Cocking affair facts for kids
The Cocking affair was a big problem in 1941. It happened when Georgia's governor, Eugene Talmadge, tried to take over the state's schools. He fired a professor named Walter Cocking. This was because Professor Cocking supported letting all students, no matter their race, go to the same schools. The governor also removed people from the Georgia Board of Regents who didn't agree with him. This event even became an opera called A Scholar Under Siege.
How It Started
Governor Talmadge first tried to control schools in 1935. He supported a bill that would give him more power over money for the Georgia Board of Regents. This board manages Georgia's public colleges and universities. The bill would also give the state ownership of all school property. It would even take over any special funds the universities had.
This plan would have been bad for the schools. It would have made it hard to build new things. For example, Georgia Tech wanted to build a new gym. But the state could not take out loans for these projects.
Marion Smith, who led the Board of Regents, said in 1935:
The whole plan embodied in the bill, to make the university system a football of politics, is in my opinion disastrous to the efforts being made to build up a great university system.
—Marion Smith, chairman of the Georgia Board of Regents, 1935
They reached a deal to fix this. If the board supported the bill, the state would help pay for projects. But it was clear that Governor Talmadge wanted to control the schools.
Professor Cocking Is Fired
Governor Talmadge fired Walter Cocking. Professor Cocking was a dean at the University of Georgia. The governor said Cocking supported "integration." This meant letting African-American students attend schools that were only for white students. Governor Talmadge said he would fire anyone who supported "racial equality."
Big Problems for Schools
Because of these firings, all universities in Georgia lost their accreditation. This means their degrees were no longer officially recognized. This was a huge problem for students and schools. This event also helped Governor Talmadge lose the next election. Ellis Arnall won instead.
