Recent racially motivated shootings in Tulsa—in which two white men killed three blacks and injured two others early in the morning on April 6—have called national attention to the city’s racial past. Specifically, the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 has been singled out as a source of continued segregation and occasional tension.

But while the shootings have made the city’s strained race relations timely news, they weren’t the cause of the tension—rather, the result of it—and many believe they won’t be the end of it, either.

An Associated Press story, published over the weekend in USA Today and other newspapers, revealed that many black Tulsans doubt the Good Friday shooting rampage will prompt any tangible change in the city’s race relations, despite significant national attention on the story and recent promises by Jesse Jackson and local leaders to work toward that end.

“Ain’t nothing going to change around here,” said (north Tulsa resident Jermaine) Wilson, 30, who has lived on the north side all his life and inherited his tiny home from his grandmother. “It’s like a little Vietnam here, everyone walking around with their AK-47s.”

Anthony Scott, the pastor of First Baptist Church North Tulsa—where the Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke and seemed to genuinely, if only for a moment, actually unite the community—told the AP that north Tulsa residents feel “they’ve finally received genuine sympathy and concern from the Tulsa community” and that “this expression of grief and concern from the entire city has certainly given them a feeling that there aren’t two Tulsas, but one.”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks to Tulsans at First Baptist Church North Tulsa on April 14 in the aftermath of the Good Friday shootings. Seated behind him is the church’s pastor, Anthony Scott. Photo by Holly Wall.
Still, one north Tulsa resident, pointing to areas of blight and decay in his own neighborhood, offered a commonly shared opinion on the differences between north Tulsa and the rest of the city: “People just live better over there, I think, than they do over here. If you have a good job and plenty of money, you want to get away from here.”

State Rep.-elect Kevin Matthews, a retired firefighter whose district encompasses north Tulsa, said the city needs to acknowledge the “blatant disparity” between north Tulsa and the rest of the city in terms of infrastructure, grocery stores and businesses with good-paying jobs.

“We have so many people leaving right now,” Matthews said. “They want to go where they can drive two blocks to a franchise chain to eat. People are wanting to go to where schools are opening instead of closing. Therefore, what’s left is those people that don’t have that opportunity and they don’t have a voice.”

A Reuters article also published over the weekend offered the naming of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard as evidence of racial division in the city. The City of Tulsa approved changing the name of a portion of Cincinnati Avenue—the portion that runs through north Tulsa—last summer.
District 1 City Councilor Jack Henderson first proposed the name-change in 2002 but was met with resistance when “critics, including downtown businesses and churches, complained that the street name change would be confusing to longtime businesses in the downtown area,” prompting the council to shelf the idea. Henderson reintroduced it again last year, leaving off the 1.5 miles of Cincinnati Avenue that intersect downtown, and the renaming was approved. Signs have yet to be erected, but Henderson said he expects to see them in the next few months.

Though the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot remains racism’s most lasting stain, an editorial in the Tulsa World argues that racism has been a persistent issue since before statehood and continues to influence the city’s economy—most notably, the pervasive poverty in north Tulsa.

The first bill to be introduced in the Oklahoma Senate just after statehood was a racial segregation measure, which suggests that our first leaders must have deemed that objective to be a top priority for the newborn state.
So it’s not much of a stretch to conclude that the problems minorities continue to face here—poverty chief among them—are systemic, rooted in a history and a background still influencing events today.
Last week, the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation and the University of Oklahoma’s Center of Applied Research for Nonprofit Organizations released the findings of a race relations survey, aimed to gauge Tulsans’ attitudes on race relations and their knowledge of pertinent racial history in order to work toward some kind of reconciliation of past events.
Though the survey was a project in the making long before the shootings earlier this month, Karen Davis, chair of the research advisory team, noted: “The recent incidents of violence our community has just experienced brings our work into sharp focus and renews our call to work toward reconciliation.”

The survey compares opinions of the four largest racial/ethnic groups in the city: white, Hispanic/Latino, black/African-American and American Indian. Key findings include:
Relatively high percentages of all groups agreed that race relations are poor in Tulsa.

