Remembering historian, Civil Rights activist John Hope Franklin

The African American Experience Fund of the National Park Foundation Honors Dr. John Hope Franklin

Fifth Annual Gala Event Celebrates the Legacy of African Americans in America’s National Parks

Special Tribute to Dr. Franklin from Acclaimed Documentarian Ken Burns

Washington, DC (BlackNews.com) – The African American Experience Fund of The National Park Foundation (NPF), the Congressionally chartered non-profit partner of America’s National Parks will honor the life and legacy of historian and author Dr. John Hope Franklin at its fifth annual fundraising gala, “Celebrating a Tradition of Excellence.”

Award winning journalist Gwen Ifill will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies and documentarian Ken Burns, director of the upcoming film, National Parks: America’s Best Idea, made possible with support from the National Park Foundation will deliver a special tribute to Dr. Franklin, highlighting the important role of African-Americans in the rich heritage of America’s National Parks. The event will take place on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center, New York.

John Hope Franklin, one of the nation’s most prominent historians of life in the South and the African-American experience, died Wednesday in Durham, N.C. of heart failure.

Franklin’s voluminous writings cemented his reputation among academics, politicians and civil rights figures as an important historian and chronicler of American history. He was born and raised in an all-black community in Oklahoma and would witness numerous instances of racism in his lifetime. But Franklin would go on to break numerous color barriers during his career.

He was the first black department chair at a mostly white institution and the first black president of the American Historical Association. Franklin was also part of the team of scholars who assisted Thurgood Marshall to win Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 case that outlawed the “separate but equal” doctrine in the nation’s public schools.

Below is a videotaped address given by Franklin at the North Carolina NAACP meeting in Wilmington, N.C. in 2007. In it he discusses the issue of reparations for slavery, segregation and injustices such as the 1898 Wilmington race riots.

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