Every day brings a new story. And each day contributes to story telling -- in prose and in poetry, in art and in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books
Today is the story of January 2nd
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It is the second day of the year, leaving 363 days remaining in 2023.
He helped tell stories of the Black experience, largely introducing white Americans to the struggles and contributions to American life of Black people throughout the centuries, from the 17th Century up to the current day. He was key proponent of the formation of Black Studies Departments at universities throughout the country.
He was instrumental in the fight to desegregate primary and secondary schools, working with Thurgood Marshall and providing the sociological evidence that forced the U.S Supreme Court to reject the separation of Black and white children in education.
His seminal historical work was From Slavery to Freedom, published in 1947. The book weaved the stories of Black Americans into the narrative of American history. Other books he wrote included those that told the Black experiences in the years surrounding the U.S. Civil War. His autobiography, Mirror to America, was published in 2005.
Franklin was the first person of color to serve as the chairman of a history department at a major college in the United States, heading the department at Brooklyn College from 1956 to 1964. He was a professor at Fisk University in Nashville, St. Augustine College in North Carolina, the North Carolina College for Negroes, Howard University, the University of Chicago, and Duke University. He was a visiting professor at Cambridge University.
He was a awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995.
Franklin died in 2009.
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