Current:Home > InvestThe first Black 'Peanuts' character finally gets his origin story in animated special -StockSource
The first Black 'Peanuts' character finally gets his origin story in animated special
View
Date:2025-04-14 01:40:39
Apple TV is streaming the origin story of the first Black American character in the "Peanuts" comic strip.
The special is called Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin. It's about how Franklin met Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy and the rest of the "Peanuts" gang.
"A Franklin special is really overdue," said Craig Schulz, the co-writer of the show and son of "Peanuts" creator, Charles Schulz, in an interview with Morning Edition.
Charles Schulz first drew Franklin in 1968 after receiving a letter from a white Los Angeles school teacher named Harriet Glickman. She reached out to Schulz following the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
She wrote, "I've been asking myself what I can do to help change those conditions in our society which led to the assassination."
Glickman suggested that adding a Black character to the "Peanuts" cast could help change the "...vast sea of misunderstanding, fear, hate and violence."
Schulz wrote back and said he'd been thinking about adding a Black character but was concerned that it might be seen as "patronizing."
Craig Schulz says his father was unsure how to move forward.
"He didn't know much about the Black generation at that time other than what you saw on TV," Craig Schulz said. "He had some Black friends, but didn't think that was enough to take on the responsibility of creating a Black character."
But Charles Schulz figured it out.
A few months later he wrote to Harriet Glickman, telling her to keep an eye out for a Peanuts strip publishing in late July. He said, "I have drawn an episode that I think will please you."
The strip shows Franklin rescuing Charlie Brown's runaway beachball. The image was powerful — a Black child and white child together on a beach at a time when many public beaches were segregated.
Welcome Home, Franklin recreates that meeting on the beach and marks the beginning of his friendship with Charlie Brown.
The Apple TV special also revisits another key moment in Franklin's history.
A few years after his debut in print, Franklin made his first television appearance. In 1973, he was one of the dinner guests in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.
But one scene in the animated Thanksgiving special doesn't sit well with audiences today. It shows Franklin sitting alone on one side of the dinner table, while all of the white characters sit on the other side.
"It's so very easy to get offended or upset," said Robin Reed, who was 11 years old when performed the voice of Franklin.
He told MSNBC in 2021, "We have to remember that at that time, that actually represented progress."
But the producers of Welcome Home, Franklin wanted a do over. Director, Raymond S. Perci said, "We were able to recreate that scene and turn something that was this unfortunate controversy into a moment for people to talk about."
This time, the dinner scene takes pace in a pizza restaurant. Franklin again sits by himself on one side of the table. The white children sit on the other side but Linus stands up and says, "Hey Franklin, we saved you a seat over here. Come join us."
"The characters are real to me, they're real little kids," Perci said. "What's cool is now we get know Franklin a little better and we get a chance to see the other characters kind of in a new light because we get them through his eyes."
veryGood! (44)
Related
- Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
- New Orleans marsh fire blamed for highway crashes and foul smell is out after burning for weeks
- Endangered red squirrel’s numbers show decrease this year in southeastern Arizona
- Rep. Patrick McHenry, former temporary House speaker, to retire from Congress
- Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
- RHOC Alum Alexis Bellino Is Dating Shannon Beador's Ex John Janssen
- Roger Goodell says football will become a global sport in a decade
- Gold Bars found in Sen. Bob Menendez's New Jersey home linked to 2013 robbery, NBC reports
- 2 killed, 3 injured in shooting at makeshift club in Houston
- Should you buy a real Christmas tree or an artificial one? Here's how to tell which is more sustainable
Ranking
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Horoscopes Today, December 5, 2023
- Patrick Mahomes, Maxx Crosby among NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year 2023 nominees
- High-speed rail line linking Las Vegas and Los Angeles area gets $3B Biden administration pledge
- The Grammy nominee you need to hear: Esperanza Spalding
- Justice Department, jail reach settlement that ensures inmates’ rights to opioid medications
- US officials want ships to anchor farther from California undersea pipelines, citing 2021 oil spill
- Family sues Panera, saying its caffeinated lemonade led to Florida man’s cardiac arrest
Recommendation
Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
Jonathan Majors’ accuser said actor’s ‘violent temper’ left her fearful before alleged assault
High-speed rail line linking Las Vegas and Los Angeles area gets $3B Biden administration pledge
Super Bowl LVIII: Nickelodeon to air a kid-friendly, SpongeBob version of the big game
Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
Mexican gray wolf at California zoo is recovering after leg amputation: 'Huge success story'
Senator: Washington selects 4 Amtrak routes for expansion priorities
Rose Previte, of D.C.'s Michelin star restaurant Maydān, releases her debut cookbook