When John Hope Franklin was six-years-old in rural Oklahoma, a white railway conductor literally threw this very young black American, and his mother, off the train — when they had the temerity to sit in a whites-only car. That was eighty-four years ago.
Now John Hope Franklin is ninety, and one of the country’s most celebrated historians of the experience of race in America. He has known the country’s highest honors, and its deepest indignities. He wrote the book that dispelled the notion of slavery-loving slaves.
Now John Hope Franklin’s looking with a knowing eye on the challenges of a new century. Hear a conversation with him about history, race, and America now.
-Tom Ashbrook
Guests:
John Hope Franklin, author of “Mirror to America: The Autiobiography of John Hope Franklin.”
David Blight, professor of American History at Yale University.
Tags: African-American history, civil rights, race
