John Hope Franklin: Imprint of an American Scholar
The Scholar Activist
Simply being an historian was never enough for John Hope Franklin. He was engaged with activism throughout his life, most notably joining a team of scholars to prepare research for the NAACP for the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. While serving on commissions, committees, panels, and think-tanks, Franklin became a leading voice on issues of race relations, civil and human rights, education, childcare, and public policy. He was keenly aware that he had a responsibility to be engaged with social and political movements, and he routinely offered a sense of historical perspective to debates about the problems of the day.
NAACP, Sweatt v. Painter Case, 1949
In 1949, John Hope Franklin was asked to provide testimony in the NAACP case against the University of Kentucky. Special Counsel, Robert Carter wrote to Franklin to testify to the needs to have books, professors, and additional students of color in the graduate school to attend the school along with the plaintiff Lyman Johnson.
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NAACP, Brown v. Board of Education Case, 1954
In 1953, John Hope Franklin joined the NAACP Legal Defense team with an illustrious team of research scholars to assist with the Brown v. Board of Education trial.
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Encouraging Words for James Meredith at Ole Miss, 1962
In 1962, James Meredith desegregated the University of Mississippi in the face of the most violent racist climate in America. Professor James Silver reached out to John Hope Franklin to ask if he would send Meredith a note of encouragement and a copy of From Slavery to Freedom. Franklin willingly obliged.
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March from Selma to Montgomery, 1965
On March 21, 1965, John Hope Franklin participated in the March from Selma to Montgomery, walking shoulder to shoulder with a group of US historians amid a crowd of over 8,000 people. It was the third major march in Alabama that year led by Dr. Martin Luther King and a number of civil rights organizations in Alabama to bring attention to need for a federal voting rights act.
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Letter to Sen. Terry Sanford regarding Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearing, 1991
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Meeting notes from the Advisory Board for the President's Advisory on Race, 1997
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Materials related to the Advisory Board for the President's Initiative on Race, 1997
Pamphlet for "One America in the 21st Century"
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