Georgians go first, some of the time

Merely assembling a presidential ticket is so passé now, so … 2004. This year, it’s all about knocking down barriers and shattering ceilings: Barack Obama is the first African-American presidential nominee of either party, while Sarah Palin is going where no Republican woman has gone before (that would be the vice president’s slot, not Alaska).

In truth, though, being the “first to” is as much an American political tradition as kissing sobbing babies and slipping enormous earmarks into totally unrelated bills. And Georgia’s ballot of political barrier breakers is more extensive and intriguing than most.

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Georgia Division of Archives and History, Office of Secretary of State

Rufus Bullock was Georgia’s first elected Republican governor.

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Georgia Division of Archives and History, Office of Secretary of State

Jefferson Franklin Long, born into slavery, was Georgia’s first black congressman.

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Kimberly Smith/ksmith@ajc.com

Robert Benham was the first African-American elected as chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.

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BEN GRAY

Cathy Woolard was Georgia’s first openly gay elected official by winning an Atlanta City Council seat.

Most everyone’s aware of the impressive ground paved by the likes of Maynard Jackson, Jimmy Carter, Andrew Young and Shirley Franklin (If not, well, we have a Bridge to Nowhere we’d like to sell you). But these other trailblazers are no less important for being less well-known:

• Rufus Bullock — Georgia’s first elected Republican governor served during Reconstruction from 1868-71, “stepping down” when the Democrats regained control of the Legislature. Actually, he fled to New York (reportedly because he feared impeachment), returning in 1876 to stand trial for charges including corruption. Acquitted — twice — Bullock didn’t hold a grudge, joining the Piedmont Driving Club and becoming Atlanta Chamber of Commerce president. Still, it took 130 years for Georgia to elect its next Republican governor, Sonny Perdue.

• Jefferson Franklin Long — Born into slavery, Georgia’s first black congressman served during Reconstruction and was the first African-American to speak on the floor of the U.S. House. He later owned several businesses, including — talk about real power — Macon’s first dry cleaner.

• Viola Ross Napier — Technically became the first woman elected to the state Legislature by winning a House seat in 1922. A Bibb County lawyer, Napier was also the first woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court of Georgia. Elected at the same time, Fulton County’s Bessie Kempton was sworn in second because Bibb came first alphabetically.

• Rebecca Latimer Felton — A Cartersville resident who in 1922 became the country’s first female (and oldest freshman) U.S. senator. For one day. When the incumbent senator died, Gov. Thomas W. Hardwick appointed Felton in hopes of attracting female votes and because Congress was not in session. But Hardwick lost to Walter F. George, who delayed his own swearing-in by a day to allow Sen. Felton, 87, to serve.

• Robert Benham — Unanimously elected chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court in 1995, the first African-American to serve in that role. In 2005, 13 years after becoming the court’s first woman jurist, Justice Leah Ward Sears was elected its first female chief justice.

• Cathy Woolard — Became Georgia’s first openly gay elected official by winning an Atlanta City Council seat in 1997. Four years later, the 5-footer knocked down another barrier by becoming the council’s first female president — and joking she’d see “eye-to-eye” with the similarly height-challenged Franklin, Atlanta’s just-elected first female mayor.

• Uga V — Talk about shattering the Milkbone Ceiling. The slobbery Savannahian won the vote for “America’s No. 1 college mascot” and knocked all the usual pretty-boy jocks off the cover of Sports Illustrated in April 1997.