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The Atlanta Negro Voters League (ANVL) was an American bipartisan governmental organization. The organization was formed in 1949 by Democrat A. T. Walden, and Republican John Wesley Dobbs. The organization was created after the lynching of Robert Mallard. The organization’s goal was to increase the strength of the Black vote; they did this by performing sit-ins on historically Black colleges and universities.

History

The organization was formed on July 7, 1949 in Atlanta, Georgia by Democratic lawyer and leader of the NAACP's Atlanta branch, A. T. Walden, and Republican leader of the Prince Hall Masons of Georgia and the Fulton County Republican Club John Wesley Dobbs.[1][2] In its later years, the three founders were replaced by co-chairs John H. Calhoun, and Q. V. Williamson. Most of the founders were members of the middle class. The organization’s goal was to strengthen the Black vote.[3][4] They did this by preventing the splitting of Black votes.[5] The group was formed after members of the Ku Klux Klan lynched Robert Mallard, which happened because of Mallard's vote in the 1948 Georgia gubernatorial special election.[6] The organization had affiliations with the NAACP and the National Urban League.[7]

The organization had annual meetings at the Big Bethel AME Church.[8] These meetings were held to speak about civil rights in Atlanta.[9] They were also responsible for multiple Atlanta sit-ins, mainly ones in historically Black colleges and universities.[10]

The group was often criticized for catering to wealthier Black people who lived in Sweet Auburn. Instead of allocating more funds to building public housing, they put their funds towards making golf courses and suburbs for middle class African Americans.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ "John Calhoun, 88; A Longtime Fighter For Rights in South". The New York Times. May 10, 1988. p. 26.
  2. ^ "Atlanta Negro Voters League". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
  3. ^ Walker, Jack (1963). "Negro Voting in Atlanta: 1953–1961". Phylon. 24 (4): 379–387. doi:10.2307/273379. ISSN 0031-8906. JSTOR 273379.
  4. ^ "The Historical Dynamics of Black Political Organization in the Urban South". Retrieved October 28, 2023 – via ProQuest.
  5. ^ Bayor, Ronald H. (1996). Race and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century Atlanta. Univ of North Carolina Press. pp. 25–26. ISBN 978-0-8078-4898-2.
  6. ^ "2 Whites Indicted in Georgia Killing – Early Trial slate in Ambush of Negro – McGill, Editor, Closeted With Jurors". The New York Times. December 11, 1948. p. 32.
  7. ^ Alexander, Lee (January 1, 1979). "Expanding Sources for Black Research at Atlanta University". Georgia Archive. 7 (1). ISSN 0095-6201.
  8. ^ "Atlanta Negro Voters League, 1959". credo.library.umass.edu. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
  9. ^ Jennings, M. Kent; Zeiger, Harmon (October 30, 1966). "Class, Party, and Race in Four Types of Elections: The Case of Atlanta". University of Chicago Press. 28 (2): 391–407. doi:10.2307/2127554. JSTOR 2127554. S2CID 56139164.
  10. ^ Hein, Virginia H. (1972). "The Image of 'A City Too Busy to Hate': Atlanta in the 1960's". Phylon. 33 (3): 205–221. doi:10.2307/273521. ISSN 0031-8906. JSTOR 273521.
  11. ^ Drake, Akira (May 2014). "THE POLITICS OF ATLANTA'S PUBLIC HOUSING: RACE, PLANNING, AND INCLUSION, 1936-1975".
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Negro_Voters_League