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William Yates Atkinson
Atkinson, c. 1898
55th Governor of Georgia
In office October 27, 1894 – October 29, 1898
Preceded by	William J. Northen
Succeeded by	Allen D. Candler
Personal details
Born	William Yates Atkinson (1854-11-11)November 11, 1854 Meriwether County, Georgia, U.S.
Died	August 8, 1899(1899-08-08) (aged 44) Newnan, Georgia, U.S.
Resting place	Oak Hill Cemetery
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse	Susan Cobb Milton ​(m. 1880)​
Alma mater	University of Georgia (LL.B.)

William Yates Atkinson (November 11, 1854 – August 8, 1899) was an American politician who served as the governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1894 to 1898.

Early life

Atkinson was born in the Oakland community in Meriwether County, Georgia, 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, in 1880.

Political life

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. During his administration, he hired the first woman salaried employee in state government, Helen 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. He was vehement in his opposition to the practice of lynching.

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.

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. He was unsuccessful, however, and Hose was lynched soon after Atkinson confronted the mob.

Death and legacy

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.

See also

• List of speakers of the Georgia House of Representatives

References

1. Ham, Henry Wilkes Jones (1887). Representative Georgians. Biographical sketches of men now in public life. Savannah: Morning News Print. p. 191. Retrieved June 18, 2016. William Yates Atkinson.
2. "William Yates Atkinson". National Governors Association. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
3. "Von Gammon". Georgia Info. Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
4. Arnold, Edwin T. (2012). What virtue there is in fire : cultural memory and the lynching of sam hose. Athens: Univ Of Georgia Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0820340647.
5. Holtzclaw, William H. (1915). The Black Man's Burden. New York, The Neale Publishing company. p. 58.
6. Thurston, Robert W. (2011). Lynching : American mob murder in global perspective. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate. p. 118. ISBN 978-1409409083.
7. "Atkinson Hall (Georgia College & State University)". Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved June 18, 2016.

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

External links

• Hulett, Keith. "William Y. Atkinson (1854-1899)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. September 25, 2014. Web. June 17, 2016.
•  Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1906). "Atkinson, William Yates". The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. Boston: American Biographical Society. p. 160.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• 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.

v t e Governors of Georgia
1777–present
Bulloch Gwinnett Treutlen Houstoun Glascock Cuthbert Wereat Walton Howly George Wells Humphrey Wells Heard Davies Brownson Martin Hall Houstoun Elbert Telfair Mathews Handley Walton Telfair Mathews Irwin Jackson Emanuel Tattnall Milledge Irwin Mitchell Early Mitchell Rabun Talbot Clark Troup Forsyth Gilmer Lumpkin Schley Gilmer McDonald Crawford Towns Cobb H. Johnson J. E. Brown J. Johnson Jenkins Ruger Bullock Conley J. Smith Colquitt Stephens Boynton McDaniel Gordon Northen Atkinson Candler Terrell H. Smith J. M. Brown H. Smith Slaton J. M. Brown Slaton N. Harris Dorsey Hardwick Walker Hardman Russell E. Talmadge Rivers E. Talmadge Arnall H. Talmadge Thompson H. Talmadge Griffin Vandiver Sanders Maddox Carter Busbee J. Harris Miller Barnes Perdue Deal Kemp
Category

v t e Speakers of the Georgia House of Representatives
N. W. Jones Whitefield N. W. Jones W. Glascock Brownson Gibbons Saltus J. Clay Habersham Houstoun N. W. Jones Gibbons James Habersham Joseph Habersham Gibbons Brownson Powell S. Jones Gibbons Napier Stevens D. Meriwether Jackson Whitaker Iverson Whitaker Adams Witt Adams Daniel Adams Abercrombie Murray Hudson Jourdan Hull T. Glascock Joseph Day C. J. Jenkins Wofford C.J. Jenkins Anderson J. Meriwether Ward Stiles Underwood Irvin Williams Akin Hardeman McWhorter J. M. Smith Cumming Bacon Hardeman Bacon Garrard W. A. Little A. S. Clay Howell Atkinson Fleming H. A. Jenkins J. D. Little Morris Slaton Holder Burwell Holder Neill Russell Tucker Rivers Harris Evans Harris Hand Moate G. L. Smith G. T. Smith G. L. Smith Murphy Coleman Richardson Burkhalter Ralston Jones (acting) Burns

• 1854 births
• 1899 deaths
• Democratic Party governors of Georgia (U.S. state)
• People from Newnan, Georgia
• University of Georgia alumni
• Speakers of the Georgia House of Representatives
• Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives
• State political party chairs of Georgia (U.S. state)
• 19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly