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==