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Collections
The African American Museum in Philadelphia collects and preserves art and artifacts that document the history and culture of African Americans and people of the African Diaspora. While Philadelphia and the region are focal points, the collection is diverse and covers subjects such as civil rights organizations and activities, Negro baseball league memorabilia and the performing and visual arts. Please visit our database for more information.
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Jack T. Franklin Collection
Selma to Montgomery March, 1965: Marchers sing “We Shall Overcome”; behind the children, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife, Coretta. (Jack T. Franklin Collection, 1986.1.79, African American Museum in Philadelphia)
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Jack T. Franklin (1922–2009) donated his collection of over 500,000 negatives and photographs to the African American Museum in Philadelphia in 1986. The collection is a significant and extraordinary local history comprising virtually every social, cultural, and political event in Philadelphia’s African American community during his lifetime, as well as the major events of the 1960s Civil Rights movement.
During World War II, Franklin served as a photographer for the United States Army 1862nd Aviation Engineers in the South Pacific and later studied photography at the U.S. Army Signal Corps Photographic Center in Astoria, New York, where he became an instructor. He returned to Philadelphia after the war and became active in documenting social events and political activities in the city, in addition to being employed as a photographer and darkroom technician at Merlin Studios in Philadelphia. Franklin embarked on his journalistic career as a staff and freelance photographer for The Philadelphia Tribune—the oldest African American newspaper in the country—Ebony and Jet magazines, and The Pittsburgh Courier. The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Bulletin, The Philadelphia Daily News, and other local and national publications and book publishers bought and published his photographs. |
For the next forty years, he photographed political and social movements, including rallies, protest marches, and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in Philadelphia, as well as in the south, becoming a major figure in photojournalism. The Jack Franklin Civil Rights Era Collection includes the 1963 March on Washington; the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March; the 1968 Poor People’s March; as well as local political events, such as the 1965 Girard College Protests, led by lawyer and President of the local chapter of the NAACP Cecil B. Moore, against the discriminatory policy of Girard College; the first major Black Power Rally, held in Philadelphia in 1966; and political rallies and events with guest speakers such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Jesse Jackson, and Stokely Carmichael, among others.
Throughout his career, Franklin photographed many notable people including Thurgood Marshall, Cassius Clay (aka Muhammad Ali), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Malcolm X, Sidney Poitier, Julie and Harry Belafonte, James Baldwin, Rev. Leon Sullivan, Sammy Davis, Jr., Lena Horne, as well as President Johnson, President Nixon, President Ford, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He photographed many performers at the State and Uptown Theaters in Philadelphia, as well as other area venues, including Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, The Jackson 5, Nat King Cole, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, The Dixie Hummingbirds and The Ward Singers. The preservation, cataloging and re-housing of the Jack T. Franklin Collection was made possible with funding from “Save America’s Treasures”, administered by the National Park Service in partnership with the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Throughout his career, Franklin photographed many notable people including Thurgood Marshall, Cassius Clay (aka Muhammad Ali), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Malcolm X, Sidney Poitier, Julie and Harry Belafonte, James Baldwin, Rev. Leon Sullivan, Sammy Davis, Jr., Lena Horne, as well as President Johnson, President Nixon, President Ford, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He photographed many performers at the State and Uptown Theaters in Philadelphia, as well as other area venues, including Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, The Jackson 5, Nat King Cole, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, The Dixie Hummingbirds and The Ward Singers. The preservation, cataloging and re-housing of the Jack T. Franklin Collection was made possible with funding from “Save America’s Treasures”, administered by the National Park Service in partnership with the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Reproduction Requests
Requests for reproduction of the objects or images from the African American Museum in Philadelphia’s Collection must be made in writing. If the request is accepted, a contract will be sent to the requestor stating the terms of usage and any associated fees.
Permission to publish or quote from unpublished manuscripts or from published items under copyright must first be obtained from the copyright holder. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure that permission. In many instances, contact information can be provided for copyright holders or donors. Additionally, permission to quote from manuscripts must be obtained.
Requests should be sent to [email protected] or The African American Museum in Philadelphia, Collections Department, 701 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA 19106.
Attention Researchers: Please be aware that the minimum response time for research requests is 5-10 business days.
Permission to publish or quote from unpublished manuscripts or from published items under copyright must first be obtained from the copyright holder. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure that permission. In many instances, contact information can be provided for copyright holders or donors. Additionally, permission to quote from manuscripts must be obtained.
Requests should be sent to [email protected] or The African American Museum in Philadelphia, Collections Department, 701 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA 19106.
Attention Researchers: Please be aware that the minimum response time for research requests is 5-10 business days.
AAMP Collections Database
To view the Jack T. Franklin and Civic Center Museum Collections, click the button below to access AAMP’s Collections Database and enter the keyword(s) “Franklin” or “Civic Center.”
