"John-Wesley-Dobbs"{March 26,1882-August 30,1961}

Born in Marietta in to Minnie & Will  Bobbs,John grew up in poverty on a farm near Kennesaw.Two years after his birth his parents separated.His mama moved to Savannah to work in the home of a white family there,leaving John and his sister in the care of  of his grandparents and various other  relatives.Minnie saw her children regularly,and in 1891 they moved to Savannah to live with her.


In Savannah John attended school full time for the first time.His formal education nearly ended after fifth grade because of his family's difficulties,a white woman intervened and offered John a job that would not interfere with his school attendance.While still in grammar school,John also shined shoes and delivered newspapers to supplement the family income.


In 1897,at the age of  fifteen,John moved to Atlanta,where he continued his education at Atlanta Baptist College (later Morehouse College).His mama ill health forced him to drop out of school and return to Savannah to career for her.He never earned a college degree.John continued  his studies independently,and passed a civic service exam that in 1903 allowed him to become a railway mail clerk for the U.S. Post Office in Atlanta. (John in fact would never stop studying,reading voraciously during his spare time.)John held his position at the post office,a well-respected one within the African-American community,for thirty-two years.


In 1906  John married Irene Ophelia Thompson,with whom he had six daughters,all of whom went on to become graduates of Spelman College in Atlanta.Mattiwilda Dobbs,his fifth daughter became an acclaimed opera singer.John worked to instill in his daughters a sense of self-worth and a desire to succeed.He forbabe them to attend segregated events and constantly reminded them of their equality.John traveled with his family extensively to broaden their range of experience.


In 1911 John was initiated into the Prince Hall of  Masons,a fraternal order that socially conscious leaders within the African-American middle class.He was elected Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons of Georgia,in 1932,there by earning the nickname "The Grand." His leadership position with the Masons,he tried to instill in Atlanta's African-American community those same values he worked to pass on to his his daughters.


John  fervently believed that African Americans suffrage was the key to racial advancement. He announced a goal of registering 10,000African American voters in Atlanta and preached the importance of voter registration in Masonic Halls,in African American churches, an on street corners.John also founded the Atlanta Civic and political League in 1936 and,attorney Austin Thomas Walden,cofounded the Atlanta Negro Voters League in 1946.Both of these leagues advocated voter registration and African American political  unity.


Due largely to John's efforts African Americans achieved two significant political  victories in the late  1940s.In the spring of 1948 Atlanta mayor William Berry Hartsfield  fulfilled a promise he had made to John by hiring eight African American police officers.They could  patrol only African American neighborhoods and could not arrest whites,the hiring was a significant challenge to segregation.The following year William fulfilled another campaign promise by installing street lamps on Auburn Avenue,the center of  Atlanta's African community.Both of these achievements served to solidify John's position as a leader.(John coined the term "Sweet Auburn," an expression of the area's thriving businesses and active social and civic life.)


During the 1950s John continued his work African American equality.He constantly pressed William to fufill other promises made to the African American community.His influence began to wane,as the decade ended and a younger generation of African American leaders emerged at the forefront  of the civil rights struggle.


His health declined,and on August 21,1961 he suffered a stroke.He died nine days later,the same day that Atlanta City Schools were desegregated.Martin Luther King Jr.was one of the speakers at John's funeral,and Thurgood Marshall,head of the  NAACP and future Supreme Court Justice,served as a pallbearer.John receive a lasting tribute on January 10,1994,when his grandson,Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson,changed to name of  Houston Street  to John Wesley Dobbs.