John P. Franklin, the city's first black elected official, was a businessman and a school principal as well as a man of integrity, says former Erlanger Vice President Irvin Overton.
Franklin, an 88-year-old father of two, will be honored Friday at the Urban League of Chattanooga's Equal Opportunity Day breakfast and 100 year-anniversary celebration.
"He should be honored for his overall contribution to the quality of life of the citizens of Chattanooga," said Overton, Franklin's former campaign manager. "He should be honored because of his many years of dedication for the education of kids in the community and his overall community service."
IF YOU GO* What: Urban League's Equal Opportunity Day Breakfast* When: 7:30-9 a.m. Friday* Where: Chattanooga Trade and Convention Center, 1150 Carter St.* Admission: $100 per ticket* For more information: Call 756-1762
The Urban League breakfast is the organization's biggest fundraiser of the year.
"We've been the go-to organization for 100 years as far as empowerment of people of color, whether it's through job development or education and we're proud of that," said Warren Logan, the Urban League's executive director.
Franklin will receive the organization's Whitney M. Young Award, named after a former National Urban League president and civil rights leader.
It was May 1971 when Franklin, then principal of Alton Park Middle School, broke through the color barrier to become the city's commissioner of education and its first black elected official. About six years later, he was elected the city's vice mayor and went on to serve in public office for 20 years.
Eddie Holmes, the former NAACP president and Chattanooga Housing Authority board chairman, called Franklin his lifelong mentor. Holmes was in elementary school in the late 1950s when he met Franklin, a traveling coach going from school to school to make sure that schools without physical education teachers still had recreation for children.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s when serving as NAACP president, Holmes said he took advice from Franklin concerning the NAACP's direction.
"You could always go to him for wise counsel, very mild mannered. He was a calm voice of reasoning," Holmes said.
Franklin was a gentleman in conduct and appearance, but could be persistent, Holmes said. He recalled when Franklin pushed to get Ninth Street renamed M.L. King Boulevard in the 1980s.
The proposed name change had come up several times, but Franklin could never get a second on the motion from the rest of the commission, Holmes said. By the time it had come up for a final vote, some commissioners suggested that a small section of the Golden Gateway bear the civil rights leader's name - M.L. King Plaza.
Franklin objected.
"He stuck to his guns. In fact, he wanted M.L. King Boulevard to run from the [Tennessee] river to Dodds Avenue," said Holmes. "But he could only get it to Central Avenue. But he kept pounding that and pounding that."