The Origin Story of Franklin: How the First Black Peanuts Character Met the Gang

For the first 18 years of the Peanuts comic strip — from 1950 until 1968 — all the characters looked mostly the same: They were all white kids.

Then, with the nation battling civil unrest, a cartoon boy named Franklin changed everything.

Hear about what inspired the 1968 creation of Franklin and how he was brought into the Peanuts gang.

Melissa and David talk about Franklin’s enduring legacy and speak with Marissa Nance, CEO of Native Tongue Communications and creator of The Armstrong Project, which provides training, connections, and scholarships to encourage more participation of people of color in the field of animation. Learn how the project started and how Rob Armstrong, the cartoonist and friend of Charles Schulz, inspired the character Franklin's last name.

Read more about Franklin’s history

Web Extras: The Collection of the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California has shared a copy of the original conversation between Harriet Glickman and Charles Schulz