🎄1. How Franklin was born.
April 4, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King was assasinated. On April 15th schoolteacher Harriet Glickman wrote to Peanuts author Charles Schulz.
“I’ve been asking myself what I can do to help change..” #CharlieBrownChristmas
April 4, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King was assasinated. On April 15th schoolteacher Harriet Glickman wrote to Peanuts author Charles Schulz.
“I’ve been asking myself what I can do to help change..” #CharlieBrownChristmas
2. “It occurred to me today that the introduction of Negro children into the group of Schulz characters could happen with a minimum of impact. The gentleness of the kids…even Lucy, is a perfect setting…”
#CharlieBrownChristmas
#CharlieBrownChristmas
3. April 26th Schulz responds. He wants to add this character but worries like other cartoonists at the time, that doing so would look patronizing. #CharlieBrownChristmas
4. April 27th Mrs. Glickman writes back by hand. “You present an interesting dilemma” she offers to show his letter to her black friends to get their feedback. #CharlieBrownChristmas
5. May 9th Schulz is both anxious to hear what the feedback might be and filled with more doubt. He would be very happy to try but he’s convinced the criticism will be that it’s happened in a condescending manner. #CharlieBrownChristmas
6. Mrs Glickman’s efforts to collect letters from her friends (and from then LA councilman Tom Bradley, would later become mayor) were interrupted by another assassination, the June killing of Bobby Kennedy. Glickman chose to send the two letters she had. #CharlieBrownChristmas
7. She was still collecting letters when she received this one from Schulz dated July 1st. “You will he pleased to know I have taken the first step in doing something..” #CharlieBrown
8. Letter from a black father of two boys to Schultz.
“You mention a fear of being patronizing. Though I doubt that any Negro would view your efforts that way, like to suggest that..would be a small price to pay for the positive results that would accrue” #CharlieBrownChristmas
“You mention a fear of being patronizing. Though I doubt that any Negro would view your efforts that way, like to suggest that..would be a small price to pay for the positive results that would accrue” #CharlieBrownChristmas
9. Behind the scenes Schulz was in fact getting hell. The President of United Feature wanted the character changed and he said “let’s put it this way, either you print it just the way I draw it or I quit”
10. July 31st 1968 Franklin appeared in Peanuts on the beach with Charlie Brown. Arguably the most influential comic strip at the time made two kids instant friends without any mention of skin color, just kids being kids. #CharlieBrownChristmas
11. Schulz would face nasty backlash, things we couldn’t imagine hearing now and he’d ignore the really nasty ones. The general outcome though was incredible gratitude during an incredibly tense time.
12. He would, even 15 years later sometimes, be called a racist for how he portrayed Franklin but it was from people who had no grasp of what it was like when these strips were first published.
13. As for Mrs. Glickman she kept her fight going for civil rights and said she will always consider Franklin her fourth child #CharlieBrownChristmas
14. Progress and change are not always graceful, often our forward momentum is clumsy but heartfelt. It’s a disservice to look at the past with the same glasses we wear today. Franklin was born out of love and sincerity, please don’t ruin that. #CharlieBrownChristmas
16. PS- Yes Franklin is seated by himself on one side of the table in #charliebrownthanksgiving but the entire story was they were all kind of miserable, Charlie felt bad and they realized Thanksgiving was about being grateful not being perfect. Don’t be weird.
