INTRODUCTION: EXPLORING THE LEGACY OF DR. JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN

Abstract

"Hello, it's nice to meet you young man. Have a seat, and make yourself comfortable." I had arrived on time for my first meeting with Professor John Hope Franklin whom I had been hoping to study with for years. I had waited for some time to get an appointment, but I was happy that his secretary Margaret Fitzsimmons was able to find me a spot. "I'm really glad to finally meet you," I replied. In the fall of 1972 John Hope Franklin was a "star" at the University of Chicago, which boasted a sizable firmament that included economist Milton Freidman, novelist Saul Bellow, and philosopher Edward Shils. I was glad that Professor Franklin was willing to meet with me. I had been accepted into University of Chicago's history department in the fall of 1969 and I was to arrive at the same time as Genna Rae McNeil, but I didn't show up. In her essay, "A Life of Integrity: A Tribute to Professor John Hope Franklin," Dr. McNeil describes her early encounters with John Hope Franklin in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and in that same office at the University of Chicago, but she also provides personal details, highlights significant events, and describes Professor Franklin's lasting influence as her dissertation advisor, scholarly collaborator, personal friend, and someone who modeled a life of academic engagement and public service at the highest level. Dr. McNeil's long and close personal relationship with Dr. Franklin, his wife Aurelia Whittington Franklin, and their children, as well as the many social and political connections, serves as the experiential basis for the beautiful tribute she offers. At that meeting in Professor Franklin's office in 1972, I recall one of the questions he asked me at the outset. "Well, young man, where are you from?" I said, "Philadelphia." "Oh, we don't have any relatives there," he replied. Having the same last name as the great John Hope Franklin did not mean that anyone mistook me for him (we all don't really look alike), but many thought I was his son who was just a few years younger. After all, I am a "Franklin," and I am a historian, and we are both of the darker persuasion, but I am not "the son." However, Professor Franklin was in many ways a father-figure and certainly treated me better during those years than my "natural" father. And like father, like son, we shared certain experiences. Nell Irvin Painter also had John Hope Franklin in her personal and intellectual life. In her tribute "Humanity, Scholarship, and Proud Race Citizenship," Dr. Painter draws our attention to "the gifts of John Hope Franklin," and describes how they altered the way we think about and teach United States history and "American" history. She reminds us, as does Robin D. G. Kelley, that his genius was expansive and we were lucky to have him on our side because "John Hope Franklin never lost sight of the fundamental character of white supremacy." Bettye Collier-Thomas, my partner in plowing various academic fields, knew John Hope Franklin much longer than I did, and their relationship was much closer. Dr. Collier-Thomas's essay "John Hope Franklin: Mentor and Confidante" offers insights into how over the years he supported her professional advancement--writing letters of recommendation and offering advice, testifying on her behalf in a lawsuit she brought against her employer when she was denied a promotion, and also developing a close personal relationship--even though she was not one of his students. She recalls Dr. Franklin's personal disappointment in 1976 at being labeled a "black historian," following the publication of A Southern Odyssey: Travelers in the Antebellum North, even though much of his scholarly work covered U.S. history and the South. Dr. Collier-Thomas also discusses Dr. Franklin's willingness later in life to reveal his "inner anguish" over the racist treatment he had received over the years. John Hope Franklin was a product of all-black public schools, graduated from Fisk University, and taught there and at a number of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). …