Harold Franklin, Auburn University’s first Black student, dies at age 88

Harold A. Franklin, who made history as the first Black student to integrate Auburn University, has died.

Franklin died Thursday at his home in Sylacauga, Ala, about 60 miles north of Montgomery, the Alabama school said in a statement. He was 88.

Franklin, who earned his master’s degree from the University of Denver, would go on to have a nearly 30-year career teaching history at Alabama State University, North Carolina A&T State University, Tuskegee Institute and Talladega College, enrolled as a Graduate student at the school in January 1964, read the statement.

Harold A. Franklin begins the registration process to become the first Black student at Auburn University, Auburn, Ala., Jan. 4, 1964. At right is Dean W.V. Parker of the graduate school.

Franklin, who retired in 1992, was finally able to defend his thesis at Auburn in February 2020, rightfully earning his masters after fighting just to get into the school decades earlier.

“The right to access a quality education, the very liberty that Harold had fought so hard to attain back in 1964, had been one of the bedrock beliefs that guided his life,” Keith Hébert, associate professor and public history program officer, who requested Franklin let the department make things right, subsequently said.

“For him to finally receive an apology for what had happened and to achieve the goals he had originally set brought a great sense of pride in what is possible when we overcome our fears and do what is right,” said Hébert, who also helped coordinate Franklin’s participation in commencement proceedings.

Franklin also took part in the fall 2020 commencement, said Auburn.

Harold Franklin registers at Auburn University at Auburn, Ala., Jan. 4, 1964, to become the first Black student at the school.

The U.S. Air Force veteran was mulling over law school before he was encouraged by Martin Luther King Jr.’s attorney, Fred Gray, to study history at Auburn.

“I realized it wasn’t going to be easy when I came here as the first African American to attend Auburn, but I didn’t think it would take this long,” Franklin said during commencement in December. “It feels pretty good. I’m glad I could do something to help other people, and my mom and dad always taught us that, when you do something in life, try to do something that will help others as well.”

Franklin received an honorary Doctor of Arts from the university in 2001 and a historic marker — which will be joined later this year by a plaza area — was established in his honor in 2015 near the library where he first registered for classes at the school.

He has been honored by Auburn students’ 2008 creation of The Harold A. Franklin Society as well as the Auburn Alumni Association’s Black Alumni Council naming a scholarship in his honor.

“Dr. Franklin was a trailblazer,” said Auburn University Trustee Elizabeth Huntley. “I would not be here today if it was not for his courage to enroll at Auburn and in the process desegregate the university. Dr. Franklin broke the barrier so that generations of African American students, including my husband, daughter and me, could graduate from Auburn University.”

“Dr. Franklin was a pioneer who paved the way for other African American students to attend Auburn University,” said University President Jay Gogue. “Auburn is a better institution because of Dr. Franklin’s bravery 57 years ago.”