All groups agreed that continuing to discuss race is necessary for improving race relations.

All groups demonstrated high levels of agreement that racial/ethnic minorities continue to experience discrimination in Tulsa.

All racial/ethnic groups agreed that knowledge of the Race Riot is relevant to race relations today.
All racial/ethnic groups overwhelmingly agreed that the Race Riot should be taught in public schools and that it is important for Tulsans to know about it.
Respondents believed that if Tulsa achieved racial reconciliation it would result in improved diversity across neighborhoods, quality of education for everyone, opportunity and fairness in employment, and social relationships and interactions among Tulsans.
Respondents believed that racial reconciliation could be achieved through increased and improved communication, education, and involvement of government and community institutions …

The Center for Reconciliation has identified immediate and long-term goals that it hopes will improve race relations and make a path for reconciliation. They include hosting a symposium to educate citizens about the city’s past, documenting the pre- and post-riot Greenwood District, creating opportunities for students at all levels to learn about and research the Tulsa Race Riot, and bringing diverse communities together for the purpose of creating dialogue.
—Holly Wall, News Editor

TULSA – A survey of Tulsa residents on race relations released Thursday reported three key findings.

The survey, developed by the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation and the University of Oklahoma’s Center of Applied Research for Nonprofit Organization, listed their results in a press release:
1. “Race relations are poor in Tulsa.”
2. “Tulsa would benefit from increasing racial diversity in neighborhoods.”
3. “The 1921 Race Riot should be taught in public schools.”

“We think it is critical to fully understand how Tulsans feel about race,” said Karen Davis, chair of the research advisory team. “The recent incidents of violence in our community has just experienced brings our work into sharp focus and renews our call to work toward reconciliation.”

The survey focused on comparisons among the four largest racial/ethnic groups in the area — white, Hispanic, black and American Indian.

More than two-thirds of blacks and Hispanics surveyed described race relations in Tulsa as poor. Only a fifth of whites agreed.

When it comes to racism in Tulsa, eight out of ten blacks said they’ve experienced it, followed by seven out of ten Hispanics and nearly half of Native Americans. Again, only a fifth of whites said the same thing.

The survey also found wide gaps between white and other racial groups on Affirmative Action and the portrayal of minorities in the media.

According to most people surveyed, communication is key.

“You can’t heal unless you have communication. Communication with one another is part of the healing process,” said Julius Pegues, board chairman for the John Hope Franklin Center on Reconciliation.

Click here for the complete survey .

Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

A new survey on race relations in Tulsa says conditions right now are “poor.” This comes nearly two weeks after the Good Friday shooting spree, which some say was racially motivated.

While the jury, so to speak, is still out on the motive for the Good Friday shootings, Tulsans in general say we do have a race problem.

A simple green space near downtown Tulsa oozes with hope of a better city, while looking back and learning from our history. The John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park was the scene for a discussion on race Thursday afternoon.

“While we have come a long way over the years as a city as a country, there’s still a long way to go,” says Julius Pegues, the Board Chair of the John Hope Franklin Center.

Our city has been in the news before for racial tension, especially in 1921 during the infamous Tulsa Race Riot. Now about 90 years later, our city is being pigeonholed again for racial division due to the Good Friday shootings where five people were shot and three of them died.

“I think the majority of Tulsans, true Tulsans, would definitely admit that we have a problem,” says City Councilor Jack Henderson.

To make things a little more concrete, now there are community survey results to prove the division.

“There’s still high numbers of people experiencing racial discrimination,” says Pegues.

Now its on the table for discussion and Henderson says that’s step one.

“We sit down at the table, lay it out talk about those issues as they come up and deal with them one at a time,” says Henderson. “We could come up with some solutions.”

So how to fix it? Reverend Jesse Jackson, who visited Tulsa last weekend, says start by looking back at our past.

“Seek forgiveness, for the race riots triggered by the majority of the community of 1921,” says Reverend Jesse Jackson. “It took people’s lives and their property and their legacy.”

