Franklin (Peanuts)
|
|
Franklin is a character in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schulz. Introduced in the late 1960s, Franklin was the first black character in the strip. He went to school with Peppermint Patty and Marcie. In his first story arc, he met Charlie Brown when they were both at the beach. Franklin later paid Charlie Brown a visit and found some of Charlie Brown's other friends to be quite odd.
At a time when segregation was an ongoing national debate, the introduction of Franklin proved somewhat controversial. Schulz, however, insisted that there was no political motivation in his introduction. Rarely was it ever mentioned in the strip that Franklin was black, most characters merely accepting him as part of the gang (although Peppermint Patty, upon hearing that Franklin wanted to become a hockey player, once wondered aloud how many black players there were in the NHL).
Franklin sits in front of Peppermint Patty in school, and is the center-fielder of her baseball team. Franklin acts as a thoughtful foil to Linus, and is as adept at quoting the Old Testament as Linus is. One connection that Franklin and Charlie Brown have is their mutual interest in their grandfathers. With few anxieties or obsessions, Franklin could be considered one of the less interesting of the characters in the Peanuts universe.
According to the TV special You're In the Superbowl, Charlie Brown, Franklin's last name is Armstrong.