Born: 10 May 1945, United States
Died: NA
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
In 2001, Shirley Clarke Franklin became Atlanta, Georgia’s first African American female mayor, as well as the first African-American woman to be a mayor of a major southern US city. It was the first time she had run for public office; with her 2005 re-election, she served as mayor until 2010. Under previous mayors, she had served the city as Commissioner of Cultural Affairs and Chief Administrative Officer and City Manager. Franklin received the Profile in Courage Award in 2005 from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, which praised her management of the city during a critical period of enormous deficit and loss of public confidence in government following the corrupt administration of her predecessor, Mayor Bill Campbell.