Franklin, John Hope (1915-), a United States historian and educator, considered by scholars to be the foremost authority on the history of black Americans. He wrote several books about the role of black Americans in the development of the United States, including From Slavery to Freedom (1947). Franklin was born in Rentiesville, Oklahoma. He graduated from Fisk University in 1935 and received an M.A. (1936) and a Ph.D. (1941) from Harvard. He began teaching in 1936, at Fisk. He taught at the University of Chicago, 1964-82, becoming the first black chairman of its history department. He taught at Duke University, 1982-92.
His other books include The Emancipation Proclamation (1963) and Race in History (1990).
