Week of September 21

Jerrell Writes:

In reading "Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin," I have found that JHF's life is very extraordinary compared to the life that it is perceive most African American's had during this time period. I think the title of the 1st chapter eludes to that. The title of the 1st chapter is "No Crystal Stair." JHF has born into a family that was doing ok for themselves in a time that presented more boundaries than opportunities. Both of JHF's parents, Mollie and Buck, had received a secondary and post-secondary education. The fact that both of his parents had college degrees surprised me. Even though the Franklin's were able to find a town that was all Black, there were several obstables holding them back. #1: They still weren't white. No matter where they lived, being white superceded any status they may have had. #2: The town of Rentiesville experienced a fued between two religious groups competing for control over the town, the Methodists and the Baptists. #3: Despite all the statuses Mollie and Buck had reached, they still had to work extra hard to maintain them. They were subject to loose everything at the drop of a dime due to their religious beliefs and the color of their skin.

Juston Co Writes:

JHF was an ambitious man that saw the sky as the limit. I feel this way because when he was offered a job at Howard, he was some what reluctant to take it even though, at the time, it was one of the best jobs he could hope to obtain. His hesitation was because of the factor that Howard was thought to be the final destination for an African American professor. JHF wanted more then that and lucky for him he was able to obtain much more because of his significant work in assisting Thurgood Marshall with legal cases.

The first time that JHF helped Marshall he was disappointed, at first, even though they won, because of the weakness of the defenses case. JHF had put his full effort into the case and the prosecution did not even have to argue against the defense; however, during his second stint in law, Brown vs. Board of Education, JHF made a major contribution that is one of the highlights of his life. As a result of the extensive research that he, as well as other historians and lawyers, put into the case, they were able to successfully persuade the Supreme Court that “separate but equal” was not equal. This victory was overshadowed though because of the courts inability to make school systems change within a timely fashion and allowed them to take their time to the point where nothing was happening.

Ted Writes:

Franklin is touching on this idea of racism again. I feel like I had built this book up in my head as a dry explanation of what racism is and how he experienced it but it isn’t. Now when I read him blatantly talking about it I am like, “oh yeah” he was an African American that lived before the civil rights movement. The housing and loan issues that African Americans, at the time, dealt with is a truly interesting paper topic to explore. I never would have believed the amount of hardship people faced in doing tasks that most of us take for granted. These are highly stressful things such as housing and life insurance that take time to find and fill out paperwork for but for Afican Americans there is the added run around because of race.

Franklin and his family were highly welcomed at the University of Hawaii when he worked there for the summer in 1955. He explained that it was a break from the everyday racism that he and his family had grown accustomed to in New York. He referred to the little vacation as a release that he had not realized he had been dealing with until the pressure had been removed. The one who had, had the most enjoyment out of the experience was his son Whit. Franklin describes how his son was finally able to reach his full potential as a child because he was an equal to his peers in Hawaii. In America, he struggled living in an all white neighborhood that did not always accept him as one of their own. Franklin contemplated moving for Whit’s sake but ultimately decided against the move because it would be too far from his work.

Franklin wanted to make sure that he was not teaching his family to run from their problems rather to stand up and fight for their freedom as equals in New York.

Tom Writes:

Again, I was astounded by the amount of projects JHF takes on at once. He starts off by mentioning that he was elected to the Fisk University Board of Trustees, the Board of American Council of Learned Societies, and the program committee of the Southern Historical Association. Even with all that going on, he still offered his help and advice to anyone that asked for it.

One thing I really respected was how JHF decided not to attend the conference because the hotel had racist policies. He still helped out with the preparation, but recognized that he didn't have to put up with all the problems that would go along with his trip.

This chapter made it seem like just about everyone wanted his attention, and I was really pleased to read that Brooklyn College invited him to become a permanent member of their department. Its strange to think about how something like that made the front page of the New York Times back then. Still, it was really impressive