Henderson says it’s going to take a kumbaya moment for the city.

We have to start, we meaning all citizens of Tulsa, to realize that we have got to fix this problem and we can’t do it by ourselves, we have got to do it together,” says Henderson.

The results of the survey kind of mimic what Reverend Jackson is saying. Many of those surveyed agree we need to talk and educate our youth about the Tulsa Race Riot and other civil rights issues and events that happened in Tulsa.

All content © Copyright 2000 – 2012 WorldNow and KTUL. All Rights Reserved.
For more information on this site, please read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Dan Bewley, News On 6 – bio | email

TULSA, Oklahoma – A survey of Tulsa residents shows race relations in the community are poor and the city would benefit from increasing racial diversity in neighborhoods.
The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation released results of its survey Thursday.

The baseline survey measures Tulsa area attitudes on current racial issues and knowledge of racial history.

“I believe that John Hope Franklin would have been very happy with what we are doing today in Tulsa,” said Julius Pegues with the John Hope Franklin Center:

In the park named for a man whose life was spent honoring African-Americans, community leaders gathered to share results of a survey that explored racial relations in Tulsa.

“We do have some problems here in Tulsa but we don’t have any that we can’t overcome,” Pegues said. “Our problem in the past has been a lack of education and a lack of dialogue.”

The survey heard from more than 2000 people, 61 percent of those were white, 23 percent African-American, the rest Native American or Hispanic.

The results showed that racial or ethnic minorities experience discrimination in Tulsa, that whites have advantages others races do not, minorities believe they are portrayed negatively in the media, but also that minorities can do more to help themselves.

Thursday’s announcement came on the heels of the tragedy over the Easter weekend that saw civil rights activist Jesse Jackson preach in Tulsa about ending the divide between white Tulsa and black Tulsa.

Organizers emphasize the survey was done long before the Good Friday shootings but the way the community reacted shows how the city can work together.

“I think it gives us an opportunity to do more intensive work,” Pegues said.

The survey also showed that more people would like to see the 1921 Race Riot taught in Tulsa’s Public Schools. Supporters say it’s important to look at the past to help understand the present.

“I think that one of the things that we’ve learned is that when we tend to pretend that something is not an issue it never goes away, it just festers,” said Kelli McLoud-Schingen with the Tulsa Urban League.

The survey was developed by the Center for Reconciliation and the University of Oklahoma’s Center of Applied Research for Nonprofit Organizations.

NewsOn6.com allows its users to express opinions on stories. All comments are community moderated; to mark inappropriate comments for potential removal click the “flag” link located to the right of the comment. Learn more in our Terms of Service.

Monday, April 23, 2012

A funny thing happens when people sit down and talk with each other. They often find that they are not so much different.

Most people want the same things. They want to make a living, provide for their families, be healthy and simply live in peace.

Unfortunately, when those same people remain apart, they can never understand how much alike they really are.

In an effort to tear down walls and break barriers in Tulsa, the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation is planning a series of events that will bring Tulsans from different walks of life together to discuss their differences and their shared goals. Education and dialogue are keys to understanding.

The meetings, a series of discussion groups, are scheduled for this summer and organizers hope they will lead to some honest conversations about race in Tulsa.

“Tulsa is a wonderful city, but it is not without blemishes,” said Julius Pegues, chairman of the board of the John Hope Franklin Center. “We will work every day to turn those blemishes into brotherhood and a beneficial exchange of ideas.”

A recent survey by the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa’s Center of Applied Research for Nonprofit Organizations, made clear that there is progress to be made on Tulsa’s racial front, but it also showed that Tulsans are willing to try to make things better.

As most cities, Tulsa has its history of racial problems. Rather than ignore history, through discussions such as those planned Tulsans can face their past, discuss their present and plan for a better future.

To say that Tulsa has no problems with race would be naive. To say that Tulsa can’t overcome those problems would be wrong.

Talking about it is a good start.

Copyright © 2012, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved

Friday, April 20, 2012

The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation wants to get people together to talk because, as Kelli McLoud-Schingen said, “the shortest distance between two strangers is a story.”

