Franklin, one of the iconic characters from Peanuts, turns
50. He's not as famous as Charlie Brown, Lucy or Snoopy,
but he is the first black character in the Peanuts gang.
And his origin story begins during a polarizing time.
(Singing) Peanuts was created during the civil rights movement
of the '50s and '60s. During that time, the Brown v. Board of
Education decision desegregated schools, activists sat-in and
protested for equal rights and, in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr.
was assassinated. Days after King's death, Harriet Glickman,
a frustrated retired school teacher, wrote to SchulzČćasking
him to incorporate a black character into his comics. "My
little letter was nothing compared to the little girl who
was stood in the doorway to integrate a school with crowds
of people spitting at her and throwing things at her." In a
letter Glickman suggested, the introduction of Negro children
into the group of Schulz characters could happen with a
minimum impact. Schulz wrote back saying he liked the idea
but didn't know how to go about it as a white cartoonist. He
didn't want to appear patronizing. In 1999, Schulz
described his struggles with creating the character. "I
wasn't sure I can do it frankly. I don't know what it's like to
grow up as a black kid. I only know what it's like to grow up
as a barber's son in Saint Paul." According to Glickman,
she asked a few of her African American friends to write back
to Schulz to give him a few suggestions. "..But I got two
letters from fathers who said, we understand your problem, but
Franklin was created July 31, 1968. This is Franklin's first
comic strip appearance, when he first meets Charlie Brown. After
publications, Schulz said an editor from the South protested
because he drew Franklin sitting next to Peppermint Patty in
class. Others wanted Schulz to get rid of the character
completely, but Schulz said, "Either you print it just the
way I draw it or I quit." Peanuts comic strip ran until
2000 when Schulz died. "He did it." In that time, Peanuts was
published in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries and
translated to 21 languages. It has reached more than 300
million people around the world. "No dogs" "This has gone long
enough, drop the curtain."