I wanted to share some of the controversial history of Franklin in my review of ‘Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home Franklin’ but couldn’t really find a way to put it in that didn’t feel forced and out of place. So, I decided to make a separate piece.
In 1968, a Los Angeles schoolteacher named Harriet Glickman wrote to Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts, asking to introduce a black character.
Schulz declined her request noting that he and other fellow cartoonists were afraid of “patronizing our Negro friends.”
Glickman wasn’t discouraged and kept in touch with him, even recruited some of her Black peers to help illustrate to Schulz how a Black character could be included in Peanuts without being stereotypical or condescending. Schulz was eventually convinced. On July 1, 1968, Schulz wrote to Glickman and said “I have drawn an episode which I think will please you” and on July 31, Schulz introduced his first black character, Franklin, as he first meets Charlie Brown at the beach.
Franklin’s introduction in the era of race relations and segregation proved to be quite controversial. When Franklin was first introduced, many people thought he was added for political means, but Schulz insisted he was introduced as a normal character and told the head of the syndicate “Either you print it as I draw it, or I quit.” Initially, many newspapers threatened to cut the strip, but soon realized Schulz was telling the truth.
In an interview, Schulz remembered a particular letter he received about Franklin from a Peanuts reader “who said something about, ‘I don’t mind you having a black character, but please don’t show them in school together.’ Because I had shown Franklin sitting in front of Peppermint Patty, I didn’t even answer him”. – Schulz
However, the controversies went both ways. As, Schulz himself received backlash for multiple racist allegations for how Franklin was presented in some strips and scenes.
One strip from November 6, 1974 was accused of showing insensitivity toward African Americans. A comic strip showing Peppermint Patty practicing her skating while Franklin is practicing hockey. She tells him that he is in the way and she is practicing for a skating competition. Franklin tells her that he is practicing to become a “great hockey player”, to which she responds, “How many black players in the NHL, Franklin?”.
Although Schulz told fans that the joke was not meant to be racist, many beg to differ. A fan even sent Charles M. Schulz a letter regarding the strip, twelve years after it was first published and Schulz sent a terse reply.
Controversy surrounding Franklin came around again with his placement at Charlie Brown’s feast in ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving‘ (1973) where he is on the opposite side of the rest of the Peanuts with the entire side of the table to himself, creating the image of racially-segregated seating.
In a 2019 blog post for the Schulz Museum, Schulz’s widow Jean Schulz addressed the scene.
“While it can’t be known now which animator drew that particular scene, you can be sure there was no ulterior motive. Sparky created Franklin’s character out of sincerity with the intention of inclusiveness…I fall back on Peppermint Patty’s apology to Charlie Brown explaining she meant no harm when she criticized his poor Thanksgiving offering, which goes something like: ‘There are enough problems in the world already without these misunderstandings.’ To suggest the show had any other messages than the importance of family, sharing, and gratitude is to look for an issue where there is none.” – Jean Schulz
Robin Reed, who voiced Franklin in the special, addressed this as well in a 2021 interview with MSNBC.
“It’s so very easy to get offended or upset … but we have to remember that at that time, that actually represented progress,” – Robin Reed
The scene and it’s controversy actually receive an acknowledgment in the 2024 special ‘Welcome Home, Franklin‘, when Franklin sits by himself on one side of the table only to be specifically invited to join his friends on the other side.
It is nice to see Franklin getting his standalone special and although time passes, nothing changes. Sadly I am sure again some people will have a lot to say about Franklin.
