2007 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal Recipient

The James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University John Hope Franklin was an eminent author and historian whose many appointments included the National Council on the Humanities, the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, and the President's Advisory Commission on Ambassadorial Appointments. In 1998 and 1999 Dr. Franklin chaired the Advisory Board for One America, the President's Initiative on Race. He graduated from Fisk University and received master's and doctoral degrees in history from Harvard University. Among many other foreign assignments, he was a Fulbright scholar in Australia and Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University. Dr. Franklin has taught at Duke University, Howard University, the University of Chicago, and other institutions. His book "Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin" was published in 2006. His most popular book, "From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans," written in 1947, has sold more than 3.5 million copies. In 1990, his collection of essays covering a teaching and writing career of 50 years was published under the title, "Race and History: Selected Essays, 1938-1988." He served as president of the American Studies Association, of the American Historical Association, and of Phi Beta Kappa, among other scholarly organizations.