Campuses Must Get Serious, Says Historian John Hope Franklin

Photos by Chris Wooten John Hope Franklin says "the problems of our society are overwhelming" and that solving them is more important for today's college students than it is for him.

By Shelbia Brown
Black College Wire

World-renowned historian John Hope Franklin is calling for better leadership on campuses so that students will be better equipped to use their training "to better the conditions of their society."

"You've got to have better leadership everywhere -- the faculty, the administration," Franklin said in an interview with Black College Wire. "Everybody's got to be devoted more to learning. It's as simple as that. The atmosphere and climate have to be modified."

Black students need to be "studying, working hard, giving much more serious attention to their work, their studies. And they need to also be more interested in society and the problems in society, and trying to help solve some of them," the historian said.

Franklin's acclaimed "Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin," has gained him renewed celebrity since its publication in November. The book tells of Franklin's childhood, his education at Fisk and Harvard, his experiences with racism and a career that spans decades.

Franklin wonders who will write the history of North Carolina Central University.

Franklin, 91, has devoted his life to the study of slavery and the research of many other facets of African American history, making sure along the way that black history was recognized and taught as American history. Not only a scholar and historian, he is a leader and activist. He was interviewed at his Durham, N.C., home.

Q: What initiatives have historically black colleges and universities taken to produce black leaders?

Franklin: Some of the HBCUs have courses on leadership. My own institution [Fisk University] has started a whole division that's devoted to developing leaders. One local businessman in Nashville gave $500,000 to help launch this leadership institute.

Q: So while some institutions have advanced, many others have not?

Franklin: Of course, and they are having a more and more difficult time, as people try to focus on institutions that are open, have been desegregated. It's hard to keep up. It's hard for [North Carolina] Central [University] to keep up when they're putting more and more emphasis on blacks going to [the University of North Carolina at] Chapel Hill, to Raleigh. That's where the money will go; the money will follow the students.

Q: Is enough research devoted to African American studies?

Franklin: I think so, but there's always a new way of looking at things; new perspectives and new approaches. You can do things now that I couldn't do when I was young and doing research. North Carolina Central doesn't even have a history, I mean it doesn't have a written history. Who's going to write the history of North Carolina Central University? Who's going to write a biography of Dr. Shepard [university founder James E. Shepard]? It should be done. It must be done.

Q: As a younger student -- you were 16 years old when you began your studies at Fisk University -- did you see yourself becoming an author?

Franklin: I didn't see myself as anything but as a 16-year-old freshman working three jobs and going to college, going to school.

Q: Three jobs?

Franklin: Three jobs, and going to school. I didn't have any money. I worked two jobs while I was in graduate school -- washing dishes for my dinner. You have to do what you have to do!

Q: In your book, you write that you came to Fisk as an English major and were in the class of Professor Theodore Currier. He was teaching contemporary civilization, and that interested you. The next year you took a United States history class.

Franklin: I changed my major.

Q: You also said, "I did not turn to scholarship in search of tools to confront America's racial injustice." Could you expound on that? Why were you moved to study history?

Franklin: My answer to that is very simple. I was excited about that man and how he lectured -- Professor Currier. He became my best friend. I dedicated my Reconstruction book to him. He was my mentor. He trained me more than anyone else.

Q: Also in your book, there was an incident where you were teaching the University of Chicago students and they got word that your assistant had graded the papers instead of you. They disliked that because they wanted you to grade them.

Franklin: You know that's what happens at every big university. Basically, the assistant grades the papers and not the teachers. At Chicago, though, the professors graded the papers, not the students, not graduate students. And they didn't want that there, and I never did do it anymore. I didn't want it, either; I was just so busy that I had Lauren to grade my papers that one time! Students jumped on me like I offended them.

That's why I like that place, you see. The students are very demanding, very bright, and they work so hard. Let me ask you, what are you doing the day after Thanksgiving, the Friday after Thanksgiving? Kicking up your heels somewhere?

Q: Yes.

Franklin: All the students at Chicago are in the library the day after Thanksgiving. That's where you could find them. It was a badge of honor that they were there; they wouldn't be caught anywhere else. Amazing group, amazing group!

Q: Do you feel that the students of today have that type of devotion?

Franklin: They have it at Chicago. They have it at some places, and some places they don't have it. Some places they don't do anything but wait for the next game.

Q: What do you feel could be done to redirect the focus of students?

Franklin: Well, you've got to have better leadership everywhere -- the faculty, the administration. Everybody's got to be devoted more to learning. It's as simple as that. The atmosphere and climate have to be modified.

Q: What is your most proud moment, the biggest moment in your life?

Franklin: I suppose I ought to say receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the president of the United States. I guess that's the proudest moment. I don't know. I've had a lot of moments, you know (laughter).

Q: How did you feel when you received that honor?

Franklin: I was thrilled, I was thrilled. I was with him a few weeks ago in New York, where he and I did something -- with President Clinton. He interviewed me on this book for 1 1/2 hours, before an overflow audience. That was kind of thrilling, too.

Q: What do black students need to be doing right now?

Franklin: Studying, working hard, giving much more serious attention to their work, their studies. And they need to also be more interested in society and the problems in society, and trying to help solve some of them.

Q: What are some of these problems?

Franklin: You look outside and find black boys walking up and down the streets with their pants all falling down off of them, not doing anything, those rags tied around their heads. They're killing! Like the other night . . . You know what the problems are: unemployment, drugs and gangs. The problems of our society are overwhelming.

There are going to be more of your generation that are not going to get married because you don't have anyone to marry unless you're going to marry one of these hoodlums from down the street, and it's terribly important for you, more important than it is for me, that we do something about this problem. When I say you, I mean you and your generation. So it's very, very, very important. That keeps me awake at night. I really don't know what to do and you'll notice my last chapter addresses this problem.

Society is a good bit more complex, and despite the improvement in education and technology, generally, it's more difficult to solve the problems that we confront now than the problems that I confronted.

Q: What are some advancements that have been made in education?

Franklin: Science has gone so far that it's revolutionary -- the way we work, the way we live, the way we study. Just take what you hold in your hand [a digital recorder]. I didn't have any of this when I was a student. You see what I mean? I didn't have that -- iPods and all these things! I don't know anything about them. So we've made great technological advances. I'm not sure we've made comparable advances socially and intellectually.

Q: What do these advances do for our education?

Franklin: It facilitates our education, makes it easier to learn. Technology -– I'm not sure it makes it easier for you to have common sense.

Shelbia Brown is a sophomore journalism major at North Carolina Central University.

Posted Feb. 19, 2006