Tulsans are often strangers when it comes to their deepest feelings about race, McLoud-Schingen and others affiliated with the John Hope Franklin Center said during a news conference Thursday at the downtown park named for the famed historian.

“Tulsa is a wonderful city, but it is not without blemishes,” said Julius Pegues, chairman of the board of the John Hope Franklin Center. “We will work every day to turn those blemishes into brotherhood and a beneficial exchange of ideas.”

The center announced plans Thursday for community discussion groups, beginning this summer, intended to spark honest conversations about race in the community.

A survey conducted by the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa’s Center of Applied Research for Nonprofit Organizations.

The center also announced plans for its annual symposium, scheduled this year for May 30-June 1. The scheduled keynote speaker will be Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas Gandhi. The younger Gandhi is a biographer and political science professor at the University of Illinois.

Other speakers are expected to include former Tulsa Mayors Susan Savage and Kathy Taylor, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and former Mississippi Gov. William Winter.

Pegues said the survey conducted by OU-Tulsa “reaffirms the mission of the John Hope Franklin Center of education and dialogue.”

“I think John Hope Franklin would be very pleased with what we are doing today,” he said.

Perhaps the most decorated scholar Oklahoma ever produced, Franklin spent his youth in Tulsa and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. He devoted his career to understanding race relations in the United States.

Despite what some people might think, Pegues said, the center’s efforts are not intended to stir resentment over old wrongs, although it does have a historical component that includes Tulsa’s 1921 Race Riot.

“We’re not pointing fingers at anyone,” he said. “Understanding your past prepares you for the future. Most of us who were here today worked our way through the riot a long time ago.”

Original Print Headline: Honest discourse on race is center’s goal

Randy Krehbiel 918-581-8365
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com

Download the survey

Tulsa, OK – The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation today announced the results of a survey of Tulsa residents on race relations. The baseline survey measures Tulsa area attitudes on current racial issues and knowledge of racial history. The survey was developed by a collaborative research team from the Center for Reconciliation and the University of Oklahoma’s Center of Applied Research for Nonprofit Organizations.

“We think it is critical to fully understand how Tulsans feel about race,” said Karen Davis, Chair of the Research Advisory Team. “The recent incidents of violence our community has just experienced brings our work into sharp focus and renews our call to work toward reconciliation.”

Results are presented by focusing on comparisons among the four largest racial/ethnic groups (White, Hispanic/Latino, Black/African American and American Indian).

Key Findings from all groups agreed that:

1. Race relations are poor in Tulsa.
2. Tulsa would benefit from increasing racial diversity in neighborhoods.
3. The 1921 Race Riot should be taught in public schools.

“Clearly, Tulsans believe that achieving racial reconciliation would raise the quality of education, bring equal opportunity and fairness in employment, and improve the quality of life,” said Dr. Chad Johnson, project director and OU Associate Professor. “Further, they believe reconciliation would result in more diverse neighborhoods throughout the city.”

The research process consisted of anonymous web-based and paper-and-pencil surveys that included qualitative and quantitative questions. A total of 2,063 people participated.

“This survey helps guide our work at the Center,” said Julius Pegues, JHF Board Chairman. “If we understand where we are and where we have been, we can provide a better future for our children.”

Community dialogues are scheduled in the coming weeks. More information will be available on the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation website at www.jhfcenter.org.

The complete survey, including the Executive Summary, graphics, analysis and survey methodology can be downloaded at: www.jhfcenter.org.

About the OU Center of Applied Research for Nonprofit Organizations

The mission of the University of Oklahoma is to provide the best possible educational experience for students through excellence in teaching, research, creative activity and service to the state and society.  The Center of Applied Research for Nonprofit Organizations (Center) focus this mission by collaborating with community agencies to improve program services using sound scientific practice while simultaneously training graduate students in the application of quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

About the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation

The Center’s work begins with Dr. John Hope Franklin’s lifelong devotion to scholarly analysis and social progress as a model. In its commitment to preserve Dr. Franklin’s legacy, the Center is developing a consortium of academic institutions, historical societies, and organizations devoted to racial justice and social harmony.  This nationally unique Center focuses on the goals of education, scholarship, community outreach and archiving materials for research.

