Author, Researcher, Historian
John Hope Franklin
1915-2009
The Voice For Freedom
John Hope Franklin, a revered historian and researcher, and the author of From Slavery to Freedom passed away on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at the age of 94, and black America lost one of its most precious national treasures.
His profound and most famous work, From Slavery to Freedom, was first published in 1947 as a seminal work on African-American history and sold 3.5 million copies. The book has been updated several times over the years, with the most recent revision having been completed in 2000.
As a member of the Legal Defense Fund, Franklin assisted future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in the pivotal Brown v. Board of Education case that led to the desegregation of public schools.
As chair of the history department at Brooklyn College from 1956 to 1964, Franklin was the first person of color to head a major history department at a U.S. college. From 1964 through 1968, Franklin taught history at the University of Chicago, and chaired the history department from 1967 to 1970. He chaired the Fulbright Board of Foreign Scholarships from 1966 to 1969. Franklin was later elected a foundation member of Phi Beta Kappa when Fisk became the first HBCU to have a chapter of the acclaimed honor society, and served as president of the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa from 1973 to 1976.
John Hope Franklin died at Duke Medical Center from congestive heart failure. His legacy as an author, humanitarian, and scholar serves as a shining example of what the best of African American academicians must aspire to be — the caretakers of a proud and unique history and the voice for a people that continue to fight to stake their claim to the ‘American Dream.’
