Let’s look at Franklin as prophetically social distancing, outside, on Thanksgiving instead of being segregated. A special thank you this Thanksgiving to, Harriet Glickman, a schoolteacher from California, who in 1968 encouraged Charles M. Schulz, to include a Black character in the “Peanuts” cast, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Thankfully, Schulz overcame his initial fear that adding a Black character, “would look like we are patronizing our Negro friends,” and included Franklin Armstrong, on July 31, 1968 to the “Peanuts” cast. Franklin made his comic debut on the beach with Charlie Brown, by returning a beach ball and helping rebuild Charlie Brown’s crooked sandcastle.
“If I were given the opportunity to present a gift to the next generation, it would be the ability for each individual to learn to laugh at himself.” Charles M. Schulz