Inspiration: John Hope Franklin
** Special Event with John Hope Franklin **
On Saturday, October 27, 2007, Dr. Franklin will be featured inThe Historian in the World, a public conversation with Fall 2007 FHI Distinguished Scholar in Residence Romila Thapar (Professor Emeritus of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi). For more information about the program and Dr. Thapar's residency, please click here.
Read more about John Hope Franklin's work at the Duke Libraries' online Exhibit, "Dreaming of Freedom: The Intellectual Journey of Dr. John Hope Franklin."
John
Hope Franklin is James B. Duke Professor of History Emeritus and for seven
years was Professor of Legal History at Duke University’s Law
School. He is a native of Oklahoma and a graduate of Fisk University, receiving
his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history from Harvard University in 1936 and
1941 respectively. Professor Franklin has taught at several institutions
including Fisk, North Carolina Central, and Howard Universities as well
as at St. Augustine’s College in North Carolina. From 1956 to 1964,
he served as Chairman of the History Department at Brooklyn College. In
1964, he joined the faculty at the University of Chicago and in 1969, while
serving as Chairman of the History Department between 1967 and 1970, was
named John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor. In 1982, he
became
Professor Emeritus.
Perhaps best known for his study From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans
(1947) now in its eighth edition, John Hope Franklin is also the author
of many other works including The Free Negro in North Carolina (dissertation,
1943); The Militant South, 1800-1861 (1956); Reconstruction After the Civil
War (1961); Land of the Free (with John Caughey and William May) (1965);
The Emancipation Proclamation (1965); An Illustrated History of Black Americans
(1970); A Southern Odyssey: Travelers in the Antebellum North (1976); Racial
Equality in America (1976); George Washington Williams: A Biography (1985);
Race and History: Selected Essays, 1938-1988 (1990); The Color Line: Legacy
for the 21st Century (1993); Xanadu (1999); For Better, For Worse (1999);
and Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation (1999) co-authored with former
student Loren Schweninger.
John Hope Franklin has also edited or co-edited numerous books in African-American
history, has published one hundred and sixteen essays and numerous reviews,
and has written over seventy-five unpublished pieces. He has served on
a
variety of commissions and boards, and has received numerous awards. Most
recently, he was Chairman of the Advisory Board to the President’s
Initiative on Race (1997-99) and the National Parks System Advisory Board
(1999-2000). In 2002, he received the Gold Medal in History, the highest
award given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 1997, Franklin was historical consultant on Steven Spielberg’s
Oscar-nominated film Amistad, and was featured in “First Person Singular:
John Hope Franklin,” a chroncle of his life documented for PBS. In
January, 2001, Franklin was the subject of WUNC-TV’s “Biographical
Conversations” which includes more than ten hours of footage condensed
and presented in three one-hour segments. In addition, along with Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, he was featured in “Race and Reconciliation: A Journey
Towards Peace,” a PBS documentary filmed on the West African island
of Goree which premiered at the Smithsonian Institution.
John Hope Franklin lives in Durham, North Carolina, where he maintains
a 17 x 25 foot greenhouse containing over one hundred orchid specimens
and
hybrids, of which one, the "Phalaeonopsis John Hope Franklin”
is named for him. Franklin is currently writing his autobiography, “The
Vintage Years,” a work which will examine over six decades of scholarship,
activism and service.