Little evidence against Mr. Frank, but he was convicted and sentenced to death • Governor Slaton changed death sentence to life imprisonment • Armed men took Frank from the prison, and he was lynched • White supremacist Ku Klux Klan reborn as a result

16. What I saw and learned when I was your age…

17. Education in the New South Era • Funding to provide elementary education for all children in Georgia grew slowly from 1868-1895. • Teachers were paid a little more than farm hands and had little or no training. • Normal schools were started to train more teachers. • The “school year” was only three months long which allowed children to work on farms or in factories. • The state constitution of 1877 did not allow for school beyond 8th grade and segregated black and white students.

18. The Progressive Movement

19. Labor Unions • Low wages in factories (10¢ per hour) • Labor Unions organized workers • Strikes could halt work in the factory • AFL – American Federation of Labor • Georgians didn’t support unions – factories were often in small communities where people knew each other • Mill towns: factory owner owned the workers’ houses – workers feared losing their homes

20. Child Labor Laws • Progressives increased regulation to protect child laborers • Minimum wage • Compulsory school attendance laws • Laws protecting children against work in dangerous places and using dangerous equipment (for example: mines) • In Georgia, most child workers in cotton fields or textile factories • In the North, child workers were in “sweatshops”

21. Temperance Movement • WCTU: Women’s Christian Temperance Movement – wanted to end production and use of alcoholic beverages • Carrie Nation – famous for raiding saloons with a hatchet and making speeches against alcohol • Progressives in Georgia restricted alcohol sales near schools and churches, and allowed counties to vote to be “wet” or “dry” • 1919: 18th Amendment banned manufacture, sale, transport of alcoholic beverages in USA

22. Women’s Suffrage • Suffrage: the right to vote • Seneca Falls, NY – famous meeting of suffragettes • 1920: 19th Amendment gives women the right to vote – Georgia did not ratify (approve) the amendment Click to return to Table of Contents.

23. Section 2: Southern Politics in Action • ESSENTIAL QUESTION • What were the goals of the populists in Georgia?

24. Section 2: Southern Politics in Action • What words do I need to know? • Populist party • Australian ballot • Rural Free Delivery bill • poll • Smith-Lever Act • Agricultural Extension Service • Smith-Hughes Act • county unit system • plurality

25. Georgia’s Progressive Era Governors • Hoke Smith: worked to concentrate political power in the rural counties instead of larger counties and cities • white supremacist • led passage of law requiring land ownership before a person could vote – excluded many blacks • better funding of public schools • child labor laws passed • Smith-Lever Act (1914): created Agricultural Extension Service to teach improved farming methods • Smith-Hughes Act: helped establish vocational schools for youth • “Little Joe” Brown: son of Civil War era governor Joseph E. Brown

26. Section 3: The Continuing Fight for Civil Rights • ESSENTIAL QUESTION • In what ways did Georgians fight for civil rights during the progressive era?

27. Section 3: The Continuing Fight for Civil Rights • What words do I need to know? • civil rights • Jim Crow laws • injunction • Atlanta Compromise speech • lynching • Back-to-Africa movement • grandfather clause • poll tax • gerrymander • martial law • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) • National Urban League

28. Section 3: The Continuing Fight for Civil Rights • What people do I need to know? • Booker T. Washington • W.E.B. DuBois • John & Lugenia Burns Hope • Leo Frank

29. Separate But Equal • Civil Rights: rights a person has as a citizen • “Jim Crow” laws passed to separate blacks and whites • Plessy v. Ferguson: Supreme Court decision which approved Jim Crow laws – decision in place until 1954 • Cummings V. Richmond County Board of Education: Supreme Court decision supporting segregated schools in Georgia

30. Booker T. Washington • Outstanding civil rights leader of the era • President of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama • Supported good relations between blacks and whites • Worked to improve the lives of African Americans through economic independence • Believed social and political equality would come with improved economic conditions and education • Famous “Atlanta Compromise” speech (1895)

