John Hope Franklin is James B. Duke Professor of History Emeritus and for seven years was Professor of Legal History at Duke University’s Law School. He is a native of Oklahoma and a graduate of Fisk University, receiving his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history from Harvard University in 1936 and 1941 respectively. Professor Franklin has taught at several institutions including Fisk, North Carolina Central, and Howard Universities as well as at St. Augustine’s College in North Carolina. From 1956 to 1964, he served as Chairman of the History Department at Brooklyn College. In 1964, he joined the faculty at the University of Chicago and in 1969, while serving as Chairman of the History Department between 1967 and 1970, was named John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor. In 1982, he became Professor Emeritus.

Perhaps best known for his study From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans (1947) now in its eighth edition, John Hope Franklin is also the author of many other works including The Free Negro in North Carolina (dissertation, 1943); The Militant South, 1800-1861 (1956); Reconstruction After the Civil War (1961); Land of the Free (with John Caughey and William May) (1965); The Emancipation Proclamation (1965); An Illustrated History of Black Americans (1970); A Southern Odyssey: Travelers in the Antebellum North (1976); Racial Equality in America (1976); George Washington Williams: A Biography (1985); Race and History: Selected Essays, 1938-1988 (1990); The Color Line: Legacy for the 21st Century (1993); Xanadu (1999); For Better, For Worse (1999); and Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation (1999) co-authored with former student Loren Schweninger.

John Hope Franklin has also edited or co-edited numerous books in African-American history, has published one hundred and sixteen essays and numerous reviews, and has written over seventy-five unpublished pieces. He has served on a variety of commissions and boards, and has received numerous awards. Most recently, he was Chairman of the Advisory Board to the President’s Initiative on Race (1997-99) and the National Parks System Advisory Board (1999-2000). In 2002, he received the Gold Medal in History, the highest award given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

In 1997, Franklin was historical consultant on Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated film Amistad, and was featured in “First Person Singular: John Hope Franklin,” a chroncle of his life documented for PBS. In January, 2001, Franklin was the subject of WUNC-TV’s “Biographical Conversations” which includes more than ten hours of footage condensed and presented in three one-hour segments. In addition, along with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, he was featured in “Race and Reconciliation: A Journey Towards Peace,” a PBS documentary filmed on the West African island of Goree which premiered at the Smithsonian Institution.

John Hope Franklin lives in Durham, North Carolina, where he maintains a 17 x 25 foot greenhouse containing over one hundred orchid specimens and hybrids, of which one, the "Phalaeonopsis John Hope Franklin” is named for him. Franklin is currently writing his autobiography, “The Vintage Years,” a work which will examine over six decades of scholarship, activism and service.