LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION mourning the death of noted historian and
pioneering Duke University Professor John Hope Franklin

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to pay proper tribute
to individuals of great character whose lives exemplify the highest
ideals of humanity; and
WHEREAS, With deep remorse, this Legislative Body is moved to mourn
the death of noted historian and pioneering Duke University Professor
John Hope Franklin; and
WHEREAS, John Hope Franklin died on Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at the
age of 94; and
WHEREAS, John Hope Franklin a legendary educator who was widely
respected for chronicling the African-American experience; he rose to
become one of the most prominent and prolific scholars of his gener-
ation; and
WHEREAS, Professor Franklin not only chronicled the African-American
experience, he lived it; he was born in Oklahoma to a family who lost
everything in the "Black Wallstreet" Tulsa race riots of 1921; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Franklin attended historically black Fisk University
where he met Aurelia Whittington, who would be his wife, editor, help-
mate and rock for 58 years, until her death in 1999; and
WHEREAS, Professor Franklin's seminal work, FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM: A
HISTORY OF AMERICAN NEGROES, first published in 1947, placed the Afri-
can-American experience squarely in the American narrative; during that
same year, he began teaching at Howard University, where he worked on
the Supreme Court case that outlawed public school segregation: Brown
vs. Board of Education; and
WHEREAS, In 1956, Professor Franklin made history as the first Afri-
can-American to chair the predominantly white history department at
Brooklyn College; he became the first black professor to hold an endowed
chair at Duke, and the first black president of the American Historical
Association; and
WHEREAS, President Barack Obama's achievement fit with Dr. Franklin's
mission as a historian, to document how blacks lived and served along-
side whites from the nation's birth; Black patriots fought at Lexington
and Concord, which Dr. Franklin pointed out in FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM,
published in 1947; in addition, he mentions in the book that Blacks also
crossed the Delaware with General Washington and explored with Lewis and
Clark; and
WHEREAS, Later in life, Dr. Franklin received more than 130 honorary
degrees along with the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People's Spingarn Award; in 1993, President Bill Clinton honored
him with the Charles Frankel Prize, recognizing scholarly contributions
that give "eloquence and meaning ... to our ideas, hopes and dreams as
American citizens"; and
WHEREAS, President Bill Clinton awarded Dr. Franklin the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian prize; two years later,
he was chosen for the role for which he was perhaps best known outside
academia, as chairman of Clinton's Initiative on Race; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Franklin, throughout his career and life, served with
intelligence and caring dedication, continuously striving to effectively
fulfill the duties of his position, contributing significantly to educa-
tion and history; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
mourn the death of noted historian and pioneering Duke University
Professor John Hope Franklin; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the family of Professor John Hope Franklin.