FROM THE COLLECTIONS SERIES: The Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta

During the Civil Rights Movement, Atlanta was a city of Black political power, student organizing, legal strategy, and everyday resistance, but was also steeped in segregation, economic inequality, and image management. This duality comprised Atlanta’s civil rights story.

The following titles offer insight into the story beyond the polished image the city promoted.

Beneath the Image of the Civil Rights Movement and Race Relations: Atlanta, Georgia, 1946-1981

This book presents the story of the local Civil Rights Movement and race relations in Atlanta from 1946-1981. The studies presented here reflect local African American protest movements as an integral part of the national campaign for civil rights.

While this book is written as a scholarly work; it is also as engaging as it is informative.

Heart of Atlanta: Five Black Pastors and the Supreme Court Victory for Integration

“Heart of Atlanta” highlights the city’s role in the larger, national movement, especially as a base for organizing and leadership.

In July of 1964 two African American ministers sought a room for the night at the Heart of Atlanta Motel but were refused. This occurred less than a week after The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited this sort of discrimination. And so began a fight that would resolve in the highest court. The case was: Heart of Atlanta Inc v. United States. This case, decided December 1964, upheld the Civil Rights Act and ended segregation in public accommodations.

Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement

“Courage to Dissent” reminds us that civil rights progressed because people were willing to be uncomfortable, unpopular, and even unsafe. This book focuses on both public figures and local individuals who challenged segregation even though there were consequences like losing employment. It explores Atlanta’s Civil Rights Movement which pushed against segregationists, as well as black and white leaders who preferred slow change. This scholarly work is a remarkable view of the Movement in Atlanta and includes an informative “Notes” section at the back.

Civil Rights and Public Accommodations: The Heart of Atlanta Motel and McClung Cases

Drawing on archival sources including legal records, presidential files and oral histories, Richard C. Cortner explores how legal challenges, protests, and consumer power worked together to validate the Civil Rights Act.

Approaching the history from a legal and judicial perspective, this book tells the story of how Civil Rights were fought in Atlanta – the major battlegrounds being restaurants, hotels, theaters, and stores. It’s the story of how segregation operated in ordinary spaces and how activists dismantled it. It’s the clarification that access is about dignity and not simple convenience.

Schooling Jim Crow: The Fight for Atlanta’s Booker T. Washington High School and the Roots of Black Protest Politics

At the end of World War I, during an economic downturn, a little over a decade from the 1906 Rare Riot, just weeks after a summer wave of anti-black violence, Atlanta voted to build new schools for African American education. With a budget of 1.5 million, five black grammar schools and Booker T. Washington High School (the first publicly funded African American high school in the city) were built.

This book reveals how black Atlantans used the political climate to create a grassroots NAACP campaign and make seemingly impossible strides forward in black education in Atlanta, as well as shape a political strategy that became a model for the NAACP.

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Interested in these titles or have other questions about Special Collections, please come visit or reach out to us by phone or email: 404-613-0254, Library.SpecColl@fultoncountyga.gov