Henry A. Rucker

[2] Despite serving at the nadir of race relations in Atlanta, Rucker was one of the three most powerful Black politicians in Georgia, alongside Judson Whitlocke Lyons and John H. Deveaux, characterized as the "big three" by rival Benjamin Jefferson Davis.

[3] A good mother was credited for helping him achieve success as he was, “like steel” tempered amidst the “awful crucible of prejudice and proscription” in the American South.

[2] He and several of his colleagues in the educated black middle class began pressing the federal government for more patronage positions for African Americans, since they formed the majority of the Republican base in Georgia.

He helped T. A. Jackson become principal of the Mitchell Street School and appointed two black men to Internal Revenue positions vacated by whites in protest of his nomination.

[2] In office, Rucker largely sought to maintain cordial relations with white business leaders such as the Augusta Brewing Company and tightly control newspaper accounts of his activities.

[3] In April 1904, Benjamin Jefferson Davis challenged Rucker's leadership, arguing that in order for Georgia Republicans to produce "a respectable vote" for Theodore Roosevelt, new leaders needed to be brought in to mobilize the party.

Nonetheless, Rucker was able to maintain support and controlled the state convention in 1904 enough to pass Judson Lyons reappointment with no resistance from the white Republican faction.