Thursday, March 26, 2009
A Wonderful Mentor is Gone
Professor John Hope Franklin has died at the age of 94. It wasn't as if I didn't know that one day age would catch up with him. But if anyone should have been granted immortality, it would be Dr. Franklin. His writing of history blazed new trails, as did his life. http://www.duke.edu/johnhopefranklin/ I was privileged to be a student during his tenure as Chair of the History Department of Brooklyn College. He defended me when an overzealous President tried to suspend me for my civil rights work. He recognized me many, many years later when he gave the Jefferson Lecture at the Library of Congress. We met on and off in DC over the years. I grew through his books and public statements. He created an intelligent awareness of the debilitating heritage of slavery and discrimination from which our entire nation suffers. Everyone should read his book: "Mirror to America" (an autobiography).
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Ruth, how lucky you were to have known him personally. In reading accounts of his career, I was struck by his incredible fortitude. He was one of those who don't seem to need role models, but just walk on ahead of everyone else. There's an interview of him on either CSPAN or PBS during which among other things he tends his orchids. He seemed like such a gentle soul to have made so much history, and so much of history.
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