A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization formed in 2007, the Center is building its reputation through its programs and projects. Reconciliation Park is a public-private partnership, owned by The City of Tulsa and managed by the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, Inc.  For more information, visit our website at www.jhfcenter.org.

###

Jim Beckel/The Oklahoman

BY BARBARA HOBEROCK World Capitol Bureau
Thursday, February 23, 2012
2/23/2012 7:16:45 AM

OKLAHOMA CITY – The late historian and civil rights leader John Hope Franklin joined the ranks of Oklahoma greats under the Capitol dome on Wednesday.

A portrait of Franklin was unveiled on the second floor.

He joins the company of other notable state historical figures ranging from Jim Thorpe, considered to be one of the world’s greatest athletes, to Sequoyah, inventor of the Cherokee alphabet. Thorpe’s and Sequoyah’s portraits are on the fourth floor.

“This is a historic occasion,” said Oklahoma City University President Robert Henry. “Each of you who are here is part of Oklahoma history. You are witnessing the laying of a cornerstone that will cause thousands of school children to have to learn about John Hope Franklin and the injustices that he righted.”

Henry read a letter from Franklin’s son, John W. Franklin. The younger Franklin said his father rose from humble beginnings.

“For his portrait to hang in the Oklahoma State Capitol rotunda is a testament for generations to come of the high honor afforded him by the state of his birth,” the letter says.

The portrait was painted by noted New York City artist Everett Raymond Kinstler. Seven presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, have posed for Kinstler.

The artist read Franklin’s writings, watched videos, spoke with Franklin’s friends and looked at pictures to compose the portrait.

“At best I can only convey an impression of a man who touched me very deeply,” Kinstler said.

Stanley Evans, University of Oklahoma College of Law former assistant dean, described Franklin as a human rights “superstar” whose work changed the way America views race relations and racial understanding.

“It is a pleasure to help place John Hope Franklin in the historical halls of this building with no expense to the state,” Evans said.

Private funds were raised to commission and place the portrait, according to the Oklahoma Arts Council.

Julius Pegues, chairman of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation Inc. in Tulsa, attended the unveiling.

The inclusion of the portrait in the rotunda is a fitting tribute to a man whose research of the African-American experience in the United States is above reproach, Pegues said.

The Dr. John Hope Franklin Portrait Committee raised funds for the project. The commissioning process was approved by the State Capitol Preservation Commission and managed by the Oklahoma Arts Council. Additional assistance was provided by the Friends of the Capitol.
John Hope Franklin

Born: Jan. 2, 1916, Rentiesville, Okla.

Died: March 25, 2009, Durham, N.C.

Famous for: Pioneering work in African-American history and understanding the role of race in America. His book “From Slavery to Freedom,” first published in 1947, remains a seminal work on black history. An eighth edition was issued in 2000.

Tulsa connection: Moved to Tulsa at the age of 10 and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School at the top of his class in 1931. His father, B.C. Franklin, was a well-known Tulsa attorney.

Academic career: Fisk University, B.A., 1935; Harvard University, Ph.D., 1941; St. Augustine’s College, faculty, 1941-1943; North Carolina College, faculty, 1943-1947; Howard University, faculty, 1947-1956; Brooklyn College, department head, 1956-1964; University of Chicago, faculty, 1964-1982 (department head 1967-1970); Duke University, faculty, 1983-1992.

Publications include: “From Slavery to Freedom,” “The Emancipation Proclamation,” “The Militant South,” “The Free Negro in North Carolina,” “Reconstruction After the Civil War,” and “A Southern Odyssey: Travelers in the Ante-bellum North.”

Honors: Presidential Medal of Freedom, National Council on the Humanities, Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, UNESCO delegate, Fulbright professor, Who’s Who in America, the Organization of American Historians’ Award for Outstanding Achievement, the Alpha Phi Alpha Award of Merit and the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal.

