Rufus Clement, Alice Clement’s father and Robert Foster’s father-in-law, is the president of Atlanta University and a major Black social and political leader of the mid-20th century. In 1953, he’s elected to the Atlanta Board of Education, making him the first Black state official since Reconstruction. He frequently clashes with Robert because he disapproves of Robert’s less-than-elite family, decision to leave the South, and failure to build close relationships with his daughters. He dies in 1967.