In the past day or two you may have seen in the headlines that John Hope Franklin died.  His death is even noted on the TPM front page.  He lived a long and extremely productive life.  He was, in my opinion, a great American and a towering figure in the field of American history.  Unlike most great historians, he was not only widely admired and respected within his field, but also outside his field and for good reason.  He was highly skilled in his profession and was a groundbreaker in terms of shedding light on topics that had received little attention by historians until he came along.  This was especially true early in his career, but he kept that focus and helped in a very real way to redirect the attention of the whole nation toward subjects it had neglected to learn about previously.

As an undergraduate, I read several of John Hope Franklin's books and found them fascinating and very illuminating.  I read others after that time not because they were assigned, but because he made the subjects he wrote about so interesting and vital.  The best historical works I've ever read always help me to understand the world we live in today and his were certainly in that category for me.  I was very impressed by his work from the moment I started reading it.  In my opinion, one of the key aspects of a great historian is that they are simultaneiously great teachers.  Mr. Franklin was certainly that.  Our country was blessed to have had this great teacher and even more blessed that despite his passing all his works remain to teach future generations and that will help us never to lose sight of the very important subjects he concerned himself with.

If you are interested in American history, but have never read anything by John Hope Franklin, I recommend his work to you.  It will be well worth your time.  He was a great scholar, but more importantly, as mentioned above, a great teacher in the sense that his examination of the past was engaging, communicated very clearly and made the subjects he tackled very accessible to any reader.  I hope that both he and his works will be remembered and honored for many years to come.