When it comes to entertaining the masses across thousands of newspapers and five decades, Peanuts is joined by few other legends of its caliber in how they reflected cultural touchstones of the 20th century. For a series particularly fixated on its philosophical portrayal of kids, creator Charles M. Schulz had more than one opportunity for it to make meaningful changes to its world or character roster without feeling forced. Such was the case with the inclusion of Franklin, a recurring character introduced in 1968, the second person of color, and first Black recurring character to feature in Peanuts.

But Franklin’s debut joining Charlie Brown at the beach on July 31, 1968, was obviously far from an understated move. Schulz wasn’t the one who initially conceived this addition, and even balked at the idea upon its proposal, fearing it’d be seen as an insincere token gesture, and he certainly received pushback upon Franklin’s introduction. But by continuously including the character, giving him a backstory while deliberately joining him with the rest of the Peanuts cast rather seamlessly, Schulz stayed on the right side of history. While Franklin’s moments alongside the cast were not without some faux pas instances in the years going forward, Schulz impressively wouldn’t compromise in this inclusion, staying reasonably ahead of his time in the process.

Peanuts’ Inclusion Of Franklin Was Relatively Ahead Of Its Time

Preceded by trailblazers like Morrie Turner’s Wee Pals, which is recognized as the first ongoing American comic strip with racially integrated characters, Peanuts was a strong example of how its creator understood the weight of such an inclusion, and acted accordingly. It passed the litmus test with readers, while producing a character in one of the most widely-circulated comic strips of all time that additional audiences could relate to.

However, this addition wasn’t conceived by Schulz, but rather, via a fan letter by Harriet Glickman of Los Angeles in the days following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, as explored previously such as via One Mic History on YouTube. Despite initially describing his fears about the process, Schulz did so despite complaints from editors including United Feature Syndicate president Larry Rutman, at numerous points putting his job on the line instead. It stands in stark contrast to the Jim Crow-era minstrel depictions such as in the case of Dennis the Menace’s Jackson, or other troublesome caricatures like Mandrake the Magician’s depiction of Lothar.

Franklin is conscientious, thoughtful, friendly, and a reasonably laid-back member of the Peanuts gang, with his backstory quickly establishing that his father fought in Vietnam, topically relevant in 1968, while Charlie Brown amusingly forgets which war his dad fought in. It’s clear that Franklin is a carefully-realized character with his own distinctive personality, staying uncompromising to his own integrity as a student when Peppermint Patty hatches her usual half-baked scheme in class to guess the right answer on a test. But this particular inclusion of Franklin in the same classroom as Patty was a surprise in and of itself, as it turned out.

Released on November 12, 1969, Franklin is part of the same class as white students, sitting just in front of Peppermint Patty, much to the chagrin of likely at least one editor. Schulz recalled an instance of an editor at one of the newspapers distributing Peanuts in the American south who requested Schulz “don’t show them in school together.” Schulz, of course, ignored the request, with Franklin continuing to make such appearances up until November 5, 1999, as the comic strip approached its final days. But while Schulz showed feisty defiance by having the audacity of letting a new character exist in the same sphere as his others, not every iteration of Franklin was perfectly presented.

Franklin’s Biggest Controversy Was Finally Addressed Over 50 Years Later

In what was otherwise a sweet and typical Peanuts TV special, 1973’s A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving encountered significant backlash in retrospect for its odd visual style choice of having Franklin isolated on the empty side of their feast table. Sitting conspicuously in a lawn chair while the opposite end and other sides are comparatively crowded by Charlie Brown’s friends, it’s not hard to see this as a strange move, especially for the most prominent Black character in Peanuts.

Yet, the same sweetness for which the franchise is known manifested in 2024’s Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin in which, at the end, the gang enjoys a pizza party and celebrates the moment Franklin confirms his dad’s new job won’t have him needing to relocate as much. Addressing the faux pas head-on, the special sees Franklin once again seating himself at the empty side of the table, only for Linus to say the group saved him a seat next to the group on the other side. It’s a meaningful gesture that’s very much not lost on the viewers, and clearly in keeping with what the creator of Peanuts had proven he was willing to risk his job to preserve: the existence of a kid who deserved friends and to be a part of the story.

Cast

Christopher Shea, Kathy Steinberg, Bill Melendez, Sally Dryer, Peter Robbins, Noah Schnapp, Hadley Belle Miller, Mariel Sheets, Lisa DeFaria, Venus Omega Schultheis

Created by

Charles M. Schulz

Movie(s)

The Peanuts Movie, A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown’s All Stars!, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown

Character(s)

Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy van Pelt, Linus van Pelt, Sally Brown, Pig-Pen, Marcie (Peanuts), Peppermint Patty, Woodstock