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Describe the subject's nationality and profession(s) in which the subject is most notable. Provide a description of the subject's major contributions in the immediately relevant field(s) of notable expertise.

Dr. Charles Lionel Franklin (November 9, 1910 - October 23, 1996) was an African-American economist and publisher-editor of a monthly technical journal. "He was truly the forerunner and in the vanguard in the pre-civil rights years in the struggle for employment integration in the Federal government through equal opportunity and fair treatment in true merit systems."

"Dr. F was the first Negro to hold the position of economist in the New York State Government."

"In 1939, Dr. F was the first Negro to be appointed to a technical professional position in any branch of the United States Government." "Under the leadership of Mary McLeod Bethune of the National Youth Administration, Negro advisors were organized into the Federal Council of Negro Advisors, known as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's " Black Cabinet."

He demonstrated in these early years that, if qualified and given an opportunity, Blacks compete successfully in the Federal labor market. Dr. Franklin was Exhibit A in rebuttal to the claim of prejudiced personnel officers and supervisory personnel in the various Federal agencies that Blacks could not quality for and perform with distinction in the technical and professional positions. He had well qualified himself through formal education; he took all civil service examinations for which he could qualify and almost always placed one, two, or three on the resultant civil service registers; and he then fought for appoint to the positions and advanced through the merit systems."

"In 1952, Dr. F was the Chief Statistician and then Director of Research for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the highest ranking Black in a political job in the U.S., in either party, and helped map presidential campaign strategy with candidate Adlai E. Stevenson." missing out on the promised Commerce Department position.

"In 1947, Dr. F resigned temporarily from the Federal Government Service to establish his own business - the Economic Statistics Bureau of Washington, D.C., a private fact-finding and fact furnishing agency.  The Bureau published the Handbook of Basic Economic Statistics, a 256 page Monthly publication showing historical and current statistical series on all aspects of the national economy and leading economic trends. The HANDBOOK was used widely by financial and investment institutions, labor unions, business management and marketing associations, university schools of business administration, public libraries, and others.  The HANDBOOK had a world-wide circulation.  It flourished for 41 years, having been published concurrently with Dr. F’s service in government.  It was remained under the ownership and management of Dr. F and his wife who served as co-director of the Bureau since its inception."

Early life and education
Explain the subject's early life.



"Charles Franklin is the seventh of twelve children of Clarence B. and Estelle T. Franklin. Both parents attended Straight University, A HISTORICALLY BLACK INSTITUTION. His mother who passed at age 100 in 1984 was for several years the oldest living Straightite. Five of his brothers and sisters also attended Straight or Dillard University.  Albert, Hilda, Consuello, George and Margaret."

"Charles entered Straight High School in 1925 and was valedictorian of his graduating class. He graduated from Straight College in 1933, with a B.S. degree with high honors. He was an outstanding student throughout the eight years at Straight, serving almost continuously as president of his class and participating in many of the college activities, including the Theta Beta honorary English Society, athletic activities, and the Straight College Debating Team -- for which he won a gold medal for inter-collegiate debating."

"Charles, encouraged by Mrs. Gertrude B. Austin - wife of Straight College President Charles B. Austin -, and assisted financially, entered Columbia University for graduate study in September 1933, earned the M.A. degree in September 1934, and passed the oral examination for the Ph.D. degree in May 1935."

"Charles then temporarily interrupted his graduate studies to serve on New York Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia’s [multi-racial Mayor's] Commission [on the Conditions in Harlem] to investigate the Harlem riots of 1935. [HEADED BY African American sociologist E. Franklin Frazier and with members including [labor leader A. Philip Randolph, Countee Cullen, and Judge Hubert Thomas Delany.]. In this capacity, Charles conducted research in the area of trade and labor union conditions in New York City. The Commission permitted Charles to use the findings of this research in his graduate study at Columbia." ["The committee issued a report, The Negro in Harlem: A Report on Social and Economic Conditions Responsible for the Outbreak of March 19, 1935, which described the rioting as "spontaneous" with "no evidence of any program or leadership of the rioters." ]

"Charles completed the requirements for the Ph.D. degree (in political and social sciences with specialization in social legislation, labor economics, and statistics), which was awarded by Columbia University in June 1936.   At the age of 25, he became one of the youngest Ph.Ds in the country and the only one of his race to hold this degree in his field. His dissertation, The Negro Labor Unionist in New York, was selected by the Faculty of Political Science of Columbia University to be published as one of the Series (No. 420) of the Columbia University Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, and subsequently, selected for a second printing some 30 years later."

"Charles was initiated into Eta Chapter, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in New York in August 1934. In recognition of CLFs outstanding record at Columbia University during his graduate study toward the Ph.D. degree, the Educational Foundation of the National Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity awarded CLF a substantial fellowship which partially enabled him to complete his graduate work towards the Ph.D. degree."

