March 26, 2009

Hail & Farewell: John Hope Franklin

by

John Hope Franklin, “a towering scholar and pioneer of African-American studies who wrote the seminal text on the black experience in the U.S.,” died yesterday of congestive heart failure at the Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. He was 94. As an Associated Press obituary notes, that seminal book was From Slavery to Freedom, which detailed how “Black patriots fought at Lexington and Concord …. They crossed the Delaware with Washington and explored with Lewis and Clark,” and was “based on research Franklin conducted in libraries and archives that didn’t allow him to eat lunch or use the bathroom because he was black.” It has since sold over 3.5 million copies and is required reading in many schools.

”He was working in a profession that more or less banned him at the outset and ended up its leading practitioner,” said Tim Tyson, who as a colleague of Franklin’s in the history department at Duke.

Franklin was an activist-scholar virtually by dint of his work ethic. As the AP report notes, “As a scholar, his research helped Thurgood Marshall and his team at the NAACP win Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 case that barred the doctrine of ”separate but equal” in the nation’s public schools … He was the first black department chair at a predominantly white institution, Brooklyn College; the first black professor to hold an endowed chair at Duke; and the first black president of the American Historical Association.”

Franklin continued to be active until very near the end of his long life, chairing committees and writing books and conducting research, and last fall he called the election of Barack Obama, ”one of the most historic moments, if not the most historic moment, in the history of this country.”

Yesterday, Obama said, ”Because of the life John Hope Franklin lived, the public service he rendered, and the scholarship that was the mark of his distinguished career, we all have a richer understanding of who we are as Americans and our journey as a people.”

Below, Franklin, at age 93, talks about meeting writer James Weldon Johnson.

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.

  • http://myspace.com/greenwoodtribune kavin ross

    I had known Dr. Franklin since I was five years old. Whenever Dr. Franklin would come home to visit his family, my father would have my brothers and me in tow. I didn’t remember him as a child, but was reacquainted with him in 1994 when I had returned home from a 15 year stay in Texas . While in Houston , I was contemplating about returning home. My brother, Curtis Ross had passed of diabetes. I received a phone call from a friend that had told me that PBS was airing a documentary about my hometown of Tulsa . When I tuned in, the first image was that of Dr. Franklin. The program was called “Going Back T-Town.”After viewing the program, I had made my decision to come home.
    Months later after my return, I would meet the man responsible for my decision to come home. It was one of the best choices in my life. Dr. Franklin was speaking at Rudisill Library and I wanted to thank him publicly, but after raising my hand he would not call upon me. Teresa Miller, from Center for Poets Writers, who was sitting behind me had raised her hand, and he immediately called upon her. Ms. Miller, who I would later work with during the UCT and Rogers University era, had notified Dr. Franklin that I had my hand up. With his quick wit Dr. Franklin replied “Next time, speak up when you feel as though you have been ignored.” Since that time I had remembered and acted upon his words.

    After the program we spoke and he had asked who my father was, and that was when he had told me that he had known me since I was child.

    In 1996, when I was working at UCT, (later Roger University , currently OSU-Tulsa), I had went to President Rodger Randle with the suggestion that the university should have an honorary sign acknowledging Dr. Franklin . It was cleared to me that it could be justified, since he was a professor at many universities around the country, numerous books, a native Oklahoman, a former resident of Tulsa and above all he lived and attended Booker T. Washington High School when it was in the Greenwood District. I met with then councilor Joe Williams, and from that point the honorary sign grew into an actual street name change for seven blocks from Brady district to the Greenwood District. I had coordinated the effort to have his documentary First Person Singular to be shown at the university. Tulsa was the first to see the film. Dr. Franklin was coming to town for the film, but he had no clue of my efforts, it was a surprise. I had managed to keep it a secret up until my meeting with Public Works at City Hall. I had no idea that the Tulsa World was in the room and that my request would hit the papers the following morning. I had organized a press conference at his favorite hotel, Adam’s Mark, now Crown Plaza . One of the reporters from KOTV 6 had asked him what were his thoughts about a street being named after him. Dr. Franklin had no clue what the reporter was talking about. After the press conference, I informed Dr. Franklin about my plans. I saw before my eyes this giant of a man, who stood tall and proud, breakdown and cried. He was so honored by the request, and I too was honored to push the effort.

