*Following the death of Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968, a white school teacher named Harriet Glickman, and a few of her friends, took it upon themselves to petition comic writer and creator of the popular Peanuts comic strip line for more characters of color, a bold move that resulted in the inclusion of the character named ‘Franklin.’
“In thinking over the areas of the mass media,” wrote Glickman in the first of several correspondences between her and Peanuts creator Charles Shulz, “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.”
This well written letter moved Schulz to consider her request, but as any rational thinking person during the 1960s would consider, the racism and post Civil Wrights Era attitudes gave him pause.
“It occurred to me today,” Glickman goes on to write later in her letter, “that the introduction of Negro children into the group of Schultz characters could happen with a minimum of impact.”
Eventually the though provoking and persuasive reasoning caused Schultz to change his views and that summer, ‘Franklin’ was introduced along a beach speaking candidly to Charley Brown. The strip, although seemingly innocent and uneventful, was revolutionary in that is showed an African American character, a child, speaking intelligently and honestly to a white character, even criticizing him.
Forty seven years later, the Peanuts Comic line is still going strong and with the upcoming movie, titled “Peanuts” Glickman meets the young actor from Compton, named Mar Mar that voices the character “Franklin’”that she helped to inspire.
The Peanuts movie is a 3-D animated story about a child named Charlie Brown, and his dog Snoopy, who both go on quests. According to the official movie website, Snoopy goes up against his nemesis the Red Baron, while Charlie Brown tries to win the affection of the Little Red-Haired Girl, who just moved to the neighborhood.
Harriet Glickman & Mar Mar
Mar Mar, who plays Franklin, the controversial first African American character in the Peanuts franchise, is an articulate and intelligent young man. Mar Mar is very opinionated about his role in society, as well as what his character means to popular media and the world.
“This is Harriet Glickman,” explain Mar Mar upon their meeting, as if he were in class and was asked a question by the teacher. “She actually advocated for there to be African American characters in the Peanuts world.”
“I could not have imagined a more perfect Franklin, than Mar Mar in every way. As a person, a thoughtful young man and as my new best friend,” said Glickman who has done several interviews with the child actor for the promotion of the Peanuts film.
“I had a sense of, ‘I should do something, somebody should do something,’” said Glickman who spoke about why she started the correspondence with Schulz in an interview with EURweb.com’s Lee Bailey at the Charles Shulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California, “and of course, I can’t do anything big, and so it came to be that I would write to some cartoonists, and I wrote to Mr. Shulz, and asked him if he would put a Negro child in the script. To my surprise, he wrote back very quickly, and said that, ‘Although he thought the idea was good, he’d like to do it, but that he feared that black families and parents would find it patronizing.’ I wrote back and asked his permission to share his letter with some friends of mine (who were) black parents, and he said, ‘Okay.’ I started with two of my friends. I wrote back and when he got them, he wrote back and said, ‘[Those interested in a Negro Character] would be pleased to see the July 26th strip where they would have a black child in it.”
Here’s young Mar Mar putting what Glickman did in perspective:
“I go to school and know about history and how tough it was during that time because Martin Luther King was assassinated and I know that what she did was brave, because it was a hard time and people were angry, sad, mad and for her to advocate for there to be an African American character during such a hard time in our nation’s history is a real honor.”
“People have said to me, ‘That was brave,’” added Glickman, “And I said, ‘that didn’t take any courage. The courage comes from little six year old Ruby Bridges who had to walk into a school with white adults throwing things at her, spitting at her, and the courage of her parents to actually have their child go through this.”
The feature film will be animated with a realistic portrayal that sticks to the imagery originally depicted in the comic strip. The Peanuts film opens in theaters November 6, 2015, but the Peanuts franchise is celebrating its first African American character with a ‘Franklin Day’ today, July 31, 2015.
“I would like people like Mar Mar, to open up a comic strip and see themselves and see a classroom with black and white kids sitting in the classroom together, and hopes that would be a cultural change,” said Glickman in a statement that sums up the intention and feelings behind the motivations that she and Schultz shared, along with many others around the world, regarding the future of comic strips and their impact on world cultures.
For more information on the “Peanuts” movie, go to www.peanutsmovie.com/ or use the hash tag #FranklinDay.
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