WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)

Description

In this WSB newsfilm clip, Georgia governor Ernest Vandiver laments the possibility of the University of Georgia closing its doors in defiance of a 1961 federal district court ruling allows the admission of African American students Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes. Vandiver asserts that closing the "hallowed halls" of the University of Georgia will deny students of their education and "create unrest" among the faculty. He declares that closing the university would constitute "wanton disregard of the learning process."Despite strong opposition from many of the state's top leaders who favored closing the school instead of integrating it, Governor Vandiver refused to defy the federal court, and the University of Georgia was desegregated. The governor then successfully urged the legislature to repeal the state's antidesegregation legislation. Vandiver concluded that the closing of the state's schools would be detrimental to the young people of Georgia and to the state's economic development. Several months later the Atlanta public schools were peaceably desegregated.

Record Contributed By

New Georgia Encyclopedia

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia