Lifetime Achievement Celebrated

Duke University Photography

John Hope Franklin Hon. ’98, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of history, was awarded the 2006 John W. Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity. The $1 million prize, divided between Franklin and historian Yu Ying-Shih this year, is given annually for lifetime achievement in the wide range of disciplines not covered by the Nobel Prize, including history, philosophy, politics, anthropology, sociology, religion, linguistics, and criticism in the arts and humanities. The award is endowed by Library of Congress benefactor John W. Kluge.

Franklin and Yu were noted as playing key roles in bringing previously neglected aspects of American and Chinese culture, respectively, into the mainstream of the scholarship and public consciousness. They were recognized for the lasting impact research has had on history and the way it is studied.

“Dr. Franklin is the leading scholar in the establishment of African-American history as a key area in the professional study of American history in the second half of the twentieth century,” says James H. Billington Hon. ’95, the Librarian of Congress. “The transformation he has helped bring about in how we think about American history and society will stand as his lasting intellectual legacy.”