Franklin: Contemporary discussions of race should be rooted in history
Dana Goldstein
Issue date: 9/22/04 Section: Campus news
For a man who has dedicated his life to researching, writing and teaching about race in America, John Hope Franklin says he seldom stops to note a person's skin color.
"I myself, I go for a long time without even thinking about race," said the celebrated historian, chair of President Bill Clinton's Presidential Initiative on Race and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "I will forget that you're not what I am or that I'm not what you are. I've never even thought about it. It doesn't even bother me."
In an interview with The Herald prior to his lecture last night, Franklin, sharp and spry for a man turning 90 this January, discarded conventional wisdom about both iconic American historical figures and contemporary cultural identities.
"We would be betraying the study of history if we didn't try to look at it from all sides and try to weigh and determine what's reasonable and what's not," he said.
Franklin situated the work of Brown's Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice within the context of his own lifelong efforts to spark dialogue about race. Among these efforts was his service as chair of Clinton's initiative, a project Slavery and Justice Committee Chair Professor James Campbell has called a model for Brown's own institutional examination of its past. Formed in June 1997, the initiative presented Clinton with a report in September 1998.
Clinton immediately set to work implementing the report's suggestions by inviting influential groups such as state attorneys general, businesspeople and religious leaders to the White House to discuss race and discrimination in contemporary America, Franklin told The Herald.
"(Clinton) wanted us to start a dialogue on race in which people could reasonably talk about it and try to reach some understanding on what was going on and what had gone on," Franklin said.
And just like the Slavery and Justice Committee, the initiative garnered media attention from the start. Franklin said the project attracted "severe criticism" from a general public and national media confused about the initiative's purpose and skeptical about dwelling on issues of race.
"I myself, I go for a long time without even thinking about race," said the celebrated historian, chair of President Bill Clinton's Presidential Initiative on Race and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "I will forget that you're not what I am or that I'm not what you are. I've never even thought about it. It doesn't even bother me."
In an interview with The Herald prior to his lecture last night, Franklin, sharp and spry for a man turning 90 this January, discarded conventional wisdom about both iconic American historical figures and contemporary cultural identities.
"We would be betraying the study of history if we didn't try to look at it from all sides and try to weigh and determine what's reasonable and what's not," he said.
Franklin situated the work of Brown's Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice within the context of his own lifelong efforts to spark dialogue about race. Among these efforts was his service as chair of Clinton's initiative, a project Slavery and Justice Committee Chair Professor James Campbell has called a model for Brown's own institutional examination of its past. Formed in June 1997, the initiative presented Clinton with a report in September 1998.
Clinton immediately set to work implementing the report's suggestions by inviting influential groups such as state attorneys general, businesspeople and religious leaders to the White House to discuss race and discrimination in contemporary America, Franklin told The Herald.
"(Clinton) wanted us to start a dialogue on race in which people could reasonably talk about it and try to reach some understanding on what was going on and what had gone on," Franklin said.
And just like the Slavery and Justice Committee, the initiative garnered media attention from the start. Franklin said the project attracted "severe criticism" from a general public and national media confused about the initiative's purpose and skeptical about dwelling on issues of race.