By Don Valentine
The comic “Color Line” was broken on July 31, 1969 with the introduction of Franklin Armstrong to the Peanuts family. Franklin was penned by the courage of Charles Schultz. Placing the first Black character was a big splash into the comic strip pool. The country had endured years of Civil Rights growing pains and it was debatable if it was ready for this subtle but unapologetic step toward integration.
The Press-Telegram paper chronicled the story of the reader that motivated Schultz to integrate the hugely popular comic strip. “Harriet Glickman was a White, 42-year-old Los Angeles school teacher …when Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968…” She was distraught by the racial tension and wrote a letter asking him to help.” The Atlanta Journal Constitution quoted Mr. Schultz, “I appreciate your suggestion about introducing a Negro child into the comic strip, but I am faced with the same problem that other cartoonists are who wish to comply with your suggestion. We all would like very much to be able to do this, but each of us is afraid that it would look like we were patronizing our Negro friends.”
Several weeks of soul searching and reading the comments from Mrs. Glickman’s Black friends gave him the moral resolve to add Franklin. The moral decision was difficult, because for the last 18 years “Peanuts” was the nation’s favorite White comic strip. Including Franklin was going to irritate a lot of readers. Undaunted, he followed these words, “The time is always right to do what is right.” – Dr. King
In a Saturday Evening Post interview he described the hostile reaction from his boss, “I remember telling Larry at the time about Franklin–he wanted me to change it…Well, Larry, let’s put it this way: Either you print it just the way I draw it or I quit.” Franklin evolved into a mild-mannered kid, sans the quirky traits of the other kids. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat wrote, “While other characters did zany things, Franklin quoted the Old Testament.” Franklin and Charlie Brown became quite close, and would talk about their grandfathers and how Franklin’s Dad was doing in VietNam. He became the voice of reason in the Peanuts world.
In the Black community Mr. Schultz was lauded for his courage. The New York Times wrote, “…More auspiciously, Franklin served as proof that there was room for more Black characters in the comics, their stories to be told this time by Black cartoonists.” Renowned Black comic strip author Robb Armstrong described to CBS News how the inclusion of a Black kid motivated him and others. “My mom is like, ‘Look, that’s a little Black character in “Peanuts.’ I was like ‘Wow!’ This changed everything,” Armstrong said. Starting in 1989 he became the most successful Black cartoonist in the world drawing the syndicated strip “Jump Start.” All thanks to including Franklin to remind us that there is more than one color in God’s rainbow.
