[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 88 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 88

              Honoring the life of Dr. John Hope Franklin.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 26, 2009

   Mrs. Hagan (for herself, Mr. Burr, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Schumer) 
 submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               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 African-American 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 history, chairperson of the department 
        of history, John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor, 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, as the first African-American professor to hold an endowed 
        chair at Duke University, and as the first African-American president of 
        the American Historical Association;
Whereas Dr. Franklin authored ``From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro 
        Americans'' in 1947, 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 the research of Dr. Franklin contributed to the success of Thurgood 
        Marshall and the legal victory of the National Association for the 
        Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the landmark Supreme Court 
        case, Brown v. Board of Education (347 U.S. 483), which ended the 
        ``separate but equal'' doctrine in public schools in the United States;
Whereas in 1996, Dr. Franklin was named ``Historian of the Century'' by Duke 
        University, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Central 
        University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;
Whereas Dr. Franklin received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995, and was 
        appointed chairman of the advisory board of President William J. 
        Clinton's Initiative on Race in 1997;
Whereas Dr. Franklin served as the head of the 3 major historical associations 
        in the United States: 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 the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished 
        Public Service from the American Philosophical Society in 2007, and a 
        Gold Medal for distinguished achievement in history from the American 
        Academy of Arts and Letters in 2002;
Whereas Dr. Franklin inspired the John Hope Franklin Center for 
        Interdisciplinary and 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 intellect, 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
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) celebrates the life and accomplishments of John Hope 
        Franklin; and
            (2) honors the contributions that John Hope Franklin made 
        to United States society.
                                 <all>