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[entremet]

This came up on my feed and thought it was interesting as topics like race and gender representation come to the forefront of mass media.

This happened after MLK was assassinated, so it's a great time capsule at the national mood of the time.

The full post comes from the excellent blog--Brain Pickings. This is an excerpt.

Link

The origins of Franklin come from a fan's concern about the recent assassination and how adding a black character would help the nation heal those wounds.

The fan was lady by the name of Harriet Glickman:

Dear Mr. Schulz,

Since the death of Martin Luther King, I’ve been asking myself what I can do to help change those conditions in our society which led to the assassination and which contribute to the vast sea of misunderstanding, fear, hate and violence.

As a suburban housewife; the mother of three children and a deeply concerned and active citizen, I am well aware of the very long and tortuous road ahead. I believe that it will be another generation before the kind of open friendship, trust and mobility will be an accepted part of our lives.

In thinking over the areas of the mass media which are of tremendous importance in shaping the unconscious attitudes of our kids, I felt that something could be done through our comic strips, and even in that violent jungle of horrors known as Children’s Television.

You need no reassurances from me that Peanuts is one of the most adored, well-read and quoted parts of our literate society. In our family, teen-age Kathy has posters and sweat shirts … pencil holders and autograph books. Paul, who’s ten and our Charlie Brown Little Leaguer … has memorized every paper back book … has stationery, calendars, wall hangings and a Snoopy pillow. Three and a half year old Simon has his own Snoopy which lives, loves, eats, paints, digs, bathes and sleeps with him. My husband and I keep pertinent Peanuts cartoons on desks and bulletin boards as guards against pomposity. You see … we are a totally Peanuts-oriented family.

It occurred to me today that the introduction of Negro children into the group of Schulz characters could happen with a minimum of impact. The gentleness of the kids … even Lucy, is a perfect setting. The baseball games, kite-flying … yea, even the Psychiatric Service cum Lemonade Stand would accommodate the idea smoothly.

Sitting alone in California suburbia makes it all seem so easy and logical. I’m sure one doesn’t make radical changes in so important an institution without a lot of shock waves from syndicates, clients, etc. You have, however, a stature and reputation which can withstand a great deal.

Lastly; should you consider this suggestion, I hope that the result will be more than one black child… Let them be as adorable as the others … but please … allow them a Lucy!

Sincerely,

Harriet Glickman

Dear Mr. Schulz,

I appreciate your taking the time to answer my letter about Negro children in Peanuts.

You present an interesting dilemma. I would like your permission to use your letter to show some Negro friends. Their responses as parents may prove useful to you in your thinking on this subject.

Sincerely,

Harriet Glickman

Glickman later shared Schultz letter to a friend of hers, a black father of two boys by the name of Kenneth C. Kelly.

Dear Mr. Schulz:

With regards to your correspondence with Mrs. Glickman on the subject of including Negro kids in the fabric of Peanuts, I’d like to express an opinion as a Negro father of two young boys. You mention a fear of being patronizing. Though I doubt that any Negro would view your efforts that way, I’d like to suggest that an accusation of being patronizing would be a small price to pay for the positive results that would accrue!

We have a situation in America in which racial enmity is constantly portrayed. The inclusion of a Negro supernumerary in some of the group scenes in Peanuts would do two important things. Firstly, it would ease my problem of having my kids seeing themselves pictured in the overall American scene. Secondly, it would suggest racial amity in a casual day-to-day sense.

I deliberately suggest a supernumerary role for a Negro character. The inclusion of a Negro in your occasional group scenes would quietly and unobtrusively set the stage for a principal character at a later date, should the basis for such a principal develop.

We have too long used Negro supernumeraries in such unhappy situations as a movie prison scene, while excluding Negro supernumeraries in quiet and normal scenes of people just living, loving, worrying, entering a hotel, the lobby of an office building, a downtown New York City street scene. There are insidious negative effects in these practices of the movie industry, TV industry, magazine publishing, and syndicated cartoons.

Sincerely,

KCK

These type of creator and fan correspondences are always fun to read.

 

[Katori]

What a great guy. There's a lot of progress to go (not too much has changed since then) but we can still be happy about this.

 

[NEO0MJ]

Pretty cool story. Also, I love the papers he uses for his letters.

 

[Symphonic]

Cartoonists are my favorite

 

[SpaceWolf]

Anywhere we can see the strip that was produced as a result?

 

[Brakke]

Thanks for sharing this is lovely.

Anywhere we can see the strip that was produced as a result?

follow the link in the OP

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Anywhere we can see the strip that was produced as a result?

Peanuts - July 31st 1968

I think this is the first Franklin appearance.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Damn I thought he was ending each letter with a doodle. I saw it wasn't. Still cool to see how Franklin came to be.

