Aug. 28, 2008: A coronation and family time for Shirley Franklin
Aug. 28 has somehow become a family affair for former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.
In 1955, her mother sat her down at the dinner table and talked to her about Emmett Till. In 1963, her mother and two aunts took her to the March on Washington.
In 2008, her son Cabral insisted that the family go with her to the Democratic National Convention, which she was co-chairing.
It was important to Cabral – who died in 2015 -- to have the whole family together, Franklin said. And it was important for America, as Barack Obama became the first black man in this country's history to accept a major party nomination for president.
“I went to the March with my family and I was at the Barack Obama nomination with my family,” Franklin said. “So in a way, they have been family affairs. Important ways for my family to come together.”
About the Author
Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.
