John Hope Franklin (1915 - 2009)

As a scholar, John Hope Franklin, the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University, was a pioneer in weaving the history of African-Americans into the full historical narrative of America. The publication of his From Slavery to Freedom in 1947 was a seminal moment in American scholarship, and it stands as a core text on the African-American experience to this day.

A prolific writer, Franklin asserted that his lifelong project was essential to creating an account of American history that was accurate and fair. Among his many authored titles were The Emancipation Proclamation, The Militant South, The Free Negro in North Carolina, and A Southern Odyssey: Travelers in the Antebellum North. His volume, George Washington Williams: A Biography, which he worked on as a Fellow at the National Humanities Center from 1980 to 1982, was awarded the Clarence L. Holte Literary Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1986.

Franklin’s passion for fairness extended beyond the academy and he was active throughout his life in seeking social justice. He worked as an advisor to the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund on cases that included Brown v. Board of Education, he joined protestors in a 1965 march led by Martin Luther King, Jr. in Montgomery, Ala., and chaired President Clinton’s 1997 task force on race relations. In 1995 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Franklin’s academic achievements included many instances where he broke down barriers and paved a way for others to follow. 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 University; and the first black president of the American Historical Association. He most recently received the John W. Kluge Award for lifetime achievement in the humanities and a similar honor from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, the nation's two oldest learned societies. Franklin served as president of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the American Studies Association, the Southern Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians and the American Historical Association and was the recipient of more than 130 honorary degrees.

In 2001, Duke University opened the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies, where scholars, artists, and members of the community have the opportunity to engage in public discourse on a variety of issues, including race, social equity, and globalization.

A longtime member of the NHC community, Franklin spoke at the dedication of the Archie K. Davis building in 1979. He worked as a Fellow (1980-82), and served as a Trustee from 1982 to 1991, when he was elected Trustee Emeritus. In 2000, the Center awarded the first John Hope Franklin Senior Fellowship, which is given each year to a scholar working in American history and culture. In 2005, Franklin gave a reading from his memoir Mirror to America. An excerpt of that talk can be heard below.

As an active friend and supporter of the Center, Franklin was a frequent attendee at Center events, a mentor to Fellows, and a kind support to all. The staff and Trustees of the National Humanities Center are saddened by John Hope Franklin’s passing, and ever grateful for his legacy of generosity and wisdom.

John Hope Franklin appeared several times as a guest on the Center's long-running radio talk show Soundings. Download an episode with him speaking on "Envisioning the Future," airdate February 26, 1995. (File size: 51 Mb).