John Hope Franklin died Wednesday of congestive heart failure. He was 94. His legacy as a scholar, historian and educator is vast; his 1947 book, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans, sold more than three million copies and changed the American narrative to include African-Americans. Some say his work, by extension, helped to include other marginalized groups, such as women, gays and Hispanics.
As a citizen, he marched on Selma with Dr. King and served as Bill Clinton’s head of the President’s Initiative on Race. In November, in a video for Duke University, where he was a Professor Emeritus, Dr. Franklin called President Obama’s election one of the country’s most historic moments.
An extensive memorial and tribute at Duke’s website includes this quote from a 1988 lecture: “I have never regretted the decision to remain a student and a teacher of history. …I have been a student and advocate of the view that the exchange of ideas is more healthy and constructive than the exchange of bullets.”
|
Bruce Plante
Tulsa World Mar 27, 2009 |
.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The NYT obit was very well done.
An extraordinary man to whom this nation owes a great deal, but who will probably recede into footnotes and ad hoc mentions.
Thank you for this entry.
And thank you for reading it and sharing your thoughts, word. I do agree he was extraordinary and that video certainly altered my (unfair) perception of what 94 looks like and sounds like. The Duke tribute has a condolence book, btw.
I think he’ll only become a footnote if the next generations allow him to. I hope they won’t.