Franklin Armstrong was the first Black character to be added to the Peanuts cast of characters. Cartoonist Charles Schultz created Franklin in response to a letter written by Los Angeles teacher Harriet Glickman.

Recently I came across a story about how Franklin Armstrong became the first African American character to be part of the cast of Peanuts characters. I was surprised to learn that the creation of this character was initiated by a Los Angeles school teacher. Her name was Harriet Glickman.

In 1968, just after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet wrote a letter to Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. She asked the cartoonist to consider adding a Black character to the cast of the Peanuts comic strip. Harriet was acutely aware of the influence of mass media, and how images could shape the unconscious biases of young children.  “And my feeling at the time was that I realized that Black kids and white kids never saw themselves (depicted) together in the classroom,” Harriet once recalled. “I’ve bee asking myself what I can do to help change those conditions in our society which led to the assassination and which contribute to the vast sea of misunderstanding, hate, fear, and violence,” she continued. The enterprising teacher suggested that adding a Black character to the cast of Peanuts characters would help bridge the gap between the races. Schultz responded by creating Franklin Armstrong, introducing him to the public in a comic strip published on July 31, 1968.

Teacher Harriet Glickman in 1980. She wrote the letter that prompted Charles Schultz to create the Black character Franklin Armstrong.

The inclusion of the character met with mixed responses. Schultz battled with his own editor about the addition. The debate became so heated that the cartoonist even threatened to quit unless the strips were printed as created. At least one editor of a newspaper in the South insisted that no more images depicting Black and White students together in the classroom be sent to his paper. The editor said they were actively fighting against integration in his city, and the cartoons were counter-productive to that goal.

Harriet was a true Chalkboard Champion. Sadly, she passed away on March 27, 2020, in Sherman Oaks, California. She was 93 years old.

To read more about Harriet, see this online story from the Charles M. Schultz Museum, which includes a delightful 13-minute interview of this teacher activist. You can also read the story printed by The New York Times.