Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: John Hope Franklin: 1915-2009
If you are of a certain age, black, and wanted to be your lawyer your role models were Barbara Jordan and Thurgood Marshall. If you dreamed of writing, James Baldwin and Langston Hughes were the authors you copied from. If history was your thing, you looked to W.E.B. DuBois and John Hope Franklin.
Franklin was a scholar and activist. His books on southern history have become a standard for anyone looking to learn about the South. He even admitted that he thought a historian had to be involved in the worlds of scholarship and policy making. He worked with Marshall and a team of lawyers to strike down “separate but equal” in Brown v. Board of Education. He marched with Martin Luther King in 1965 from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
But the activism never made the academic work second rate. Sure he got slammed (rightfully in my opinion) for the report written by President Bill Clinton’s 1997 Advisory Board to the President’s Initiative on Race, but outside of that blemish his work got respect from peers and the general public.
My mom will hate this story, but she’s not here to defend herself. She saw Franklin on C-SPAN and called me. Ma was terrible with names and we would always play this game when she was describing someone (for some reason any time she talked about Princeton professor Cornel West she called him the “unkempt one”). So she starts talking about this black scholar, “an elderly gentleman” who has written many books.
“Have you heard of him,” she asked.
“Mom, I’ve heard of a lot of elderly black men who have written books,” was my reply.
“You are such a snob.”
So we played twenty questions. She remembered he taught at Duke University (Franklin’s last institution). I started laughing which made her even more convinced of my snob status.
“Ma you are talking about John Hope Franklin. You have his books.”
“You don’t know what I have.”
“Yes I do. I met him at a conference and had him sign two of his books to you.”
There was a pause.
“I so hate you,” she said as we both laughed.
She went downstairs and there they were. A collection of essays and speeches and From Slavery to Freedom.
Jenn, your snarkiness also doesn’t help the cause. My question was a real question. Did John Hope Franklin ever address gay rights? Since no one has provided any evidence that he did, I assume that he did not.
Obviously, all of us are concerned about a lot of things. However, I do expect blogs that appear on 365gay.com to be relevant to gay rights.
I suspect that I know a lot more about history than you do, so I don’t need to be lectured to by you. But it is curious that when gay people compare the suffering of gays to that of blacks, we are told that it is inappropriate. Yet when we ask whether a Black historian has written about gay people, we are told that the two struggles are actually the same. Sounds like a double standard to me.
To those who question to relevance of Dr. Franklin to the gay community: Please realize that many of this site’s readers are African American (like myself). Many gay, African Americans are mourning the loss of a great historian and activist that helped us fight one battle: racism. You all seem to forget that, for many of us, homophobia is just ONE of our worries. There are those of us who are dealing with racism, sexism, AND homophobia.
It is by no means a stretch to say that his work in Brown v. Board of Education is directly connected to the current gay equality struggle. Brown v. Board could very well be (and has already been) the deciding factor for many courts of law. It has been established that separate cannot be equal. The argument follows then that a separate classification for gay relationships CANNOT be equal to marriage (and carry with it the 1,100+ federal and state rights inherent in marriage). If it weren’t for Dr. Franklin and Brown v. Board, the gay marriage movement wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. There would be no precedent. There would be no chanting for “equality”. Blacks would still be slaves. Women would still be second-class to men. Gays would still be straight-by-day and gay-by-night.
History repeats itself. Please learn your history and recognize the significance of Dr. Franklin’s work to the world (including the gay community).
Short-sightedness and narrow-mindedness will not help the cause.
Keep up the good writing and work James.
Menstruator,
People who dismiss someone’s achievements just because they are heterosexual are just as bigoted as those they fight against.
Actually, they are worse because they know how it feels and should know better.
Also, your constant attacks on men in general are tiresome, counterproductive, and useless.
Jay,
Although this is a Gay site, I’m guessing the bloggers have the freedom write about other things that are important to them. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
I do agree that it’s a stretch to connect Mr Franklin’s work with the struggle in front of the Gay community. On the other hand, people constantly compare the two struggles.
PS: Jennifer Vanasco’s comment that since Franklin helped dismantle “separate but equal” in terms of the segregation of the races and since gay people are trying to dismantle that concept in terms of marriage rights, that means he is an important figure for gay people, is something of stretch. Franklin was an admirable person, but did he ever comment on gay rights? That is the question that should be addressed. If not, did he fail to comment on gay issues out of disinterest or animus or just because he was too busy fighting another battle?
I don’t want to associate myself with The Menstruator’s comments, which seem narrow and heterophobic to me, but what exactly is the significance of John Hope Franklin for gay people? He was a major historian, but did he ever write anything about gay people? Did he support gay rights in any way? It seems to me that would be more pertinent than whether Withers’s mother could remember his name.
@Menstruator:
John Hope Franklin’s research helped Thurgood Marshall win the Brown v. Board of Education case – which declared that separate but equal is not equal at all.
A lot of gay activists now use that argument to try to persuade legislators to enact gay marriage. We owe Franklin a debt.
Gays and lesbians don’t just stand on the shoulders of other gay people; our rights also depend on the many straight men and women before us who fought and won their rights and showed us how it is done.
The Menstruator,
What exactly is your point please? I’m sensing a complaint but am not really clear what it is.
Sincerely,
James
How nice you and your mom talked. That’s touching. This man wasn’t gay. Was he? He was a frat boy. Wasn’t he?
It’s nice the gays feature some breeders much like the breeders occasionally feature the proper acting gays. Touching. Again.
Everything is so touching. Thanks for giving props to a passing straight man. That’s great.
I’m going to go make a donation to save the males now. Life is so hard for you guys. Especially with losing your jobs. Must be so hard to try to be a good providing man in these times.
Oh but most of the jobs that are available are “below” a man’s standards. But that’s ok. Women will still do ‘em. Right?
Like writing this article. I guess someone had to expose the gays to the straights? Otherwise, how would we ever accept them?