RIP John Hope Franklin

[FOTD]

ONE GREAT TULSAN!

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20090325_12_0_DURHAM767902

Oklahoma native, historian John Hope Franklin dies at 94

Franklin left Tulsa after graduating Booker T. Washington High School in 1931, but maintained close ties to the city throughout his life. Last fall a park commemorating the 1921 riot was named in his honor. Franklin attended the ceremony.

Often subjected to humiliating incidents of racism, Franklin broke numerous color barriers during his career.

He was the first black department chair at a predominantly 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 landmark 1954 case that outlawed the doctrine of "separate but equal" in the nation's public schools.

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry said in a statement issued Wednesday, "The world has lost a brilliant scholar. A proud Oklahoman, John Hope Franklin was among the greatest historians of our time."

[TheArtist]

 Just ran across this on the BBC World News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7964747.stm

I wish I had gotten to meet him. Hope we get that park and memorial done. Perhaps we should have a John Hope Franklin day in Tulsa?

[FOTD]

Just ran across this on the BBC World News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7964747.stm

I wish I had gotten to meet him. Hope we get that park and memorial done. Perhaps we should have a John Hope Franklin day in Tulsa?

That's unlikely. But we need to rename the Brady District. Apparently, the US Interior Department Report started in 2005 has been released and puts old man Brady front and center as one of the Klan's key member participant organizing and carrying out the worst massacre of Americans in US history. While Brady may not have been punished then, there is a movement underway to dislodge his name from the area. Now that would be a form of reconciliation. And this would be a good time for change.

Let me suggest Franklin Street instead of Brady Street. Franklin Heights? The Franklin District?

Or build a memorial  bell tower in the reconciliation park by the new ballpark....

"I'll tell you where the four winds dwell
In Franklin's tower there hangs a bell
It can ring, turn night to day
It can ring like fire when you lose your way"
Garcia/Hunter


May the four winds blow you safely home, Mr. Franklin.

[SXSW]

That's unlikely. But we need to rename the Brady District. Apparently, the US Interior Department Report started in 2005 has been released and puts old man Brady front and center as one of the Klan's key member participant organizing and carrying out the worst massacre of Americans in US history. While Brady may not have been punished then, there is a movement underway to dislodge his name from the area. Now that would be a form of reconciliation. And this would be a good time for change.

Let me suggest Franklin Street instead of Brady Street. Franklin Heights? The Franklin District?

Or build a memorial  bell tower in the reconciliation park by the new ballpark....

"I'll tell you where the four winds dwell
In Franklin's tower there hangs a bell
It can ring, turn night to day
It can ring like fire when you lose your way"
Garcia/Hunter


May the four winds blow you safely home, Mr. Franklin.

Interesting, did not know the history behind the Brady name.  I know OU changed the name of a building because it was named after a former Klan member, but changing the name of a street and entire neighborhood?

[Hometown]

FOTD, Thanks for posting this.  Do you have a link to the report you referenced?  If possible I would like to read it. 

I agree if Brady was a Klansman we need to disown him.  Would be interested if Southern Poverty Law Center has a list of current day Tulsans who belong to the Klan?   We need to weed out them out of public life.

Racism is still alive and well in Oklahoma today with our hate filled anti-immigrant laws.  We are allowing an evil that mirrors 1921. 

[Conan71]

Artist might like a renaming to "Franklin District".

Tulsa has lost another true gentleman.

[FOTD]

FOTD, Thanks for posting this.  Do you have a link to the report you referenced?  If possible I would like to read it. 

I agree if Brady was a Klansman we need to disown him.  Would be interested if Southern Poverty Law Center has a list of current day Tulsans who belong to the Klan?   We need to weed out them out of public life.

Racism is still alive and well in Oklahoma today with our hate filled anti-immigrant laws.  We are allowing an evil that mirrors 1921. 

Mr. Dees keeps a very close eye on this region.

You can get his monthly "Intelligence Report" through contributing to the SPLC!

The Interior report is very expensive and short in supply. There are some copies for the cost of printing being circulated. But FOTD has not gotten his yet.....let me know if you find it!

Thanks for your interest, Homey. It would be real if the city stepped up to the plate on acceptance for a change. 2025 could have had a dedicated museum in the district but chose a myriad of other distractions to win votes for the Areema.
A shame because more tourists would come here from outside the area to get a whiff of what went down.

Graham Nash wrote a song about this avoidance and has refused to play here ever since he learned the truth....he'd come if only the city would acknowledge the devastation, decay, criminality, deceit etc.

[Conan71]

I admire Mr. Nash for standing on his principles, but I really could care less if he ever played here or not...sort of like Zimmerman.

[FOTD]

The Greenwood District!

Dirty Little Secret lyrics

Dirty Little Secret
Written by Graham Nash and Russell Kunkel
Pub. By Nashnotes, Inc. (BMI) and Olas Music (ASCAP)
From the album Songs For Survivors
© 2002

Greenwood Oklahoma, June of '21,
Someone set the night on fire.
Lost a lot of people as the day begun,
Who lit the funeral pyre?

On an elevator in the heart of town,
Someone make somebody scream.
Black and white, going up and down.
Who's gonna lose a dream?

Dirty Little Secret.

Headlines printed in the daily news
Awake the sleeping rage inside.
Disarm the people, keep 'em all confused.
Kill before they turn the tide.

Dirty Little Secrets going round,
Whispering from ear to ear.
Burning down the very heart of town.
Nobody shed a tear.

Dirty Little Secret, Dirty Little Secret.

Look up to the sky, your tears fall from the clouds
But Greenwood don't you cry, just shout it right out loud.
It's such a Dirty Little Secret.

Getting so much darker every day.
It's hard to rise above it all.
"Can't we get along?" I heard somebody say.
Who's gonna make the call?

'Cause all the walking wounded pay the price
For living in the promised land.
Take care of your neighbor would be my advice,
'cause nothing ever goes as planned.

It's such a Dirty Little Secret,
Dirty Little Secret, Dirty Little Secret
Dirty Little Secret



We breathe the same air....

[FOTD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPPNEpmcvIE&feature=player_embedded


"We both studied in Oklahoma and there was a purity to life in Oklahoma that remained with him throughout his life." Professor Charles Metze II

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postmortem/2009/03/john_hope_franklin_dies.html?hpid=news-col-blog

"Franklin, his mother and sister Anne were ejected from a train when his mother refused the conductor's orders to move to the overcrowded "Negro" coach. As they trudged through the woods back to Rentiesville, young John Hope began to cry.

His mother pulled him aside and told him, "There was not a white person on that train or anywhere else who was any better than I was. She admonished me not to waste my energy by fretting but to save it in order to prove that I was as good as any of them."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/25/AR2009032502185.html

One might argue the historian is the conscience of the nation, if honesty and consistency are factors that nurture the conscience."
Race and History: Selected Essays, 1938-1988

http://www.duke.edu/johnhopefranklin/statements.html

John Hope Franklin was my mentor, friend and client. I learned our history through him. The 1921 Tulsa Race Riots caused his father, Buck Colbert Franklin, a lawyer in Tulsa, to have his office destroyed. Dr. Franklin overcame this setback. He is a legend."

Charles Ogletree
Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, Harvard University
http://www.duke.edu/johnhopefranklin/