The renowned historian died Wednesday at the age 94.
The "Africana" -- an encyclopedia of African and African-American culture -- credits John Hope Franklin with establishing African-American history as a "respected academic discipline."
While others were marching and protesting, Franklin was involved in a different kind of agitation.
He was compiling the scholarship needed to tell the African-American story.
The renowned historian died Wednesday at the age 94.
Of his many books, it is From Slavery to Freedom: A History of American Negroes that I have returned to most often during my career.
Unfortunately, during the '60s, '70s, and even the '80s, it was still possible to live and to be schooled in a predominantly black environment and not know that scholars like Franklin existed.
I didn't encounter Franklin's work until 1990, when I took a course that was being taught by Professor Glennon Graham at Columbia College Chicago.
President Bill Clinton introduced Franklin to the nation in 1997, when he asked him to chair a seven-member panel to tackle the thorny issue of racial strife in America.
At the time, Franklin was 82 years old.
When I am under attack for pointing out the racial inequities that still exist in this country, a well-known Franklin quote often comes to mind:
"If the house is to be set in order, one cannot begin with the present; he must begin with the past," he said.
John Hope Franklin was born to a lawyer and a schoolteacher in the all-black Oklahoma town known as Rentiesville in 1915.
When he was 11 years old, his family moved to Tulsa, Okla. He received his B.A. from Fisk University in Nashville and earned a doctorate from Harvard University.
Franklin spent the early part of his academic career teaching at historically black colleges.
But in 1956, he broke a color barrier when he became the chairman of the all-white history department at Brooklyn College.
The appointment was not necessarily an indication that times were a-changing.
Despite his credentials, Franklin was repeatedly refused service by real estate agents in New York, and banks would not lend him the money to buy a house in a "white neighborhood."
Nearly 30 years later, when Franklin was in New York City to receive a prestigious honor, he and his wife were unable to hail a taxi.
Ten years after that, while Franklin was hosting a party at a Washington social club to celebrate receiving the presidential Medal of Freedom, a white woman mistakenly took him for a coatroom attendant.
"He politely told the woman that any of the uniformed attendants would be happy to assist her," according to an Associated Press obituary.
Franklin had witnessed blatant racism in his parents' lives as well. Once, his mother, Mollie, was kicked off a train because she refused to obey the Jim Crow seating rules.
Without a doubt, the racism that some complain about today is nothing compared with what people of Franklin's generation faced.
Indeed, there is a valuable lesson that can be taken from Franklin's life:
He did not allow the bias of his time to determine his future.
Franklin's intellect could have been smothered underneath the weight of discrimination.
But like other African Americans who managed to obtain greatness against great odds, Franklin focused on a higher goal.
The higher goal was educating America about its past.
For that, Franklin has been the recipient of more than 100 honorary degrees. He has held counsel with presidents and world leaders. And he has received the nation's highest honors.
When Barack Obama became president, Franklin was one of the chosen who saw the fruits of their labors.
"It is one of the most historic, if not the most historic moment in the history of this country," Franklin told an interviewer.
As a youngster, the idea of a black president seemed so "far-fetched, so incredible that we used to really have fun just saying it," Franklin said.
We are blessed that this historian lived a life of purpose.
John Hope Franklin Speaks About The Obama Presidency And What It Means To America.
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