Franklin, First Black Character "Peanuts", Celebrates 50 Years

Franklin, the first African-American to appear in the classic "Peanuts" comic strip alongside Charlie Brown and Snoopy, turns 50 on Tuesday, a milestone for a character born in a period of racial tension after the murder Martin Luther King

Young Franklin joined the iconic team on July 31, 1968, during a summer of racial riots and civil unrest as a result of the assassination of King on April 4 of the same year

. "Peanuts" has been worn in hundreds of newspapers – and at the peak of its popularity, exposing the weaknesses of humanity through the shenanigans of a group of kids and a clever beagle.

The arrival of Franklin made a big splash. . It may not have happened either for a Los Angeles teacher and a mother of three with an idea.

On April 15, Harriet Glickman wrote to the creator of "Peanuts" Charles Schulz and suggested that he include a "Negro" character. "Since the death of Martin Luther King, I have wondered what I can do to help change the conditions of our society that led to the assassination and that contribute to the assassination." I am sure that we do not make radical changes in such an important institution without a lot of shock coming from the unions, customers, etc. You have, however, a stature and a reputation that can endure many things, "she added

The letter is now kept at the Charles M Schulz Museum in California.

Several days later, Schulz wrote to her that He would like to do this, "but I am faced with the same problem that All the designers are … We all would love to be able to do it, but everyone of us is afraid that we will have it. look to patronize our black friends. "

" I do not know what is the solution "he said at the end of the short letter.

My dad is finished in Vietnam

Without getting discouraged, Glickman replied with an offer to run the idea after some of his black friends, all

She told Schulz their approval, but he still seemed not to be convinced

Then, in early July 1968, he again wrote to Glickman, telling him to keep an eye on the comic book in the week from July 29.

In the July 31 issue, Charlie Brown loses his ball to the beach: he is returned by an African-American boy.

Franklin made it on page and linked with Charlie Brown on sand and baseball castles.

"Is your whole family here at the beach, Franklin? "C harlie Brown asked his new friend

" No, my father is in Vietnam, "Franklin replied. [19659004] "My father is a barber," Charlie Brown said. "He was also in a war, but I do not know which one."

The response from readers and editors was largely positive, Schulz later recalls, although he has received at least one complaint from a publisher from the South. about the white Charlie Brown going to the same school as the black Franklin.

Two years earlier, Marvel had created his own first black superhero, Black Panther, created by the masters of the genre, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

. ] But Franklin proved a novelty in the world of mainstream comics, whose audience was mostly white and middle class, though some black readers sometimes saw him as a bit bland in the distribution of eccentric characters.