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Franklin, one of the iconic characters of "Peanuts", celebrates his 50th birthday. He's not as famous as Charlie Brown, Lucy or Snoopy, but is the first black character in the band "Peanuts". And its original story begins during a period of polarization.
"Peanuts" was created during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Meanwhile, the Brown v. Board of Education desegregated schools, activists sat down and protested for equal rights and, in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered.
A few days after King's death, Harriet Glickman, a frustrated retired teacher, wrote to the creator of "Peanuts", Charles Schulz, asking him to incorporate a black character into his comics.
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At the Charles M. Schulz Museum, Glickman said, "This letter is the result of my whole life I saw racism in this country, knowing that whatever happens, there was ugliness and violence, and my little letter was nothing compared to the little girl who stood on the floor. threshold for integrating a school with crowds spitting things in. In a letter, Glickman suggested that "the introduction of black children into the Schulz character group could have minimal impact."
] Schulz responded by saying that he liked the idea but did not know how to go about it as a white draftsman.He did not want to appear condescending.According to Glickman, she asked a few of his African-American friends to write to Schulz for some suggestions. 1999, Schulz described his struggles with the creation of the character on the NBC Today Show.
"I was not sure I could do it frankly," Schulz said. "I do not know what it is to become a black child, I only know what it is to become a barber 's son in Saint Paul, I have my own experiences but I' d like to be a black boy. I received two letters from fathers that said: understand your problem, but try anyway, go ahead and try it. "
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Some critics say, unlike Schulz's personality flaws or oddities, Franklin seemed to be too perfect. Many attribute this lack of character development to Schultz's fear of black condescending readers.
After several publications, Schulz said that a publisher from the South protested because he drew Franklin sitting next to Peppermint Patty in class. Others wanted Schulz to get rid of the character completely, but Schulz said, "Either you print it as I draw it, or I leave … How?"
The cartoon "Peanuts" ran until 2000 when Shulz died. At that time, "Peanuts" was published in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries and translated into 21 languages. It has reached more than 300 million people around the world.
Histories of tendencies on Newsy.com
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