When Franklin Joined Charlie Brown In 1968, It Turned A Simple Comic Strip Into A Civil Rights Milestone. When Franklin joined Charlie Brown in 1968, it quietly turned a beloved comic strip into a civil rights milestone. Franklin was introduced to Peanuts at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, just weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. He was one of the first Black characters to regularly appear in a mainstream American comic without being reduced to stereotypes. Created by Charles M. Schulz, Franklin wasn’t written as a lesson or a punchline. He was simply a kid — polite, confident, thoughtful — who talked with Charlie Brown, shared lunch with him, and later sat beside him in class. That simple act mattered. At a time when schools across the U.S. were still segregated or violently resisting integration, seeing a Black child and a white child treated as equals in a national comic strip was quietly radical. Schulz faced backlash for Franklin’s inclusion, especially when he depicted Franklin sitting next to Charlie Brown in school. He refused to back down. By insisting Franklin remain part of the strip without stereotypes or fanfare, Schulz normalized what much of America still resisted: equality. Franklin didn’t shout slogans or march in the streets — but his presence helped shape how a generation of children saw race, friendship, and belonging. Sometimes progress doesn’t arrive loudly. Sometimes it shows up in the funny pages.