Early career
"Upon receiving the Ph.D. degree, Dr. F was offered many teaching positions, including one at Dillard.  While very much interested in such positions, Dr. F felt that he would want to take into a classroom more than that which he had learned from textbooks.  He decided to pursue some experience in government and industry.  It so developed, however, that he became so involved in these areas he never entered academe.  His experience over the years since receiving the Ph.D. degree related primarily to state and Federal government service and to self-employment...an entrepreneurship."

"Dr. F was truly the forerunner and in the vanguard in the pre-civil rights years in the struggle for employment integration in the Federal government through equal opportunity and fair treatment in true merit systems.  He demonstrated in these early years that, if qualified and given the opportunity, Blacks compete successfully in the Federal labor market.  Dr. F was Exhibit A in rebuttal to the claim of prejudiced personnel officers and supervisory personnel in the various Federal agencies that Blacks could not qualify for and perform with distinction in the technical and professional positions. He had well qualified himself through formal education; he took all civil service examinations for which he could qualify and almost always placed one, two or three on the resultant civil service registers; and he then fought for appointment to the positions and advanced through the merit systems"

Government service
"Having received the highest average of all competitors in the New York State Civil Service examination, Dr. F’s first government position was with the New York State Department of Labor in 1936.  Dr. F was the first Negro to hold the position of economist in the New York State Government.  In this position he collaborated in the establishment of the New York State Employment Service System and the New York State Unemployment Compensation (Insurance) Program.  (collaborated in the Economic Brief that was submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of the constitutionality of the New York State Unemployment Insurance Law)."

"In 1938, Dr. F, while on leave from the New York State Department of Labor served as Director of Research for the New York State Temporary Commission on the Condition of the Urban Colored Population.  He prepared the second report of this Commission, which was published as a New York State Legislative Document in 1939."

"Dr. Franklin was the first Negro to be appointed to a technical professional position in any branch of the United States Government.  In November 1939, as a result of his high placement on Federal Civil Service Examinations, he was appointed as Social Science Analyst in the U.S. Social Security Board." [''only Black employed in an administrative capacity. '' ] "In this position, he collaborated with technical staff in the development of eligibility requirements for benefits under the newly enacted Social Security Act."

"Subsequently, Dr. F through advancement in the Federal Merit system under the Civil Service Commission, served the Federal Government as an economist or statistician in supervisory, administrative and executive positions in various Federal agencies, including: the Office of Price Administration (OPA) [from 1943-46, as chief of the Economic Information and Analysis Branch, where he originated the OPA Handbook of Basic Economic Data, First Edition, 1944 and Second Edition, 1946.] and the Housing and Home Finance Agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Bureau of Employment Security of the U.S. Labor Department, and finally, RETURNED TO PUBLIC SERVICE AFTER A LEADERSHIP ROLE WITH THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE, the Federal Power Commission, from which he retired as Chief Statistician in February 1976."

Marriage, family and religion
"Dr. F and Madeline Vivian DeLoach (Dillard ‘39) were married in 1943, HAVING MET ON THE CAMPUS OF DILLARD UNIVERSITY (FORMERLY STRAIGHT) AT THE GRADUATION OF MADELINE AND HIS SISTER MARGARET.  Madeline was a Federal business economist and educator in the Public Schools of the District of Columbia.AND A CLASSICALLY TRAINED PIANIST.  Straight and Dillard  "Dr. Franklin was Founder's Day Speaker at Dillard in 1945; With wife, Madeline, attended numerous Dillard Commencement Exercises. Served as vice-chairman: Alumna Fund Campaign in 1978-79, 1980-81; Made substantial contributions to Dillard Alumnae Campaign."

The couple reared three children:

"Charles Lionel Franklin, Jr., B.S., M.D. - Howard University and Howard University Medical School - now a practicing physician in the Washington, D.C. Metro area;"

"Dolores Mercedes Franklin - A.B., D.M.D., M.P.H. - Barnard College; Harvard University; Columbia University - she has served as an Assistant Dean, New York University School of Dentistry, Dental Director, Sterling Drug Inc., of the USA, National Principal Dental Consultant for the U.S. Department of Labor, Job Corps, and Assistant Commissioner for New York City Department of Health.  She is currently Senior Director, Oral Health, Programs and Policy of New York City."

"Estelle Diane Franklin - A.B., J.D., Maryland University and Howard University Law School - she served as Assistant United States Attorney, Associate General Counsel U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Regional .................;law professor at the University of Illinois School of Law in Champaign, Urbana, Illinois;      Fair Housing, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development."

"Church, Community and Social Involvements

Franklin was involved in the Church in his youth in New Orleans as a member of Beecher Memorial Church and as President of the Christian Endeavor Society, and later become a member of Plymouth Congregational United Christ and participating in the Fellowship Guild and the Men’s Club. He was an active member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the Bridge Masters, Bachelor Benedict Club, and Focus, Inc.  He and Madeline loved to dance and every Fourth of July, there was “the Picnic.”