    Dr. Franklin and I would later have lunch together at the hotel. It was then he had shared with me that he would be flying on Air Force One with President Bill Clinton to California . Clinton was to announce Dr. Franklin as the chairman of the President’s Initiative on Race Relations in America . As I began to take note, Dr. Franklin asked me what I was doing. I told him then that this will be a great front page story. He then told me that was a secret and I should keep it until it happens. It was the hardest secret I had to keep in my life. John Hope Franklin Boulevard starts from the Brady District, at one time a whites only community, and throughout the Greenwood District, a blacks only community. Formerly known as Haskell Street , named after the first governor of Oklahoma , John Hope Franklin Boulevard bridges two communities that were historically separated by race. Soon afterwards, his birthplace of Rentiesville , Oklahoma would follow suit. Dr. Franklin shared with me his conversation with President Bill Clinton. He had asked Bill Clinton how many blocks in his state are named after him. Clinton ‘s reply was about five. Franklin , with his chest jutted out replied, I have thirteen blocks named after me in my home state. I am so proud that the Race Riot memorial was named after him, and that he came home for the dedication of it in November. In the future when the memorial is complete, visitors would just drive down John Hope Franklin Boulevard to get to the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park . So now you know… the rest of the story.

  • http://myspace.com/greenwoodtribune kavin ross

    I had known Dr. Franklin since I was five years old. Whenever Dr. Franklin would come home to visit his family, my father would have my brothers and me in tow. I didn’t remember him as a child, but was reacquainted with him in 1994 when I had returned home from a 15 year stay in Texas . While in Houston , I was contemplating about returning home. My brother, Curtis Ross had passed of diabetes. I received a phone call from a friend that had told me that PBS was airing a documentary about my hometown of Tulsa . When I tuned in, the first image was that of Dr. Franklin. The program was called “Going Back T-Town.”After viewing the program, I had made my decision to come home.
    Months later after my return, I would meet the man responsible for my decision to come home. It was one of the best choices in my life. Dr. Franklin was speaking at Rudisill Library and I wanted to thank him publicly, but after raising my hand he would not call upon me. Teresa Miller, from Center for Poets Writers, who was sitting behind me had raised her hand, and he immediately called upon her. Ms. Miller, who I would later work with during the UCT and Rogers University era, had notified Dr. Franklin that I had my hand up. With his quick wit Dr. Franklin replied “Next time, speak up when you feel as though you have been ignored.” Since that time I had remembered and acted upon his words.

    After the program we spoke and he had asked who my father was, and that was when he had told me that he had known me since I was child.

    In 1996, when I was working at UCT, (later Roger University , currently OSU-Tulsa), I had went to President Rodger Randle with the suggestion that the university should have an honorary sign acknowledging Dr. Franklin . It was cleared to me that it could be justified, since he was a professor at many universities around the country, numerous books, a native Oklahoman, a former resident of Tulsa and above all he lived and attended Booker T. Washington High School when it was in the Greenwood District. I met with then councilor Joe Williams, and from that point the honorary sign grew into an actual street name change for seven blocks from Brady district to the Greenwood District. I had coordinated the effort to have his documentary First Person Singular to be shown at the university. Tulsa was the first to see the film. Dr. Franklin was coming to town for the film, but he had no clue of my efforts, it was a surprise. I had managed to keep it a secret up until my meeting with Public Works at City Hall. I had no idea that the Tulsa World was in the room and that my request would hit the papers the following morning. I had organized a press conference at his favorite hotel, Adam’s Mark, now Crown Plaza . One of the reporters from KOTV 6 had asked him what were his thoughts about a street being named after him. Dr. Franklin had no clue what the reporter was talking about. After the press conference, I informed Dr. Franklin about my plans. I saw before my eyes this giant of a man, who stood tall and proud, breakdown and cried. He was so honored by the request, and I too was honored to push the effort.

    Dr. Franklin and I would later have lunch together at the hotel. It was then he had shared with me that he would be flying on Air Force One with President Bill Clinton to California . Clinton was to announce Dr. Franklin as the chairman of the President’s Initiative on Race Relations in America . As I began to take note, Dr. Franklin asked me what I was doing. I told him then that this will be a great front page story. He then told me that was a secret and I should keep it until it happens. It was the hardest secret I had to keep in my life. John Hope Franklin Boulevard starts from the Brady District, at one time a whites only community, and throughout the Greenwood District, a blacks only community. Formerly known as Haskell Street , named after the first governor of Oklahoma , John Hope Franklin Boulevard bridges two communities that were historically separated by race. Soon afterwards, his birthplace of Rentiesville , Oklahoma would follow suit. Dr. Franklin shared with me his conversation with President Bill Clinton. He had asked Bill Clinton how many blocks in his state are named after him. Clinton ‘s reply was about five. Franklin , with his chest jutted out replied, I have thirteen blocks named after me in my home state. I am so proud that the Race Riot memorial was named after him, and that he came home for the dedication of it in November. In the future when the memorial is complete, visitors would just drive down John Hope Franklin Boulevard to get to the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park . So now you know… the rest of the story.