Research for new novel

Went to the main branch of the Atlanta library this afternoon to do some research for my new novel - code named "Life Portraits" or LP for short. Two of the characters lived in Atlanta beginning in 1955, and I needed a good way for them to meet. An incident at Tech in December of 1955 that I had read about in one of my history books sounded interesting, so I looked at the microfilm archives of the Atlanta newspapers to get the real scoop.

Atlanta Journal headline for Saturday Dec 3rd 1955 - "Tech Students Jeer at Capitol, Mansion". It seems that Tech got selected for the Sugar bowl that year, and word got out that the opposing team, the University of Pittsburgh, had a black player. Governor Griffin of Georgia pitched a hissy fit, sending a telegram to the Georgia Board of Regents that, by our standards today, would be grossly racist. Actually, by the standards of the time it was probably racist. Here is the some of the telegram - you decide:

"It is my request that athlete teams of units of the University System of Georgia not be permitted to engage in contests with other teams where the races are mixed on such teams or where segregation is not required among spectators at such events. The South stands at Armageddon. The battle is joined. We cannot make the slightest concessions to the enemy in this dark and lamental hour of struggle."

And so on and so forth. Remarkable what was uttered in public by politicians back then. And this was a telegram that he released to the papers.

Anyway, the Tech students reacted by throwing a little mini-riot. Two thousand of them marched on the capital and broke in, hung the Governor and burned him in effigy, and then tried to march on the Governor's mansion. They almost made it, but got turned back by police. Finally about 3:30 am they broke up, but not before three of them got arrested. Oh those wacky kids. In a couple of days the Regents basically laughed down the Governor, and Tech went to the game.

But it's a cool story. One of my characters is a female, trying to be a press photographer, the other can be a Tech student (they were exclusively male back then). An interesting way for them to meet.