● John Hope Franklin:
John Hope Franklin was a historian born January 2, 1915 in Oklahoma. He attended Fisk University and then Harvard, earning a doctorate degree in 1955. Franklin taught at Howard University and was named the head of the history department at Brooklyn College. During his life, he held titles as former president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association. In 1955, he was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Franklin passed in 2009 on March 25, with many achievements and honors to his name and the list continued posthumously.