George F. Franklin
| George F. Franklin | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 1852 Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | 1901 (aged 48–49) Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Clara B. Williams |
George F. Franklin (February 1852 – 1901) was a journalist and civic leader in Omaha, Nebraska and Denver, Colorado. He owned and published two African-American newspapers, The Enterprise in Omaha and The Star in Denver. He was active in civil rights and was a member of the Nebraska branch of the National Afro-American League.
George F. Franklin was born in February 1852 in Tennessee. He moved to Texas where he had his first child, William, in 1872. He married Clara B. Williams in 1978 and the couple lived in Denison, Texas and had a son, Chester A. Franklin. Chester founded a newspaper, The Call in Kansas City in 1919. Clara and Chester also contributed to The Enterprise and The Star, and Clara was an officer and a member of Omaha's Colored Woman's Club, run by Ella Mahammitt.
The Franklins moved to Omaha in the mid 1880s, and to Denver in 1898. While in Omaha, Franklin was a trustee at St. John's AME church, and in July 1897, Franklin opened a Real Estate and Rental Agency. George F. Franklin died in 1901.
In 1889, Ferdinand L. Barnett began publishing a black newspaper in Omaha called The Progress. In 1892 or 1893, Cyrus D. Bell established the Afro-American Sentinel and in 1893, Franklin began publishing the Enterprise. The Sentinel was noted in its pro-Democrat, pro-Grover Cleveland stance, and the three papers became rivals. In the wake of Booker T. Washington's 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech, the three papers had different responses. Barnett's Progress opposed any sort of compromise, Franklin's Enterprise supported Washington's leadership in making a compromise, while Bell's Sentinel openly endorsed Washington's position. The three papers had a difficult coexistence, and The Enterprise outlived the other two, although Thomas P. Mahammitt took over the paper when Franklin left Omaha in 1898. In 1896, it was called by The National Protest the "best colored paper published in Omaha".John Albert Williams was a contributor to The Enterprise.
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