Harold Franklin, the first African American student to attend Auburn University, has died at the age of 88.

Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 18 at Kelly Springs Missionary Baptist Church in Munford. Franklin will lie in state at the church one hour prior to the service. Seating will be limited and masks are required. Interment will be in Pine Hill Memorial Park. Visitation will be Friday, Sept. 17 from noon to 7 p.m. at Terry’s Metropolitan Mortuary in Talladega.

Harold Franklin, the first African-American student to attend Auburn University, died Sept. 9, 2021 at the age of 88. (Bob Crisp / The Daily Home)

Franklin grew up in Talladega. He and his twin were the fourth and fifth children in a family of 10 kids. Although his father did not have any formal education, his mother was a graduate of Talladega College.

Franklin earned a General Educational Development (GED) certificate while serving in the military. He attended Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) from 1956 until he graduated with honors in 1962. His dream was to attend law school at the University of Alabama and to follow in the footsteps of his hero, lawyer and civil rights activist Thurgood Marshall. He took the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) the year after Alabama integrated.

When he approached Alabama attorney Fred Gray, who had previously represented the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Gray recommended that he enroll in a master’s program at Auburn instead. After discussing the issue with his wife, Franklin applied and was turned down because Alabama State was not accredited. They sued the school and won, and Franklin officially broke the color barrier. They successfully sued again when Franklin was told he would not be allowed to live on campus.

Franklin wanted to write his dissertation on the civil rights struggle, which was still at its height at the time.

“My professors said no, that was too controversial,” he said in a 2020 interview with The Daily Home. “They told me to write a history of Alabama State. I had graduated from there, but I was not really interested in writing about it.

“But I did all the research and started writing, and I was told every word of it would have to be perfect because everyone was going to read it. Every time I carried it back, they managed to find something minor wrong with it, and every time I fixed it, they found something else.

“I read a lot of other people’s theses and I found a bunch of mistakes. Not that mine was perfect, I made some mistakes as well. I finally said, ‘Hell, I’m not going to get a master’s from Auburn.’ To be honest, I was a little disappointed.”

Harold Franklin enrolled in Auburn University in 1964. Franklin finally received his master’s degree more than 50 years after submitting his thesis. (Auburn University)

All that changed in February 2020, when Franklin was finally allowed to defend his thesis more than half a century after he wrote it.

Harold Franklin received his master’s degree from Auburn University, more than 50 years after submitting his thesis. (Bob Crisp / The Daily Home)

It was approved, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony when it would have been formally awarded was canceled. He received his master’s degree in the mail in July of that year.

“It feels quite good,” he said at the time.

After giving up on ever getting his master’s from Auburn, Franklin launched an academic career at his alma mater, Alabama State, then moved on to Tuskegee University and finally back home, to Talladega College, as a professor of Black history. He earned a master’s in international studies from the University of Denver and then returned to Talladega, where he continued to teach and took a part-time job at Terry’s Mortuary, where he continued to work for the rest of his life.

Former Talladega City Councilman Jarvis Elston went to Auburn with Franklin when he defended his thesis.

“His contribution was not only to Black history but to American history,” Elston said. “His work, his leadership, those go without saying. He was a friend, a mentor, like a father to me. May he rest in peace.”

Anthony Cook, former executive editor at Consolidated Publishing and an Auburn graduate, said he was grateful for the path Franklin had blazed.

“As an Auburn graduate, I am thankful for the doors he opened for me,” said Cook, now a communications specialist at Alabama Power. “I met my wife at Auburn, and our kids graduated from there. I’ll always be thankful for that, and for the fact that he was such a fine gentleman.

“He worked hard late into his life, and that work ethic also set a valuable example, one that speaks to following generations. He established a great legacy not only of the importance of education but also of being a hard worker and a decent human being.”

This story was originally published by The Daily Home.