By Alvis Dunn

The life of John Hope Franklin has now been celebrated, as it should, in publications across the world. Adding substantively to those august acknowledgments and outpourings of genuine affection is beyond this commentary. Still, Dr. Franklin did touch my life as historian and as activist. I teach history at Guilford College and when news of his passing was broadcast, a friend gently intruded upon our departmental meeting to tell us. A respectful silence fell over this small group of historians.

Dr. Franklin’s work informs my classroom in many ways. In teaching courses on the history of the American South, I loan out my copy of The Free Negro in North Carolina, 1790—1860 pretty much every semester. This semester, an adult student, an African-American woman born in Alabama into a family of sharecroppers, has it and is applying it to research she is doing for a final paper. She had first heard of Dr. Franklin in a video we viewed, Dr. Frank: The Life and Times of Frank Porter Graham as he spoke of how Graham had never worried about how people might view his associations, instead seeking out diverse ways of seeing in order to further deepen his own. Dr. Franklin appears in the video a tall and formal man carefully choosing his words so as to most precisely portray the life of the man in question. Graham took much heat over his associations but never let that stop him from seeking the exchange of ideas and the concomitant progress they might bring to bear on the world.

I met Dr. Franklin through Sam Reed. Sam was a Ukraine-born, tireless worker for equal rights and a communist. At the age of 80, Sam founded the newsletter The Trumpet of Conscience and in his “retirement” here in North Carolina began to toil to bridge racial divides. Scholars like William Chafe, James David Barber and Dr. Franklin were persuaded and cajoled by Sam Reed to write for The Trumpet. In 1995, I worked on various projects sponsored by Sam and the publication. Dr. Franklin spoke at the 10th anniversary of The Trumpet in 1996. He referred to himself as a “Friend of The Trumpet.” He was also a friend of Sam Reed’s; and much in the spirit of Frank Porter Graham, John Hope Franklin also sought associations that others might shun. After all, Sam was a known communist who had, during the days of the most stringent McCarthyism, served time for expressing himself in ways unpopular to the powers that be.

Dr. Franklin’s life was also one of articulating ideas unpopular with those that run society. That was, in fact, the essence of his history. And Dr. Franklin’s research was deep and full, impeccably documented and unassailable as to his interpretation of sources, assuring that his work could never be successfully attacked on grounds of scholarship. Historical actors that challenge the prevailing thought – assail hegemony, if you will – can take a great cue from Dr. Franklin in both remaining open to radical voices and minding their own pronouncements for accuracy. Positive change needs such scholars and thinkers and hard workers as Dr. Franklin, Sam Reed and Frank Porter Graham. That to me is the inspiration of Dr. Franklin.

Alvis Dunn is a history professor at Guilford College.