Franklin

Duke University will host “A Celebration of the Lives of John Hope and Aurelia Whittington Franklin” next week, to honor the late historian and his late wife, who were married on June 11, 1940.

Featured speakers at the June 11 event include former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who in 1997 appointed John Hope Franklin to chair a national task force on race, and attorney and civil rights leader Vernon Jordan, Franklin’s longtime friend. Duke trustee emerita Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans and Duke President Richard H. Brodhead will also give remarks. The celebration is open to the public, and begins at 11 a.m. in Duke Chapel.

John Hope Franklin, a chronicler of history who also shaped it, died March 25 from congestive heart failure. He was 94 years old.

In 1947, Franklin wrote “From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans,” his seminal work that is often touted as the foremost work in African American history. His research for the book led him to segregated libraries and archives at universities that wouldn’t even allow him to use the bathroom. One such place, Duke University, later opened the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies in 2001.

Per Franklin’s wishes, there was no funeral or memorial service following his death. Instead, his family planned a celebration of his and his wife’s lives in honor of their 69th wedding anniversary. Aurelia Whittington Franklin died in 1999.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University, where as students John Hope Franklin met Aurelia Whittington, will perform three selections. Duke violinist Eric Pritchard and trumpet player James Ketch of the University of North Carolina will each perform dedicated works by Chapel Hill composer T.J. Anderson.

The program will be aired live on UNC-TV, and Duke will provide a live Webcast.

– Deborah Creighton Skinner,
with contributions by Marcia A. Wade

U.S. DOJ Safeguards Voting Rights Act

Supporters of the 1965 Voting Rights Act celebrated two victories this week as the United States Justice Department upheld sections of the law in Mississippi and Georgia that will help prevent discrimination in voter registration and at polling places.

The court informed Karen Handel, Georgia secretary of state, Monday that she had failed to show that two new voter verification procedures did not have a discriminatory effect on minority voters.

Shortly before last fall’s election, the Georgia Election Protection Coalition learned that a number of citizens could be denied the right to vote due to two new procedures that incorrectly identified a number of U.S. citizens as non-citizens. Since the secretary of state did not submit the procedures for preclearance before implementing them as instructed under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the coalition filed a federal lawsuit to stop Handel from using either process. Monday’s court decision bars Georgia from continuing the voter verification process.

The Justice Department also announced Monday that beginning on June 2, it will monitor polling places in Mississippi, New Jersey, and South Dakota to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting rights statutes.

The observers will record activities at polling locations in certain jurisdictions, and DOJ Civil Rights Division attorneys will maintain contact with local election officials. Visit their Website for more information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws.

–Marcia A. Wade

Amelia Boynton meets President Lyndon Johnson after the signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. (Source: Amelia Boynton)

Civil Rights Wax Museum Planned in Selma

Plans to erect a civil rights wax museum in the historic city of Selma, Alabama, were announced Thursday.

The Atlanta-based Gateway Educational Foundation Inc, is spearheading efforts to convert the former home of Amelia and Samuel W. Boynton, a meeting ground for activists planning in the 1950s and 1960s, into a the museum with 12 to 15 statues of civil rights leaders.

“I have been working all of my life for my people, this museum is going to allow people to see more of what my husband and I have done in our lives,” said Amelia, who is 104. “This is an opportunity for [young people] to get an understanding of what their elders went through so they could have the freedoms they have today.”

The couple played an integral role in the black suffrage effort helping to plan and drum up support for protests in Selma. After Samuel’s death from complications due to a stroke in 1963, Amelia grew more ardent in her voting rights efforts. In 1964 she entered the race for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Congress, making her the first black woman from Alabama to seek a seat in Congress and the first woman to run on the state’s Democratic ticket.

“The Boyntons’ were tireless advocates, extending their home for uses far beyond the typical stayover,” said Genise Kemp-Brown, co-founder of Gateway. “Meetings held at their home ultimately led to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, giving all African-Americans the right to vote.”

The home was recently listed on the Alabama Historic Register and has served as a reststop for some of the most notable leaders of the 20th century including Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington Carver, and Sen. Robert Kennedy. The museum will join the Brown Chapel, and Selma University among the landmarks marking Selma’s contribution to African-American history and culture.

Plans to convert the home will begin in July, and the museum is scheduled to open to the public in February 2011.

–Renita Burns

Multiracial Americans the Fastest Growing Group in U.S.

Latest Census estimates show that multiracial Americans have become the fastest growing demographic group, having a major impact on minority growth and challenging traditional ideas of race, according to an Associated Press report.

The multiracial populace rose 3.4% last year to about 5.2 million. First given the option in 2000, Americans who check more than one box for race on surveys have jumped by 33% and now make up 5% of the minority population. Millions more are believed to be uncounted.

The recent population growth, demographers say, is attributed to more social acceptance and slowing immigration. The high profile presence of leaders such as President Barack Obama and recently nominated Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor are said to have an effect on those who might self-identify as multiracial.

Figures as of July 2008 show that California, Texas, New York, and Florida had the most multiracial people. When measured by percentage, Hawaii was first with almost 1 in 5 residents who were multiracial, followed by Alaska and Oklahoma, both at about 4%. Utah had the highest rate of growth of multiracial people in 2008 compared with last year.

–Janell Hazelwood

“John Hope Franklin lived for nearly a century and helped define that century,” said Duke President Richard H. Brodhead. “A towering historian, he led the recognition that African-American history and American history are one.”

In 1947, Franklin wrote “From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans,” his seminal work that is often touted as the foremost work in African American history. His research for the book led him to segregated libraries and archives at universities that wouldn’t even allow him to use the bathroom. One such place, Duke University, later opened the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies in 2001.

“Because of the life John Hope Franklin lived, the public service he rendered, and the scholarship that was the mark of his distinguished career, we all have a richer understanding of who we are as Americans and our journey as a people,” said President Barack Obama in a statement. “Dr. Franklin will be deeply missed, but his legacy is one that will surely endure. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to his loved ones, as our nation mourns his loss.”

Franklin, a Fisk and Harvard University alumnus worked on the Brown v. Board of Education case and headed former President Bill Clinton’s 1997 national task force on race. Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

In 2007, Franklin returned to Oklahoma to testify in a hearing urging Congress to pass legislation that would allow survivors of the Tulsa race riots to sue for reparations. The riots left 300 black residents dead or missing and scattered 10,000 other black Tulsan’s across the country. Franklin’s family was displaced in 1921 when their home and his father, Buck Colbert Franklin’s law practice were burned in the riots.

“I’ve lost a great mentor and a friend,” says Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, who led the Tulsa reparations case. “There is no one who has been more thorough and persuasive in tracing the history of African American’s struggle and progress over the last several decades. He lived a long and glorious life but losing him is no easy task.”

“Because of the life John Hope Franklin lived, the public service he rendered, and the scholarship that was the mark of his distinguished career, we all have a richer understanding of who we are as Americans and our journey as a people, ” said President Barack Obama in a statement.

In a Duke University Interview last June, though he never thought that it would happen in his lifetime, Franklin said the possibility of America’s first Black president was an indication of the “willingness of this country to turn a significant corner.”

“I am glad that he was both alive and well to see the election of Barack Obama to president of the United States. It reaffirms his own belief that when given the opportunity to perform in an equal and unobstructed society we all can exceed at the highest levels.”

A memorial service is planned for Franklin and his wife Arelia Franklin who proceeded him in death at Duke University Memorial Chapel on June 11.