Archons' Reflections on Archon John Hope Franklin

Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity has lost one of its preeminent members, Archon John Hope Franklin, the renowned historian who died today of congestive heart failure at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. He was ninety-four years old, forever young in spirit and an immortal witness to the history of the twentieth century. He was also a change agent who helped to shape that history in America. Among his dozen books, the landmark volume From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (1947) especially changed the way American history is understood and taught.

He was a member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund team that helped develop the sociological case for the Brown v. Board of Education case that led to landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1954 that ended the legal segregation of black and white children in public schools.

A member of Alpha Tau Boulé in Durham, Archon Franklin taught at Fisk, North Carolina Central University, Howard, the University of Chicago and Duke University.

Archon David L. Evans, senior admission officer at Harvard and a member of Beta Beta Boulé, Boston, observed that he was "one of those rare human beings where the 'why of his death' is so diminished by the 'what of his life' that we never associated him with an end. Somehow we thought that John Hope Franklin would go on forever. Maybe we were confusing his humanity and prodigious scholarship with his mortality. Such is understandable (and maybe not far off) to those who followed his extraordinary life."

Grand Sire Archon Robert L. Harris reflected: "Archon John Hope Franklin's commitment to chronicling the African American experience set a standard of excellence for generations of new scholars from all walks of life not only in America, but around the world. His legacy exemplifies his life-long passion for ensuring that the whole story of America is told. He personified the essence of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity."

Grand Sire Archon Harris is chairman of the African American Experience Fund, which was scheduled to honor Archon Franklin at a black-tie banquet in New York this April.

Archon Berky Nelson, Sire Archon of the Pacific Region and a noted historian observed that “as a United States historian with a focus on African American History, Archon Franklin proved himself to be an unparalleled trail blazer. All of us looked up to Dr. Franklin in a similar manner as Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Although Archon Franklin will be missed, he will always be remembered."

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