Franklin, John Hope

FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM: A HISTORY OF NEGRO AMERICANS [Signed]

New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968. Third Edition, Third Printing. Octavo, 686, xlii pages. In Very Good minus condition with Good plus condition dust jacket. Spine is navy with light yellow and orange lettering. Dust jacket protected by mylar, price cut, and has moderate rubbing wear and chipping along extremities. Textblock has mild soiling, age toning, and a small brown stain along fore edge, pp. 525-xlii (interior unaffected). Signed flat by John Hope Franklin on title page. DL Consignment. Shelved Case 1.

1395622

Shelved Dupont Bookstore

Price: $750

NOTES

John Hope Franklin (1915-2009) was a Black historian and educator who sought to alter the eurocentrically dominant narrative of history. "My challenge," Franklin is quoted to have said, "was to weave into the fabric of American history enough of the presence of blacks so that the story of the United States could be told adequately and fairly." His seminal work, FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM, was first published shortly following World War II in 1947 and continually updated in proceeding editions. Franklin garnered an impressive resume in academia, where he stayed after encountering copious racism while trying to volunteer to fight for his country. Instead of being chosen for the war effort, Franklin was elected by the NAACP Defense Fund to follow civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall in building a case to end racial segregation, the landmark case Brown vs. The Board of Education. Civil rights law was in John Hope's blood, his father having been "Amazing Buck Franklin," who defended survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. Hoping to instill the same critical thinking skills and drive for research in the youth of his day, Franklin joined the faculty at the University of Chicago where he served as chairman of the Fulbright International Scholarship fund, then was appointed to the role of Distinguished Service Professor in 1969. In 1976, the National Endowment selected Franklin for the Jefferson Lecture, the highest honor in the humanities in the United States. The Jefferson Lecture he gave illuminated the distinctions between the beliefs related to race and the historical documentation of racial realities. He tenured at Duke University and was involved with them until his death in 2009. Shortly before he passed, he recounted his life in MIRROR TO AMERICA: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN. Franklin's autobiography was awarded the 2006 John F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights book award, which is awarded to authors who have fought to expose injustice as a beacon towards a more egalitarian society.