Noted historian John Hope Franklin, 94, died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at Duke Hospital in Durham. Franklin specialized in the history of the South and the African-American experience, and was the author of the influential book, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. He also was one of a team of scholars that worked with Thurgood Marshall on the storied Brown v. Board of Education decision, which outlawed separate-but-equal public schools. He was a recipient of the North Carolina Lifetime Achievement Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

“Dr. Franklin was a worldwide figure, a seminal author and a man of immeasurable insight,” said N.C. House Speaker Joe Hackney (D-Orange). “We were privileged in North Carolina for so long to have near immediate access to such a rich mind. We will all miss his lessons and we mourn for his loss.”

Dr. John Hope Franklin passed away yesterday in Durham, N.C. He was born in 1915 to an America still divided by race. Throughout his childhood and early education, his mother and father taught him the value of service, discipline, and hard work as the best way to rise above discrimination. He grew up to become one of this nation's most respected African American scholars.

We look back at Dr. Franklin's remarkable life and take stock of the great changes he had a hand in bringing about.