Also of note: Adviser to Thurgood Marshall’s legal team in Brown v. Board of Education.

In 1962, Franklin became the first black person named department head at a predominantly white institution, Brooklyn College.

Published his last book,”John Hope Franklin: Mirror to America,” at the age of 91 in 2006.
Tulsa’s John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park

Where: 415 N. Detroit Ave.

Hours: Noon to 5:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays

For more: tulsaworld.com/jhfcenter
Original Print Headline: Honoring a black leader
Barbara Hoberock 405-528-2465
barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.com

Associated Images:

New York artist Everett Raymond Kinstler (right) is aided by Richard Ellwanger in the unveiling and dedication of a portrait of John Hope Franklin in a ceremony at the state Capitol on Wednesday. Ellwanger is chairman of the State Capitol Preservation Commission. JIM BECKEL/The Oklahoman

Copyright © 2012, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved

Return to Story

A new painting of civil rights leader John Hope Franklin will soon take its place among renderings of other iconic Oklahomans in the second floor rotunda of the State Capitol.

At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the public is invited to a dedication ceremony for the portrait of Franklin painted by internationally acclaimed New York City artist Everett Raymond Kinstler.

Spearheaded by Oklahoma City University President Robert Henry and William G. Kerr, the portrait’s commissioning was possible due to a project committee that raised private funds. The portrait will be given to the state during the ceremony.

Franklin was born in Rentiesville. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa and went on to become a nationally recognized historian and civil rights advocate.

Franklin said it was his desire “to weave into the fabric of American history enough of the presence of blacks so that the story of the United States could be told adequately and fairly,” said a news release from the Oklahoma Arts Council, which managed the commissioning.
In 1941, Franklin earned his doctorate in history from Harvard University and went on to a lifelong career in teaching. Franklin became the first black person to head a major history department when he was selected chairman of Brooklyn College’s history department. In 1983, Franklin became the James B. Duke Professor of History and Professor of Legal History at Duke University Law School, where three academic units are now named for him. Duke offered to name a center for African-American Studies after Franklin, but he declined, saying he was a historian of America and the world, too.

In this file photo, John Hope Franklin poses in 2007 with students from Douglass High School. Photo BY DAVID MCDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES
In this file photo, John Hope Franklin poses in 2007 with students from Douglass High School. Photo BY DAVID MCDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES

Franklin’s writing, “From Slavery to Freedom,” was first published in 1947 and has sold more than three million copies.

In the early 1950s, Franklin served on the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s legal defense fund team led by Thurgood Marshall. That team helped develop the case for Brown v. Board of Education, which eventually ended segregation in public schools. Franklin also marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama.

In 1995, President Clinton awarded Franklin the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante included Franklin on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans, and in 2004, the State of Oklahoma recognized Franklin as a Cultural Treasure.

He died in 2009. In one of his last public appearances — the groundbreaking of the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park in Tulsa — Franklin said that he “would like (his) students to take up where (he) left off and to carry on the fight to establish history as a powerful force for good — a constructive force to rectify the ills of our society — to change the world, as it were,” the arts council said.

During the Capitol dedication Wednesday, Kinstler will speak about the portrait process. He is best known for his paintings of seven U.S. presidents, including Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

OCU President Henry will comment on Franklin’s legacy as a civil rights advocate and historian, and Oklahoma City University gospel group, Generation Blessed, will open and close the event with performances.

“We are extremely grateful to Robert Henry, Williams G. Kerr and the committee for their efforts to honor Franklin through this portrait,” said Kim Baker, Oklahoma Arts Council executive director, in a news release. “Thousands of annual visitors to the Capitol will be reminded of Franklin’s legacy as a civil rights advocate and an Oklahoman.”

The commissioning process was approved by the State Capitol Preservation Commission and managed by the Oklahoma Arts Council. Additional assistance was provided by the Friends of the Capitol.

Read more: http://newsok.com/portrait-of-civil-rights-leader-john-hope-franklin-to-be-unveiled-at-state-capitol/article/3649924#ixzz1mq7qynij