Georgia’s segregationist governor-elect advocated armed intimidation to suppress black voting in 1946

Evidence

Asked how they might keep blacks away from the polls, Talmadge picked up a scrap of paper and wrote on it a single word: “Pistols.” — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 60

Categorization

• SHARE: This single-word ‘Pistols’ image is a striking anecdote for anyone retelling the history of voting rights obstruction.
• CANDY: A compressed, memorable, outrage-evoking historical detail about a governor answering poll access with a single written word.
• XREF: connects to: Legal desegregation of primaries drove Georgia segregationists toward open threats of violence by 1946 — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 60; The governor’s suppression of free-colored demands drove them to armed revolt — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 405; Segregationist warnings framed growing black voting power as the threat — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 94

Broader Connections

• Segregationist warnings framed growing black voting power as the threat #exemplifies (0.86) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 94
• The governor’s suppression of free-colored demands drove them to armed revolt #qualifies (0.72) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 405