By Garry Blanson
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 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 was ever published in any of the local newspapers or mentioned in any of the other media outlets in Monroe.
This week, Our Rich Black Heritage Hero is G.W. Franklin.
It was reported that he was born in Quitman, Georgia. G.W. Franklin got his start “shoeing” horses at a blacksmith shop. Also, at one time, he accomplished an astonishing feat for a Negro during the late 1800s. 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.
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 Chattanooga. He even built some of the wooden hearses for his undertaking business.
As I stated, G.W. Franklin ran his under-undertakings in Chattanooga for over 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 an 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.
