How would you like to celebrate Atlanta’s 58th mayor, Shirley Clarke Franklin?

Click here to share your recommendations on how the City of Atlanta can best honor our 58th mayor, Shirley Clarke Franklin. 

Franklin was born on May 10, 1945, in Philadelphia, PA. She was surrounded by civil rights activism at an early age--her father, a judge, and her mother, an avid educator, both of whom influenced her trajectory. Franklin attended a prestigious all-girls public school, Philadelphia High School For Girls, where she studied Latin for four years and Greek and French for another two. She graduated at 17 with a B average, but did not, at the time, particularly see herself as a leader.  

After graduating from college and receiving her undergraduate degree from Howard University and her master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, she moved to Alabama, while George Wallace was still governor, to teach political science and social science at Talladega College. It was there, in the early 1970s, where she first met soon-to-be mayor Maynard Jackson and other civil rights activists. Soon afterwards she would meet and marry David Franklin, an esteemed attorney and political strategist. She and David had three amazing children.   

Franklin was a fiercely independent person who was to excel later in life as a leader in public arts, a chief administrative officer for a legendary civil rights, political and spiritual leader, and an Olympic Games executive. Eventually she became the 58th and first woman mayor of Atlanta, being elected in 2001 and sworn in to office in 2002.  

Click here to read Mayor Shirley Franklin's biography. 

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