In Memoriam: John Hope Franklin (1915-2009)

John Hope Franklin was one of the most brilliant minds to walk the earth. John Hope Franklin is responsible for the creation of African American studies which is being taught in colleges and universities in the United States and served as a professor at Duke University. His book "From Slavery To Freedom: A Journey Of African Americans" originally published in 1947 continues to be required reading in most colleges and universities in the United States. John Hope Franklin was the grandson of a slave and was an active and vocal participant of the Civil Rights Movement. He worked very closely with Thurgood Marshall (himself the first African American Supreme Court Justice) on the landmark Brown vs. Board Of Education in 1954. John Hope Franklin was the recipient of the Presidential Medal Of Freedom -the nation's highest civilian honor in 2005. There will never be another John Hope Franklin but his work lives on. John Hope Franklin was 94 years old.