Former President Bill Clinton said today's service at Duke Chapel was historian John Hope Franklin's "last gift to me."
The former president was the final speaker at the two-hour celebration attended by hundreds of admirers of the late Duke professor and historian whose work laid the foundation of the study of African American history, Jane Stancill reports.
Clinton thanked the previous speakers who were Franklin's former colleagues, students, relatives and friends, including Clinton pal Vernon Jordan, who ended his remarks on Franklin by saying, "Glory, glory, hallelujah, his truth is marching on."
Then, Clinton came to the podium and joked, "Vernon, you did everything but pass the plate. There's not much left."
But Clinton was eloquent as ever, recalling when he appointed Franklin to lead a national initiative on race in 1997. "I said, before this is over, you'll be accused of racism," Clinton remembered telling Franklin.
But Franklin soldiered on, despite being shouted down at some of the race forums, Clinton said, and produced a "world-class report" on the issue. Clinton said his last message to Congress before he left office was a challenge to leaders to deal with the unfinished business from Franklin's report.
"He was a genius at being a passionate realist," the former president said of Franklin. "He was an angry, happy man, a happy, angry man, don't you think?"
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