By: Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
On March 25th, 2009 – the same day that I presented the National Urban League's 2009 State of Black America report before an audience in Washington, D.C., I learned of the passing of the great American historian John Hope Franklin. Franklin was 94. Along with Dorothy Height who turned 97 a day earlier and was in the front row during my speech, Franklin was one of the last of a generation of scholars and activists who had witnessed and walked with uncommon dignity the difficult path from Jim Crow segregation to the inauguration of America's first Black President. What impresses me most about the life of John Hope Franklin is the fact that, like Dorothy Height, in the face of countless slights and obstacles, he rose to greatness and never abandoned his faith in the American Dream.
Sadly, many Americans may not be familiar with the life and work of Franklin. That is partly because, as he noted repeatedly in his prolific body of work, the history and contributions of African Americans are too often ignored by our schools and popular culture.
Dr. Franklin was one of this nation's foremost historians who helped create the field of African American history. His landmark 1947 book, "From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans" is considered the core text of the African American experience.
At his death, Franklin was the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University. A graduate of Fisk University, he earned his master's and doctorate degrees from Harvard. In addition to Duke, he also taught at Howard University, the University of Chicago, and Cambridge University in England. In 1956, he became the first African American to chair the history department at Brooklyn College. Franklin has been the president of the American Historical Association, the American Studies Association, the Southern Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians. He has received dozens of honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton in 1995.
Dr. Franklin not only wrote about history, he was also a willing participant at critical moments. He was among a handful of historians who worked with Thurgood Marshall to prepare the Brown v Board of Education case; and in 1965 he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in the Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights. He may be best known for his leadership of President Clinton's 1997 National Advisory Board on Race which was dedicated to igniting dialogue and action for racial reconciliation.
John Hope Franklin was a once in a lifetime gift to America, and indeed to our world. He helped provide a fuller picture of American history and inspired succeeding generations of Black scholars, including Michael Eric Dyson, Cornel West, Orlando Patterson and Henry Louis Gates. The National Urban League joins the nation in mourning his passing. We share the sentiments of President Obama who 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…his legacy is one that will surely endure."
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