“After the death of John Hope Franklin last year, tributes to the distinguished historian cascaded down. A major newspaper in North Carolina declared that Franklin, who retired from Duke University, “gave definition to the African-American experience.” That was a slight exaggeration, overlooking as it did predecessors such as Carter G. Woodson, creator of what has become Black History Month, but the statement was not off much. Franklin’s 1947 classic, “From Slavery to Freedom,” is deservedly credited with setting forth the master narrative of black people in America….”

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