31. W. E. B. DuBois • Professor at Atlanta University • Believed in “action” if African Americans and whites were to understand and accept each other • Thought Booker T. Washington was too accepting of social injustice

32. John Hope • Civil rights leader from Augusta, GA • President of Atlanta University • Like DuBois, believed that African Americans should actively work for equality • Part of group that organized NAACP • Hope’s wife, Lugenia, worked to improve sanitation, roads, healthcare and education for African American neighborhoods in Atlanta

33. A Loss of Voting Rights • Laws created to keep African Americans in Georgia from voting • Grandfather clause: only those men whose fathers or grandfathers were eligible to vote in 1867 could vote • Poll tax: a tax paid to vote • Voters had to own property • Voters had to pass a literacy test (which was determined by the poll worker and could be different for different people) • Gerrymandering: election districts drawn up to divide the African American voters

34. Race Riots in Atlanta • 1906: various leaders and newspapers created a climate of anger and fear • Two-day riot began with over 5,000 people • Martial law: military forces used to control civilians • 21 people killed; hundreds wounded • Lots of property damage

35. African Americans Organize • NAACP (1909): worked for the rights of African Americans • W.E.B. DuBois left Atlanta to work for the NAACP in New York • National Urban League formed in 1910 • Worked to solve social problems of African Americans in cities • Assisted people moving from rural South to urban North

36. Section 4: Business in Georgia • ESSENTIAL QUESTION • How did Georgia businesses grow during the progressive era?

37. Section 4: Business in Georgia • What words do I need to know? • scrip

38. Section 4: Business in Georgia • What people do I need to know? • Alonzo Herndon • Asa Candler • Morris Rich

39. Business in Georgia • 1895: Cotton States and International Exposition • 800,000 visitors in three months • designed to show economic recovery in the South • encouraged investments in southern businesses

40. Rich’s • Famous Atlanta department store • Started in 1867 by Morris Rich • Known as a store “with heart” • took farmers’ produce in payment • took teachers’ scrip as money during the Great Depression • Grew to be a regional shopping chain

41. Coca-Cola • Invented in Atlanta in 1885 by John S. Pemberton as tonic • Business purchased and expanded by Asa Candler • Sold company in 1919 for $25 million • Robert Woodruff grew company to billions of dollars in sales each year • Woodruff and Candler generous givers to worthy causes

42. Atlanta Mutual Insurance Company • Alonzo Herndon started barber business • 1905: Purchased small insurance company and managed it well • Now one of the largest African American businesses in the US • Worth over $200 million and operates in 17 states Click to return to Table of Contents.

43. Section 5: World War I • ESSENTIAL QUESTION • How did Georgians contribute to World War I?

44. Section 5: World War I • What words do I need to know? • World War I • neutral • propaganda • armistice

45. World War I1914-1918 President Woodrow Wilson declared the US would be a neutral country.

46. Eugene Jacques Bullard • First black African American combat pilot – from Columbus, GA • Enlisted in French Foreign Legion: 1914 • Flew combat missions against Germany • US Army Air Force refused his services

47. The United States Enters the War • President Wilson worked to keep the US out of the war • 1915: German submarine sank passenger ship Lusitania killing 128 Americans • 1917: sub attacks resumed sinking American ships • Zimmerman telegram: Germany tried to get Mexico to attack the US • Wilson finally joined the Allied powers

48. Georgia and World War I • ±100,000 Georgians volunteered to join the US armed forces • Training in Georgia at Camp Benning, Fort McPherson, and Camp Gordon helped Georgia economy • Georgians contributed manufactured goods and farm produce • 3,000 young Georgians killed in the war • Ended November 11, 1918

49. Atlanta Fire • May 21, 1917 • Lasted 10-12 hours • Seventy city blocks destroyed • 6,000-10,000 people left homeless Click to return to Table of Contents.