- Collection:
- New Georgia Encyclopedia
- Title:
- Roy V. Harris (1895-1985)
- Creator:
- Huff, Christopher Allen
- Date of Original:
- 2007-06-28
- Subject:
- United States. Army
Soldiers--Georgia
University of Georgia
Lawyers--Georgia
University System of Georgia. Board of Regents
Georgia. General Assembly
Georgia. General Assembly. House of Representatives
Georgia. General Assembly. House of Representatives. Speakers
Legislators--Georgia
Politicians--Georgia
Augusta Courier
Newspapers
Newspaper editors--Georgia
Citizens' Councils of America
Topeka (Kan.). Board of Education--Trials, litigation, etc.
Augusta (Ga.)--Officials and employees
Mayors--Georgia--Augusta
African American mayors--Georgia--Augusta
Civil rights--Georgia
Civil rights movements--Georgia
African Americans--Civil rights--Georgia
Segregation--Georgia
Segregationists--Georgia
White supremacy movements--Georgia
Segregation in education--Georgia
Segregation in education--Georgia--Athens
School integration--Georgia
School integration--Georgia--Athens
Governors--Election
Elections--Georgia
Political campaigns--Georgia
Presidential candidates--United States
Politics, Practical--Georgia
Presidents--Election, 1968
Political leadership--Georgia
Georgia--Politics and government--20th century
Georgia--History--20th century
Public schools--Georgia
Education--Georgia
City attorneys--Georgia - People:
- Talmadge, Herman E. (Herman Eugene), 1913-2002
Arnall, Ellis Gibbs, 1907-1992
Talmadge, Eugene, 1884-1946
Harris, Roy Vincent, 1895-1985
Vandiver, S. Ernest (Samuel Ernest), 1918-2005
Wallace, George C. (George Corley), 1919-1998
McIntyre, Edward M., 1940-2004
Brown, Oliver, 1918-1961--Trials, litigation, etc. - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Clarke County, Athens, 33.96095, -83.37794
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
United States, Georgia, Glascock County, 33.22928, -82.6107
United States, Georgia, Jefferson County, Wrens, 33.20765, -82.39179
United States, Georgia, Richmond County, Augusta, 33.47097, -81.97484 - Medium:
- articles
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- text/html
- Description:
- Encyclopedia article about Roy Vincent Harris who was born on October 2, 1895, in Glascock County, Georgia to Elizabeth Allen and James Robert Harris. The family later moved to Wrens, in Jefferson County, where Harris attended high school. In 1917 he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia (UGA) and then joined the army, rising from the rank of private to first lieutenant in less than two years. Upon returning home he again enrolled at UGA and earned a law degree in 1919. In 1935 he married Mary Lewis of Augusta, and they had one son, Roy Jr. Harris spent more than fifty years in Georgia politics. From 1921 when he was first elected to the state legislature, he served almost continually in the General Assembly until 1946 and was Speaker of the House twice. He was called a "kingmaker" for his ability to place candidates he supported in the governor's mansion, and he played a prominent role in the gubernatorial victories of Ellis Arnall, Eugene Talmadge, Herman Talmadge, and Ernest Vandiver. Harris supported improving public education in Georgia throughout his adult life and maintained ties with UGA, working to raise standards and increase funding for that institution. In 1951 Governor Herman Talmadge appointed Harris to the Board of Regents, a position he held from 1951 to 1958 and again from 1960 to 1974. He also worked hard to oppose civil rights, using his position on the Board of Regents to fight college and university desegregation and to oppose the integration of UGA. He used the Augusta Courier, a tabloid newspaper he founded in 1946 and edited from 1947 to 1974, to spread his segregationist message. Harris remained an ardent segregationist throughout the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He belonged to the Citizens' Councils of America, a white segregationist organization formed in response to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which called for the desegregation of public schools, and served as the group's president from 1958 to 1966. In 1968 he broke with southern Democrats and supported former Alabama governor George Wallace's bid for U.S. president, serving on Wallace's Georgia campaign committee. Harris mellowed in his views somewhat as they fell out of fashion in the 1970s. In 1982 he began a term as city attorney for newly elected Augusta mayor Ed McIntyre, the first African American mayor of Augusta. Harris died January 21, 1985.
The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata. - Metadata URL:
- https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/roy-v-harris-1895-1985/
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- If you wish to use content from the NGE site for commercial use, publication, or any purpose other than fair use as defined by law, you must request and receive written permission from the NGE. Such requests may be directed to: Permissions/NGE, University of Georgia Press, 330 Research Drive, Athens, GA 30602.
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: "[article name]," New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved [date]: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.
- Original Collection:
- Forms part of the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
- Contributing Institution:
- New Georgia Encyclopedia (Project)
- Rights:
-
