"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" : G.W. FRANKLIN

As I look around Monroe, Louisiana, I can’t help but notice that not much FAN-FARE or ACCOLADES is given to the Black Funeral Home Establishments located in our Black Communities. Collectively, I would say that Black Funeral Homes in Monroe employ a large number of Black employees. Frankly speaking, I don’t know what the Black citizens of( or the City of Monroe ) Monroe would do without the services of our local Black Funeral Establishments! Recently, at a Monroe City Council Meeting, I happened to be a witness when “Smith’s Funeral Home” received an award for The Black Business of the Month of February. That was good, but no mention of the awarding[ or the award ] was ever published in any of the local newspapers or mentioned in any of the other media outlets in Monroe { hello, the groundbreaking ceremony for State Representative Mike Echols Hotel got more coverage than the award for Smith’s Funeral Home }! Well, let’s get to this week’s Our Rich Black Heritage Hero, G.W. Franklin. It was reported that he was born in Quitman, Georgia. G.W. Franklin got his start “shoeing” horses at a black-smith shop. Also, at one time, he accomplished an astonishing feat for a Negro during the late 1800’s. G. W. Franklin operated four different businesses simultaneously! He had a black-smithing business, a wood and coal yard, a hack line business, and an undertaking business. Around 1894, he decided to only have one main business. So, in 1894, he picked up and moved his under-taking business to Chattanooga, Tennessee( there in Tennessee, he ran his under-taking business up until the time of his death ). After he got his under-taking business going, G.W. Franklin purchased land for several Black cemeteries, bought mules and horses, and owned other valuable real-estate in exclusive parts of the Chattanooga. He even built some of the wooden hearses for his under-taking business. As I stated before, G.W. Franklin ran his under-taking business in Chattanooga for more than 35 years. Furthermore, he served as President of the National Negro Funeral Directors Association for 20 years. He was a close personal friend of Booker T Washington[ as well as being a member of The National Negro Business League ]. G.W. Franklin was a honorary pallbearer at the funeral of Booker T Washington, and he was in charge of the funeral services for Booker T Washington’s wife} Margaret Murray Washington }. Why, there wasn’t a more widely known under-taker in Chattanooga, Tennessee( or amongst the members in the under-taking business )! G.W. Franklin died in 1928. NOTE : there is a marker in Chattanooga,Tennessee[ in Hamilton County ] erected by the Tennessee Historical Commission in his honor, located on Chestnut Street, near West 5th Street, on the right when travelling north.