Everybody knows Peanuts, about Charlie Brown and the gang. It was written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz from 1950 until his death in 2000. From then on, it continued in reruns. There have been 17,897 strips published of Peanuts, which makes it arguably one of the most, if not the most, popular and influential comic strip of all time.
One thing that people may not know, however, is the story of how Charles M. Schulz decided to add Franklin, a black character, into the cast. Franklin appeared first on the July 31, 1968 strip, shown above, and has been featured ever since until his last appearance on November 5, 1999, a few months before Schulz's death.
The period of the late 60s was quite turbulent in US history, as the Civil Rights movement had been underway, and 1968 was, of course, the year when a titan of the movement had been assassinated, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In light of such events, an avid fan of the Peanuts comic strip, Mrs. Harriet Glickman, wrote to Schulz in April 1968, asking him to consider introducing a black child in the Peanuts cast. What followed was a series of letters between Schulz, Glickman, and later on, one of Glickman's black friends, Kenneth C. Kelly, who urged Schulz to pursue the endeavor.
After the correspondence, Schulz was able to persuade his editors to the inclusion of Franklin. It wasn't without some resistance as Schulz had wanted to show Franklin inviting Charlie Brown and his friends to his house, as well as depicting Franklin going to the same school as his friends, which at the time was unheard of in the South.
And just to show how classy and courageous Schulz was, when the president of United Features which published the Peanuts comic strip, called him to change those scenes, he simply replied that they either print them as he drew them or he quits. And the rest is history.
(Image credit: Flashbak)