Private Industry
"In 1947, Dr. Franklin resigned temporarily from the Federal Government Service to establish his own business - Economic Statistics Bureau of Washington, D.C., a private fact-finding and fact furnishing agency.  The Bureau published The Handbook of Basic Economic Statistics, a 256 page Monthly publication showing historical and current statistical series on all aspects of the national economy and leading economic trends. The HANDBOOK is used widely by financial and investment institutions, labor unions, business management and marketing associations, university schools of business administration, public libraries, and others.  The HANDBOOK has world-wide circulation.  It flourished for 41 years, having been published concurrently with Dr. F’s service in government.  It was remained under the ownership and management of Dr. F and his wife who served as co-director of the Bureau since its inception."

Politics
"In 1952, Dr. F was the Chief Statistician and then Director of Research for the Democratic National Committee, the highest ranking Black in a political job in the U.S., in either party, and helped map presidential campaign strategy with candidate Adlai Stevenson."

Early supporter of the Democratic Party and Adlai Stevenson, -- see Jet Mag article. Sept 25, 1952, page 6. "His appointment makes him the highest paid Negro official in either of the two major parties. Franklin has been with the organization since last January 28 and has 13 researchers on his staff. only one is Negro." .. "Noted historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., who served as one of his speechwriters, described Stevenson as a "great creative figure in American politics. He turned the Democratic Party around in the fifties and made JFK possible...to the United States and the world he was the voice of a reasonable, civilized, and elevated America. He brought a new generation into politics, and moved millions of people in the United States and around the world."

source: The Origins of the Southern Strategy: Two-party Competition in South Carolina, 1950-1972. Bruice H. Kalk. Lexington Books, 2001page 8

"Later, speaking in Harlem with President Truman, Governor Stevenson denounced (Governor Byrnes) and intimated that he and Eisenhower were engaged in a conspiracy together to deny equal treatment to African Americans. Truman, for his part, detailed for the overwhelmingly black crowd the Democratic Party's accelerating commitment to civil rights. Of Stevenson, the president said in Harlem, "he has been a great civil rights governor and he will make a great civil rights president" (30) Stevenson's outreach to African Americans only solidified the resolve of committed segregationists against him although it should be said that neither party's leadership believed that Eisenhower had a change of carrying South Carolina in 1952. (31)

(30) The New York Times, October 11, 1952; "Text of Truman's Speech in Harlem Tracing Party Program on Civil Rights," October 11, 1962, Speeches File, Byrnes Gubernatorial Papers.

(31) Charles L. Franklin to Stephen A. Mitchell and Nh Raskin, October 31, 1952, Box 414, Democratic National Committee Files, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston, Massachusetts; "Campaign Plan," 36-37, Series II, Box 8 Robert Humphreys Papers. DDEL.

jet mag, April 21, 1960, page 11. Politics crimped the bright plans of Dem economist Dr. Charles Franklin..Franklin never got a promised Commerce Dept. slot after Adlai Stevenson lost.

jet oct 5, 1961 page 13 -- Dr. Charles Franklin managed to get a post under the GOPers as a Labor economist. The Dems haven't seen fit to upgrade the Negro who served as research director for its national committee when Adlai Stevenson ran for President.

ALTERNATE LOCATION FOR FEDERAL POWER COMMISSION and entreprenuialshp

(Wikipedia is not a soapbox for individuals to espouse their views. However, views held by politicians, writers, and others may be summarized in their biography only to the extent those views are covered by reliable sources that are independent of the control of the politician, writer, etc.)

Death and afterward
[If applicable] Legacy If any, describe. See Charles Darwin for example.

Published works - list by date of publication
The Negro Labor Unionist of New York, Charles Lionel Franklin 1936, second printing ___.

Second Report of the New York State Temporary Commission on the Condition of the Urban Colored Population to the Legislature (New York, 1939), Director of Research

"Characteristics and Taxable Wages of Negro Workers, 13 Selected Southern States, 1938," Charles L. Franklin, Social Security Board.

Handbook of Basic Economic Statistics, published monthly, for 41 years from 1947-1988,

See Charles Darwin for example.

Honors, decorations, awards and distinctions
Dr. Franklin received Meritorious Service Awards in all of his Federal positions."

Notable alumni
The following notable individuals are alumni of Dillard University, Straight University, or New Orleans University:

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Charles Lionel Franklin, PHD

Economist and publisher. Columbia PhD at age 25; Member, President Roosevelt's Black Cabinet (Federal Council of Negro Advisors);first African American appointed to a technical professional position in any branch of US Government, 1939; DNC Research Director during 1952 presidential campaign.

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