William Yates Atkinson

Atkinson was born in the Oakland community in Meriwether County on November 11, 1854. He graduated from the University of Georgia with an LL.B in 1877. He married Susan Cobb Milton, granddaughter of Florida Governor John Milton,[1] in 1880.

After graduating from the University of Georgia, Atkinson began practicing law in Newnan. Atkinson was the solicitor of the Coweta Superior Court circuit. He then represented Coweta County as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives (1886–94), where he was the speaker, or presiding officer, during the last two years. As a state representative, he introduced a bill that established the Georgia Normal and Industrial College, which later became Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Georgia. He was also the Georgia Democratic Party state chair from 1890 to 1892.

Atkinson won the 1894 election and was elected Governor of Georgia. He was reelected to a second term in 1896.[2] During his administration, he hired the first woman salaried employee in state government, Ellen Dortch, as assistant state librarian. In 1897, he vetoed a law that would have prohibited football in the state, due in part to an impassioned letter from Rosalind Burns Gammon, whose son's death had initiated the anti-football legislation.[3] He was vehement in his opposition to the practice of lynching.[4]

Atkinson was mentioned by William Henry Holtzclaw, later founder of Utica Institute in Mississippi, as giving him the money he needed to go back to Tuskegee Institute for college - as well as a kindly lecture on the advisability of staying out of politics.[5]

After his two terms as governor, Atkinson bravely confronted the mob in the infamous Sam Hose lynching and tried to get them to allow the legal justice system to take its course.[6] He was unsuccessful, however, and Hose was lynched soon after Atkinson confronted the mob.

Atkinson died on August 8, 1899 at the age of 44. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Newnan. Atkinson County, Georgia is named for him.

His son, William Yates Atkinson, Jr., was the Georgia Democratic state chair in 1942 as well as a Georgia state Supreme Court justice from 1943 to 1948.

Atkinson Hall, on the campus of Georgia College and State University, is named for him.[7]

• List of Speakers of the Georgia House of Representatives

• This Day in Georgia History:November 11th, Ed Jackson and Charly Pou, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia

• Hulett, Keith. "William Y. Atkinson (1854-1899)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. September 25, 2014. Web. June 17, 2016.
• Portrait of William Yates Atkinson
• William Yates Atkinson at Find a Grave
• Picture of Georgia Governor William Yates Atkinson (foreground) with his military staff on horseback at the corner of Peachtree Street and Cain Street (now Andrew Young International Boulevard) in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta History Photograph Collection, Atlanta History Center, presented in the Digital Library of Georgia. Web. June 17, 2016.
• "Governor William Yates Atkinson historical marker". Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved June 18, 2016.