Max Writes

Chapters 1-2

If you were to pick up John Hope Franklin’s autobiography Mirror to America and begin reading without knowing anything about the author, the immediate impression thrust upon you of what the book is largely about would not be the life of a man writing as an immensely accomplished octogenarian; rather, it would appear the focus of the text is a biting commentary on the overriding negative force of his life: the role of racism in 20th century American society. It is disheartening that a man who is so revered for his work and success found the need to introduce his life story with jaded dismay discussing his life personally and professionally. Limitations on the things he could do (often in unprecedented defiance of such limitations), and isolated incidents of ignorance by strangers dominate his memories of events that he deserves to have stand in his mind as moments of triumph and great pride. It is a sad and bitter tone that the reader is presented with when Franklin briefly reflects on his life throughout the 20th century and concludes with the statement, “the Rodney King riots of 1991 offered vivid testimony that there still persists much too much potential for racial conflict for anyone to be complacent.” (p. 6) The fact that a simple case of police overzealousness morphing itself into fuel for vicious racism and rioting even needs to be mentioned in this context because it became so significant, serves to demean Franklin and his life’s work. While we can assume that the author doesn’t espouse rhetoric for the entire book, and this is in fact correctly labeled as an autobiography, it is mind numbingly sad that he wants you to keep this overriding tone in your head while you read his reflections of such an amazing life — because it was the overriding tone for him while he lived it.

Many fictional stories have grand stages set in their opening; however, when dealing with reality, an extraordinary story often seems to have an unassuming ordinary beginning. For Franklin, growing up in postwar rural Oklahoma in part helped cultivate the mind he would need to succeed the way he did, however his venue would certainly need to change for it to be of much use. Ideologically, the all black community of Rentiesville where Franklin lived for his early childhood would be the perfect setting for his family; but, like most ideologies, unanticipated problems eroded the utopian aspects that the community was created to provide. In the case of Rentiesville, the deep divide between the intolerant Baptists and outnumbered Methodists created irreparable, overwhelming strife that contributed to 6 year old Franklin’s father leaving town with plans for the family to soon follow behind: “These were the final failures that persuaded my parents that so-called utopia, this bastion of racial unity, this Eden where all were supposed to be sisters and brothers, was a travesty.” (p. 15) In the black community then, as is still the case today for communities from all cultures, the church serves as much more than a house of worship; in the case of Franklin, “While we were a churchgoing family, we were not particularly sectarian or even God fearing. In Rentiesville, we attended regularly the Methodist church for social as much as religious reasons.” (p. 21) This part of the book ends with sights set on postwar, pre-Depression Tulsa, which modernly may conjure quite the lackluster image, but still must have seemed like Atlantis for Franklin, even if his departure was delayed by everything his father owned being destroyed in a race riot.

Unnecessarily used, overly obscure words:

antediluvian – (n.) - any of the early patriarchs who lived prior to the Noachian flood

(adj.) of or relating to the period before the biblical flood; "antediluvian man"

(n.) ancient: a very old person

(adj.) so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period; "a ramshackle antediluvian tenement"; "antediluvian ideas"; "archaic laws"

equanimity – (n.) composure: steadiness of mind under stress; "he accepted their problems with composure and she with equanimity"

milliner – (n.) hatmaker; someone who makes and sells hats

congeries – (n.) singular (congery, congerie not words); aggregate, a sum total of many heterogeneous things taken together

borderline: acquiescence, operettas

Heather Writes:

It is undeniable that Franklin was a very passionate and driven individual and I think it really showed in this section when you look at all the pictures he has chosen to put in the book. He was such a prominent and public figure and he had the opportunity to meet, and in some cases work with, other influential people like Maya Angelou, Ray Charles, Rosa Parks, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and J. William Fulbright.

I found the controversy over the Land of the Free fascinating. It's amazing the lengths that people will go to when they feel that their children may be exposed to "dangerous" ideas. Book banning is a practice that has been around for a long time and still occurs today. His particular textbook was put on a list of 334 books that should be banned, a report that was placed in Time magazine. It also shows the impact that the media can have which we can see when Franklin says, "Many parents were persuaded of the book's supposedly evil intentions despite never having read it." It seems that people are often, or at least in this case, were content to listen to the opinions of others instead of reading the textbook themselves and forming their own conclusions. For example the film, Education or Indoctrination, which tried to convince people that the book was a part of a Communist conspiracy meant to control the minds of American children

Dana Writes:

I have become really curious of the views college students during the 1950's had about their African American teachers and in general their views towards the black race alone. After living at home under your parents' rules, are college students during JHF's time simply rebeling against their parents or do they genuinely feel as though racism is unjust. After all, some say you are a similar model of your parents ideas and beliefs. I would not consider myself someone who discriminates against blacks but could that just be because that was the way I was brought up? If my parents had different views towards African Americans would there be a chance that I would be racist as well. It's just something I was thinking about after reading around pages 154-155.

I was happy to read that the students of JHF's class wrote a paper for him to join the faculty full-time. It was nice to see that these college students, so young, were proud of what they wrote and wanted to create a change. Although this change may have been small ,and of course ignored, I believe that it showed confidence and another step towards equality, especially within education.