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Long, Rucker, and Aiken family photographs and lithographs

 Collection
Collection number: ahc.VIS32

Scope and Content

The collection documents the political, civic, educational, professional, family, and social life of members of the Long, Rucker, and Aiken families from 1859 through the 1970s. The images document three generations of the Long, Rucker, and Aiken families and visually chronicles their rise from slavery to social and political influence. It also provides visual documentation of African American life from Reconstruction to the late 20th century.

Dates

  • 1859-1979, undated

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.

Administrative/Biographical History

Jefferson Franklin Long (1836-1900), born in Alabama, became a successful merchant and tailor in Macon, Georgia. He married Lucinda Carhart and had several children; Mary Long (b. 1861); Annie Eunice (b. 1865); Jefferson Long (b. 1868); Lucy Long (b. 1870); Edward Long (b. 1871); and Charles Long (b. 1875). In 1871, Jefferson Long became the only African American elected to represent Georgia in the United States Congress during Reconstruction. He is buried in Macon, Georgia.

Annie Eunice Long (1865-1933), attended Scotia Seminary in Concord, North Carolina and married Henry Allan Rucker (1852-1924). Rucker was born to Edward Rucker and Betsey Golden in Washington, Georgia. He had been enslaved since birth by the King family of Athens, Georgia, who were in-laws of Atlanta journalist Henry Grady. Following the Civil War, Rucker opened a barber shop on Decatur Street in Atlanta; attended Atlanta University; served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, (1880); worked as a clerk in the internal revenue collector's office in Atlanta (1880-1885, 1889-1893); and was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of Georgia (1896-1910), the only African American to receive this appointment. Rucker was active in the Niagara Movement and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Rucker and Annie Eunice Long had eight children: Henry, Jr. (b. 1892), Elizabeth (Bessie, b. 1891); Lucy Lorene (b. 1894); Jefferson (b. 1897); India Neddie (b. 1898); Hazel (b. 1900); Alice (b. 1902); and Ann L. (b. 1908). The family lived on Piedmont Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia. The family is buried in Oakland Cemetery.

Lucy Rucker (1894-1992) married Walter Henry "Chief" Aiken in 1920. Walter Aiken (1893-1965) was born in Dover, Delaware, attended Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia, and served as football coach at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, Atlanta University (Lucy Rucker's alma mater), and Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia. Aiken was an architect and engineer and his many Atlanta projects include West Lake Court Apartments, the women's dormitory at Morris Brown College, homes in the Hunter Street- Washington Park subdivision, Simpson Road subdivision, and the Waluhaje Hotel and Apartments.

Bessie Rucker (1890-1931) attended Fisk University and married John Wesley Davis (b. 1888), later president of West Virginia State College. They had two daughters, Constance and Dorothy Long, known as "Dit" and "Dot."

Ann L. Rucker (1907-1977) attended Atlanta University and Hampton Institute and served as librarian at Fisk University and the Carnegie Library in Atlanta, Georgia. She married Charles W. Anderson, Jr., of Louisville, Kentucky.

Extent

2386 image(s) (2375 photographs; 11 lithographs)

Language

English

System of Arrangement

This collection is divided into four series: 1. Family photographs and lithographs; 2. Walter Aiken photographs; 3. Friends and associates; and 4. African American photographers and hereunder alphabetically according to titles supplied by staff.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, 1980

Related Archival Materials

Long, Rucker, and Aiken family papers, MSS 468, James G. Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center

Description Control

This collection was processed in 2014.

Title
Long, Rucker, and Aiken family photographs and lithographs
Author
Carla Ledgerwood
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository

Contact:
130 West Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta GA 30305
404-814-4040