One of the more touching stories in Mirror comes when Franklin’s father arranges for his son to deliver an Emancipation Day speech at a local Methodist church in his absence. “The address went off with no difficulty on my part,” Franklin writes. “Apparently I read the speech quite satisfactorily for when I concluded, the large audience was on its feet applauding, even cheering. But my true sense of pride and accomplishment came later when my father returned and told me that many people had expressed their pleasure at hearing my recitation,” according to Franklin.
Franklin’s recollection of his high school years in Tulsa and college years at Fisk University prove quite compelling in Mirror, given that these experiences left him highly prepared and extremely motivated to attain
the master’s and doctorate degrees he had earned from Harvard University by 1941. Marriage to his college sweetheart, the former Aurelia Whittington, also enabled a grateful Franklin to take on difficult writing projects, including From Slavery to Freedom, the classic history text first published in 1947. The widely used text is now in its seventh edition.
With Mirror to America, Franklin renders a wealth of information with depth and detail in a text that will also surely take its place among the most important publications regarding 20th century U.S. history.
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