Who is Harold Franklin?

If I had been asked that question as a first-year student at Auburn, I would have had no idea how to respond.

In my defense, I didn’t know much about Auburn at the time. I was a lifelong Alabama fan before I came here, and I probably couldn’t have told you who Bruce Pearl was, much less Mr. Franklin. However, I don’t think I was alone in my ignorance. In fact, Harold Franklin’s name is not at all well-known amongst most Auburn students. So who, then, is this mystery man?

Harold Franklin was the very first black student ever admitted to Auburn. He’s still alive today. He still lives in Alabama. And his story is still relevant.

Some of us are very aware of the horror that was the desegregation of the University of Alabama. Auburn followed shortly after in January of 1964 in a much quieter affair; though not entirely without complications. At first, Mr. Franklin was denied admission — he sued, and was begrudgingly accepted by Auburn as a graduate student. Franklin’s path to class was lined with security for days. He lived all alone in a wing of Magnolia Hall that was completely cleared out on every floor. One hundred state troopers sent by Governor Wallace made their way to campus. One harassed Franklin on the day of his registration for classes, taunting him about not having a student ID yet.

This happened only 55 years ago.

“Hannah,” you say, reading this article. “Why haven’t you talked about Martin Luther King Jr. yet?” Well, the point I’m going for with this history lesson is that we are not living in a post-civil rights era. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” said Dr. King, and his words still ring true today — even here, even now. Auburn is not immune to hate. Part of what we can do better, though, is acknowledge our past. Harold Franklin is a name that we should all know, because his Auburn experience is the exact opposite of what we sell to people who want to come here. And in the grand scheme of things, it happened way too recently in our history for us to forget about it.

The strides our nation has made since Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech have been monumental, and I don’t mean to be cynical or bitter in my critique of our ignorance toward this part of our past. As Dr. King put it, “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” However, I do believe we still have a ways to go, and that every one of us can do better. When all is said and done, we are still the land of the free.

I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times, but on this day, it’s worth taking a look at some of the most famous lines ever uttered in American history: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

Be well, Auburn.

Photography: The Smithsonian Institution, AL.com