KCK's venacular though! Good shit!

 

[Count Dookkake]

What a nice story.

 

[alfredofroylan]

That scene from the Thanksgiving special is still kinda awkward.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

This is really cool!

 

[JeTmAn81]

I had to look up the definition of "supernumerary". It means more than the usual number. In the 60's, a supernumerary of black characters in cartoons and movies was one. That's sad. We've come a long way.

 

[snacknuts]

Up until the last two words of the thread title, I was expecting this thread to be about:

 

[entremet]

That scene from the Thanksgiving special is kinda awkward.

In the full link, added in the OP, it says United Feature Syndicate, the distributor of the strip, was wary of using Franklin with the rest of the characters at first.

Up until the last two words of the thread title, I was expecting this thread to be about:

Was his name Franklin too?

 

[Air]

That's a pleasant story to read.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Everything turned out better than expected, and man at the good english being used for the letters. Such great vernacular.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Was his name Franklin too?

Indeed it was.

 

[UncleSporky]

Vietnam! What a subject for a casual children's comic.

 

[double jump]

the word negro is kinda funny to see written out with no malicious or sarcastic intent.

 

[JDSN]

Obligatory racist salt.

In an interview in 1997, Schulz discussed receiving a letter from a Southern editor "who said something about, 'I don't mind you having a black character, but please don't show them in school together.' Because I had shown Franklin sitting in front of Peppermint Patty. [...] I didn't even answer him."

 

[akira28]

I was a little disappointed by his first response. but thankfully he was open to suggestion and discussion, and most importantly, change.

the word negro is kinda funny to see written out with no malicious or sarcastic intent.

well back then if someone took the time to actually say "nigra" instead of "nigger", you knew they were alright people.

 

[JDSN]

I was a little disappointed by his first response. but thankfully he was open to suggestion and discussion, and most importantly, change.

Yep, it was straight up Ubisoft bullshit, but the last líne made it clear he was asking for help.

 

[Slayven]

Obligatory racist salt.

So good

 

[inky]

We have too long used Negro supernumeraries in such unhappy situations as a movie prison scene, while excluding Negro supernumeraries in quiet and normal scenes of people just living, loving, worrying, entering a hotel, the lobby of an office building, a downtown New York City street scene. There are insidious negative effects in these practices of the movie industry, TV industry, magazine publishing, and syndicated cartoons.

When was this written again? Man, progress is sometimes such a slow thing.

 

[ChouGoku]

Obligatory racist salt.

lol what? The mental gymnastics of racist is hilarious and sad. I don't mind blacks at all but I don't want them to be in the vicinity of whites as equals

 

[BertramCooper]

I can't believe it's been almost 16 years since Schulz died.

The most profound memory I have from all of the hullabaloo of the new millennium was Peanuts ending and Schulz dying.

 

[Hazmat]

I had to look up the definition of "supernumerary". It means more than the usual number. In the 60's, a supernumerary of black characters in cartoons and movies was one. That's sad. We've come a long way.

It's also an older word for what we call an "extra" in modern films and television, which I think is how he was using it.

Anyway, I've always liked Schulz saying that he just ignored the complaint about Franklin. It's interesting to see a comic strip consciously play a role in race issues.

Anyone else notice that the signatures in the letter are pretty different? I wonder if one was signed by an assistant or if he just paid varying amounts of attention to stuff he signed.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Vietnam! What a subject for a casual children's comic.

I think that shows just what such an all-encompassing war looks like. Everyone knew someone who was affected by the draft. I had the same reaction as you looking at the comic. Very different time.

 

[entremet]

It's also an older word for what we call an "extra" in modern films and television, which I think is how he was using it.

Anyway, I've always liked Schulz saying that he just ignored the complaint about Franklin. It's interesting to see a comic strip consciously play a role in race issues.

Anyone else notice that the signatures in the letter are pretty different? I wonder if one was signed by an assistant or if he just paid varying amounts of attention to stuff he signed.

Good to know. The letter is much easier to read using that definition.

 

[ReiGun]

I never paid any attention to those things, and I remember telling Larry [Rutman, president of United Feature] at the time about Franklin — he wanted me to change it, and we talked about it for a long while on the phone, and I finally sighed and said, “Well, Larry, let’s put it this way: Either you print it just the way I draw it or I quit. How’s that?” So that’s the way that ended.

Charlie S. da Gawd

 

[finowns]

I had to look up the definition of "supernumerary". It means more than the usual number. In the 60's, a supernumerary of black characters in cartoons and movies was one. That's sad. We've come a long way.

Lol. I looked it up too.

 

[Hellwarden]

Schulz was a cool cat.

He seemed like a very thoughtful individual.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

Up until the last two words of the thread title, I was expecting this thread to be about:

Spoiler

me too