Shirley Franklin is a Philadelphia native who became Atlanta’s first female mayor, and the first black women elected mayor of a major southern city.
Here are five more things to know about Shirley Franklin.
1. Franklin is co-chair of the DNC's national platform committee. On the opening night, Franklin called the work that went into the platform the "most open and transparency process in our party's history, we drafted the the progressive platform ever. It's a bold vision for working families, social justice and the continuing prosperity and security of our country and it's reflective of our party as Democrats, the party of inclusion." Read more from the AJC's live blog from Philadelphia
2. She is CEO and chair of a nonprofit called Purpose Built Communities, which has been involved in coordinating mixed-income housing and early childhood education in Atlanta's East Lake neighborhood." I've been fascinated by this issue of, how do you break through the cultural and economic barriers that some people face in America," Franklin said in a 2012 interview. "How do you create not just a great place to look at, but a great place to live?"
3. Her onetime campaign manager, Kasim Reed, was elected Atlanta mayor in 2009. He is scheduled to speak at the Democratic Convention.
4. Texas connection: She served as the Barbara Jordan Visiting Professor in Ethics and Political Values in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.
5. How old is Shirley Franklin? Franklin turned 71 in May.
Compiled by AJC staff, with information from reporter Aaron Gould Sheinin, AJC archives and shirley-franklin.com
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