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Ms. Harriet Glickman

American University of Health Science Foundation had the privilege of hosting Ms. Harriet Glickman, on her 91st birthday, as guest of honor at our Giving Thanks Seminar on Saturday, November 17, 2018 from 12:00 – 2:00 pm.

In 1968, at the height of the Civil Rights movement, Ms. Harriet Glickman, a teacher inspired by the demonstrations for change and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was inspired her to write to Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts, to integrate a black character into the comic strip.  They exchanged correspondences and both spoke of the issues and significance of integrating the strip. Realizing the weight and responsibility such a character would have, Schulz introduced Franklin, a black character into the “Peanuts” strip published over 50 years ago on July 31, 1968.

Ms. Glickman passed away on March 27, 2020.  Although she was a hero in many people’s eyes and her impact was immeasurable because it affected so many lives after the introduction of Franklin and integration of newspapers, she was always humble about her place in shaping history.  But her lesson was always, “One person can make a difference, a very little difference, not earth shaking, but it’s a difference.” – 2014.

https://signaltribunenewspaper.com/39857/news/is-this-your-beach-ball-charlie-brown/

https://www.presstelegram.com/2018/11/20/how-harriet-glickman-got-peanuts-its-first-black-character-50-years-ago/