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John Hope Franklin, 1990 (credit: Ampix Photography)

(born Jan. 2, 1915, Rentiesville, Okla., U.S. — died March 25, 2009, Durham, N.C.) U.S. historian. He attended Fisk University and received graduate degrees from Harvard and taught at many colleges and universities, including Howard, Chicago, and Duke. He first gained international attention with From Slavery to Freedom (1947). He helped fashion the legal brief that led to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. He was the first black president of the American Historical Association (1978 – 79) and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995.

For more information on John Hope Franklin, visit Britannica.com.

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