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Portrait of Civil Rights Leader John Hope Franklin to Be Unveiled at State Capitol

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
February 8, 2012

MEDIA CONTACT:
Joel Gavin
Director of Marketing and Communications
(405) 521-2037
joel.gavin@arts.ok.gov

Oklahoma City - A new painting of civil rights leader, John Hope Franklin will soon take its place among renderings of other iconic Oklahomans in the State Capitol. On Wednesday, February 22 the public is invited to a dedication ceremony for the portrait, Dr. John Hope Franklin, painted by internationally acclaimed New York City artist, Everett Raymond Kinstler. The event will take place at 10 a.m. in the second floor rotunda.

Spearheaded by Oklahoma City University President Robert Henry and William G. Kerr, the portrait commissioning was made possible by the Dr. John Hope Franklin Portrait Committee, which raised private funds for the project. The portrait will officially be gifted to the state during the ceremony.

The event will include remarks from Kinstler about the portrait process. Kinstler is best known for his paintings of seven U.S. presidents, including Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. has acquired more than 100 of his original works for its permanent collection.

Henry will comment on Franklin’s legacy as a civil rights advocate and historian, and Oklahoma City University gospel group, Generation Blessed will open and close the event with performances.

“We are extremely grateful to Robert Henry, Williams G. Kerr, and the committee for their efforts to honor Franklin through this portrait,” said Kim Baker, Oklahoma Arts Council executive director. “Thousands of annual visitors to the Capitol will be reminded of Franklin’s legacy as a civil rights advocate and an Oklahoman.”

The commissioning process was approved by the State Capitol Preservation Commission and managed by the Oklahoma Arts Council. Additional assistance was provided by the Friends of the Capitol.

For more information contact the Oklahoma Arts Council at (405) 521-2037 or joel.gavin@arts.ok.gov.

ABOUT JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN
Born in Rentiesville, Oklahoma, John Hope Franklin graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa and went on to become a nationally recognized historian and civil rights advocate. Franklin said it was his desire “to weave into the fabric of American history enough of the presence of blacks so that the story of the United States could be told adequately and fairly.”

In 1941, Franklin earned his doctorate in history from Harvard University and went on to a lifelong career in teaching. Franklin became the first person of color to head a major history department when he was selected to chair the history department at Brooklyn College. In 1983, Franklin became the James B. Duke Professor of History and Professor of Legal History at the Duke University Law School where three academic units are now named for him. Duke offered to name a center for African-American Studies after Franklin, but he politely declined, saying he was a historian of America and the world too. 

Franklin’s prolific writing might only be outdone by his dedication to civil rights. His work From Slavery to Freedom was first published in 1947 and has sold more than three million copies worldwide.
In the early 1950s, Franklin served on the NAACP Legal Defense Fund team led by Thurgood Marshall that helped develop the case for Brown v. Board of Education, which eventually ended segregation in public schools. Franklin also marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, Alabama.

In 1995, President Clinton awarded Franklin the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante included Franklin on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans, and in 2004, the State of Oklahoma recognized Franklin as a Cultural Treasure.

A few months prior to his 2009 death, Franklin made one of his last public appearances during the groundbreaking of the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park in Tulsa. Reflecting on his life he noted that he “would like [his] students to take up where [he] left off and to carry on the fight to establish history as a powerful force for good - a constructive force to rectify the ills of our society - to change the world, as it were.”

ABOUT THE STATE CAPITOL PRESERVATION COMMISSION
The Commission was created in 1982 to plan and supervise the preservation and restoration of the interior and exterior of the Oklahoma State Capitol building. Similar responsibilities were added in 1983 with respect to the Governor's Mansion. The Commission also controls the display of art objects in public areas of the State Capitol and the first floor of the Governor's Mansion.

ABOUT FRIENDS OF THE CAPITOL
Friends of the Capitol is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation that is devoted to maintaining and improving the Oklahoma State Capitol building and the grounds as well as the art located inside. Its partnership with private citizens is the source of funding for the preservation of this historic building.

ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA ARTS COUNCIL
The Oklahoma Arts Council is a state agency whose mission is to improve lives through the arts by promoting and sustaining the development of a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans. The Council serves as collections manager for the art in the public spaces of the Capitol.