Entries in John Hope Franklin (1)
Remembrance of the past: Vision for the future
Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 5:37PM| Dr. John Hope Franklin, best know for his study, "From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans"has a new release "Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation." With already more than 100 honorary degrees in his lifetime, Dr. Franklin just received the Harold Washington Literary Award during the 16th annual Printers Row Book Fair this past weekend. While in town, this most distinguished historian sat down for an exclusive interview with Michelle Muhammad. Dr. Franklin shared his thoughts on being honored by the DuSable museum, the presidents initiative on race, the future of African Americans and the legacy that he hopes to leave behind. BST: How does it feel being recently named one of the 100 most influential African Americans in the 20th Century by the DuSable Museum? JHF: It's a great thrill. I would probably debate the conclusion that the DuSable Museum reached but I have great respect for the DuSable Museum. I was active in it when I lived here and I continue to support it. I must say that I am honored and thrilled, but I am not sure that I am worthy. |
| BST: In 1997 you were appointed head of President Clinton’s Initiative on Race. What does it mean to you to be the chairman of the Presidents Advisory board? JHF: Once more that was a great honor and an enormous responsibility. In June 1997 the president asked me if I would serve as the chairman of the advisory board to his initiative on race. It was our responsibility to start an honest straightforward and hopefully extensive dialogue on race, the kind that Americans would seize as an opportunity to speak frankly about the whole question of race and what ought to be done about it. Therefore, it was a enormous responsibility for me and my colleagues, it was about six or seven of us on the advisory board. It was a great responsibility to bring this subject to the general American public and to encourage and stimulate them and almost try to persuade them to talk about race as honestly, straightforwardly and as frankly as they possibly could. We hope that we have succeeded in that. There are differences of opinions on how much success we've had. If you look at the matter within the confines of the mandate we had to encourage dialogues on race and bring reccoemendations to the president with respect to how best the White House might proceed in carrying forward the objectives of bringing about racial preach and equality, then I think we may have done some good. BST: Your book "From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans" is widely considered the most authoritative text on the African American experience. It is the most well known work. Can you describe this book? JHF: It undertakes what I thought in 1947 was an almost impossible task of looking at the whole sweep of African American history from the beginnings in Africa right down to the present time and to place it in the context of a larger American history, a larger African American history, a larger African history. It was to be concerned not merely with the heroics so much as the facts and the way in which both American history generally and African American history in particular, blended together and made for a much more whole and wholesome history than it had been earlier. BST: What do you think that we as African Americans be focusing on in this new millennium? JHF: We should be focusing on two things. One is to achieve excellence in every conceivable way, to do our very best in whatever we undertake. We must be certain that we compete on a basis of equality with others. The other thing that we need to do is reach out always to other people and be certain that we are working together for the common good. BST: What if any would you like for your legacy to be? JHF: That I have helped us all to understand each other and to maintain high standards of conduct and performance. BST: Thank You. JHF: It was my pleasure. |
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