Title
Honoring Jack T. Franklin.
Body
WHEREAS, Jack T. Franklin was born in North Philadelphia in 1922, and by the time he was twelve, he was already taking photographs of African American life in Philadelphia. He would be one of the few photographers engaged in this kind of work for seven more decades. By the time his sister bought him his first camera, he was already having film developed at the Sun Ray Drugstore at Germantown and Lehigh Avenues; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Franklin graduated from Simon Gratz High School and went to work as a photographer and darkroom technician in the Merlin Studios. His employers soon realized that he could take pictures better than they could, and he was already photographing black life and social events throughout the City and region; and
WHEREAS, In 1943, Jack Franklin enrolled in the Army and attended a special school for War Photographers. He was the only black person at the Photographic Center in Astoria, Long Island, and also on the trip to Guam a year later. His war photographs are widely recognized as some of the finest in the history of war photography; and of these, many were taken in the midst of extreme danger. Today, they provide a unique look at war not only from a Black perspective, but from a fully humanized viewpoint; and
WHEREAS, After the war, Mr. Franklin continued his career. From 1947 through 2000, he was all over the city and beyond. He took photographs for the "Philadelphia Tribune" and every other African American newspaper, and he documented the Civil Rights Movement here and in the South. His collection, now housed in the African American Museum, is one of the most significant collections of World War II photographs, and his more recent pictures reflect the heartbeat of African American life and are a real and permanent treasure; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby honor and commend Mr. Jack T. Franklin. We are proud that he is a ci...
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