| John Hope Franklin speaks about his authoring From Slavery to Freedom and his teaching experiences in this episode. Franklin begins by explaining that publishers at Knopf approached him with a request to write a book about African American history. Although Franklin was a little skeptical at first, he took the challenge because he wanted to learn about the history himself, and since there were no courses in African American history, researching helped him piece together what he wanted to know.
After the book, From Slavery to Freedom, was finished, it was published in 1947. Around that time, Franklin was experiencing his own difficulties, as his younger brother died at 38 as a result of the emotional abuse he received while he was in the Army. At the same time, Franklin was offered a post at Howard University, which he accepted.
Besides the birth of his only child, John Whittington Franklin, the other major event for Franklin in the early 1950s was his work with Thurgood Marshall on the Brown v. Board of Education. Franklin remembers the thrill of Brown’s victory and then later when Marshall is nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Franklin knew these were important moments for African Americans.
Another victory came in 1956 when Franklin was asked to be the chairman of the history department at Brooklyn College. Franklin was quite surprised when a New York Times reporter asked to interview him, and then his picture appeared on the front page of the Times the next day. As he says, “The front page of the New York Times is for real news. This was just a job. I didn’t see what the big deal was.”
However, even the story did not make it easy for his to find living space in New York City, as realtors would refuse to show him houses, and his attorney finally told him to buy a house for sale by owner. When he finally did, and he called his insurance company to request the money to purchase the house, the insurance agent refused to give him the money because he said he was trying to buy a house where he wasn’t supposed to buy one. Switching insurance companies, Franklin was finally able to buy the house and still has friends from the people he met in the neighborhood after they moved in.
Although Franklin was not involved in the March on Washington, he did attend a march through Atlanta and recalls being frightened by seeing curtains close as they walked by houses. As he says, “We never knew what was behind those curtains, so I was scared to death.”
Part 2 Issues
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