The Unforgettable Day I met Dr. John Hope Franklin

As I was leaving Loyola High School, back in 1970, I applied to two colleges, Howard University in Washington, DC and Johns Hopkins University here in my hometown.  My first choice was Howard because I wanted to major in Pre-Law and African American Studies.  Howard University lost my application and I interpreted it to mean they didn’t want me down there, so I chose  Johns Hopkins after it accepted me.

I wanted to be a college professor who taught Black History.  After reading, “From Slavery to Freedom” I can now say out loud without too much embarrassment, that when I left high school, I wanted to be like Dr. John Hope Franklin.  I loved reading his book for the Black History course I took in high school and I assigned his book, among others when I taught a Black History course back at that high school. 

What I remember most was how Dr. Franklin made history exciting.  His was the first history book I encountered that read lot a novel.  “From Slavery to Freedom” was a real page turner because he wrote with suspense at times. I still have the dogged-eared copy of his book that I bought over thirty years ago.  I have always kept it in my office wherever I’ve worked in case I needed to consult it.

So, imagine my excitement last year, when I heard John Hope Franklin was coming to town to speak at the main library downtown and to autograph his just released autobiography, “Mirror to America”.  I was thrilled to no end at the prospect of meeting a genuine American star in his professions as: an historian, an educator and an author.

I’ll never forget the night of June 15, 2006.  The library billed it as “An Evening with John Hope Franklin”.  He would attend a private reception upstairs in the Edgar Allan Poe Room and autograph books and chat one-on-one with those lucky to attend.  Then he would make remarks and take questions downstairs in a public lecture in the Main Hall.

As that day got closer, I began to look forward to meeting him more and more.  A good friend of mine got tickets for my wife and me as a birthday present for me (one of the best birthday presents I’ve ever received, I might add).  When the day arrived, we were ushered upstairs to the reception area and awaited Dr. Franklin’s arrival.  The anticipatory buzz in the room was as if we were awaiting a Motown star or something.  But instead we were all anxious to meet a then 91 year old history professor.

I stood in line to be able to sit on a small couch and speak with Dr. Franklin for a few minutes.   My mind raced as I tried to think of something intelligent to say or to ask.  Disappointingly, I never came up with anything profound.  I was not able to come up with any point of history to debate or discuss in my three to four minutes.  So I used my time to exchange pleasantries with my hero.  We made small talk but not without my noticing how pleasant and down to earth he is. 

I expected him to be distant.  He is the man President Clinton chose to chair in 1997 the advisory board for the President’s initiative on Race.  And there seated on the couch with me just a few feet away was the recipient of over 130 honorary degrees, whose seminal African American history book, is required reading on many high school and college campuses.  And he was so nice and warm.  No wonder his written history (including his autobiography) is so inviting to read and so thoroughly enjoyable.  It comes from a fine African American icon who’s just a man and I got to meet him.

Ralph E. Moore, Jr.

Director of the Community Center, St. Frances Academy

02/11/07

This blog appeared as an article in The Catholic Review on February 22, 2007 under the title " An unforgettable meeting with Dr. Franklin, an icon."