| John H. Calhoun | |
| Birth Date: | 8 July 1899 |
| Birth Place: | Greenville, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Birth Name: | John Henry Calhoun Jr. |
| Death Place: | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Morehouse College (1937) Atlanta University (1968) |
| Occupation: | Activist, civil rights leader, politician |
| Office: | Member of the Atlanta City Council District 1 |
| Party: | Republican |
John H. Calhoun Jr. (July 8, 1899 May 6, 1988) was an American civil rights leader and politician who served on the Atlanta City Council from 1974 to 1978.[1]
John Henry Calhoun Jr. was born on July8, 1899, in Greenville, South Carolina.[2] At the age of 12, he started apprenticing as a blacksmith; Calhoun graduated high school from the Hampton Institute in 1922, at the age of 23.[3] [4] Calhoun also earned a Bachelor of Arts from Morehouse College in 1937, and graduated from Atlanta University in 1968 with an MBA.[3] He also attended Northwestern University.[5]
Calhoun worked at the Veteran's Affairs hospital in Tuskeegee starting on July 3, 1923, where he immediately received threats from the Ku Klux Klan.[6]
Calhoun moved to Atlanta in 1934.[3] In 1940, he co-founded the Atlanta Negro Voters League. Calhoun became president of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP in 1956.[4] [1] Throughout Atlanta, Calhoun was known as "Your Man in Community Action".[3] In 1964, he was recommended by Robert Snodgrass to attend the 1964 Republican National Convention on behalf of state moderate Republicans who felt alienated by the nomination of Barry Goldwater.[7]
Calhoun was a member of the Atlanta City Council for District 1 from 1974 to 1978. Calhoun was a Republican.[3] In the October 1973 election, Calhoun defeated John Releford with 75% of the vote.[8] Mayor Maynard Jackson presented Calhoun with an award in May 1981.[9]
Outside of politics and activism, Calhoun held a large variety of jobs, working as a bookkeeper, dock worker, janitor, headwaiter, hospital administrator, insurance salesman, real estate agent, and reporter.[3] [4] Businesses he founded included Calhoun Furniture Company and John Calhoun Real Estate.[3]
Calhoun had two children, John Henry Calhoun III and Ninaking Anderson.[3] [4] [10]
John Calhoun Park on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta is named in his honor.[11] Calhoun's papers are housed at the Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, which include a draft of Calhoun's unpublished book Atlanta The Cradle of Black Leadership in America.[12] [13]
Calhoun died on May 6, 1988, in Atlanta.