IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 301 

Honoring the life of Dr. John Hope Franklin. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2009 

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. WATT, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. 

MILLER of North Carolina, Mr. KISSELL, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. SHULER, 

Ms. FOXX, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. JONES, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. MCHENRY, 

and Mr. COBLE) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

RESOLUTION 

Honoring the life of Dr. John Hope Franklin. 

Whereas Dr. John Hope Franklin was born on January 2, 

1915, in Rentiesville, Oklahoma, the grandson of a slave 

and the son of Buck Colbert Franklin, one of the first 

black lawyers in the Oklahoma Indian territory, and Mollie Parker Franklin, a schoolteacher and community leader; 

Whereas in 1936, Dr. Franklin was appointed to the faculty 

of Fisk University as Instructor of History and subsequently served as Professor of History at St. Augustine’s 

College, North Carolina College, and Howard University; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin taught at the University of Chicago 

from 1964 to 1982, serving as Professor of American 


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HRES 301 IH 

History, Chairman of the Department of History, the 

John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor of 

History, and Professor Emeritus of History; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin was on faculty at Duke University 

from 1982 until his passing, serving as the James B. 

Duke Professor of History, Professor of Legal History at 

Duke University Law School, and the James B. Duke 

Professor of History Emeritus, Duke University; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin broke numerous racial barriers, serving as the first African-American department chair at a 

predominantly white institution as Chairman of the Department of History at Brooklyn College from 1956 to 

1964; and as the first African-American professor to hold 

an endowed chair at Duke University; and the first African-American President of the American Historical Association; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin’s research contributed to the success 

of Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP’s legal victory in 

the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board 

of Education, which ended the ‘‘separate but equal’’ doctrine in America’s public schools; 

Whereas in 1947, Dr. Franklin authored From Slavery to 

Freedom: A History of Negro Americans, widely considered the preeminent history of the African-American experience in the United States, as well as numerous other 

notable books including his influential autobiography Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin was named ‘‘Historian of the Century’’ 

by Duke University, North Carolina State University, 


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North Carolina Central University, and The University of 

North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin received the Presidential Medal of 

Freedom in 1995 and was appointed Chairman of the 

Advisory Board of President Clinton’s Initiative on Race 

in 1997; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin served as the head of the three major 

U.S. historical associations including the Organization of 

American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin was inducted into the North Carolina 

Literary Hall of Fame in 1998; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin received a Lifetime Achievement 

Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters 

and the American Philosophical Society in 2007; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin inspired the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary & International Studies at Duke 

University, a consortium of academic programs that encourages creative scholarship, the exchange of ideas, and 

a variety of perspectives and methodologies to revitalize 

notions of how knowledge is gained and shared; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin was a scholar who helped create the 

field of African-American history and literature; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin described historians as ‘‘the conscience 

of the nation, if honesty and consistency are factors that 

nurture the conscience’’, and his contributions to the 

study of American history fundamentally challenged and 

changed the manner in which the Nation collectively interprets its past and understands its present; 

Whereas generations of young historians have been inspired 

and personally influenced by Dr. Franklin’s keen intelVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:41 Apr 02, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR301.IH HR301

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lect, graceful humility, and humor in the classroom, and 

will ensure the endurance of his towering legacy; 

Whereas Dr. Franklin passed away on March 25, 2009, in 

Durham, North Carolina; and 

Whereas Dr. John Hope Franklin will be deeply missed but 

leaves an enduring legacy of public service, scholarship, 

and perseverance that inspires all Americans: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) celebrates the life and accomplishments of 

3 John Hope Franklin; and 

4 (2) honors the contributions that John Hope 

5 Franklin made to American society. 

Æ 


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