Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin Encourages Young Adults to Engage in Politics

DECATUR,GA. May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Noting the similarities between 1968, the year Shirley Franklin graduated from college and today, Atlanta's first woman mayor called on Agnes Scott College graduates to get involved in the political process to effect social change.

Franklin earned her degree in sociology from Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1968. In that year and now, wars raged in distant places, presidential candidates of markedly different political and demographic stripes were vying for nomination, and young people seemed key to the nation's political and social future, she said.

The mayor quoted anthropologist Margaret Mead to sharpen the focus of her message to the graduating class of this liberal arts college for women observing its 119th commencement: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

"If there was ever a time in American history that epitomizes young people leading our nation it was the 1960s," Franklin said. "History confirms that students, young people, men and women, stood up and spoke up for women, for African-Americans, for peace for freedom of speech."

She noted that this year a similar phenomenon is occurring. "More than 5.7 million voters younger than 30 have participated in the political primary so far this season -- a 109 percent increase from the 2004 presidential campaign," Franklin said.

Franklin was one of two women recognized by Agnes Scott today for their public service and activism. Agnes Scott College President Elizabeth Kiss awarded honorary doctorate of law degrees to Franklin, and to Elizabeth Wilson, who 25 years ago became the first African-American elected to the Decatur, Ga. city commission. And 10 years later she became the city's first African American mayor.

By simply walking into the Decatur branch of the DeKalb County Public Library in 1960s and asking for a public library card, Wilson initiated the movement that would ultimately desegregate most public institutions in that county. As the first woman mayor of Atlanta, Franklin has built a record of achievement in her two terms unrivaled by the men who preceded her, Kiss said.

"Mayor Franklin talked about how every generation faces the challenge of leadership. Each of these women, both representing two different generations of leadership, stood up for the challenge," Kiss said.

Agnes Scott College