Dr. John Hope Franklin

Dr. John Hope Franklin was an Oklahoman who followed the charge of his father, B.C. Franklin to ensure justice for people of color around the state, country, and world. Franklin's father Buck Colbert Franklin was a civil rights lawyer, aka "Amazing Buck Franklin." Buck Franklin is best known for defending African-American survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race riot, in which whites had attacked many blacks and buildings, and burned and destroyed the Greenwood District. Franklin is best known for his work From Slavery to Freedom, first published in 1947, and continually updated. More than three million copies have been sold. In 1995, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.