After 58 Years, One Peanuts Character Proves M. Charles Schulz Was Ahead Of His Time

When it comes to entertaining the masses across thousands of newspapers and five decades, Peanuts is joined by few other legends of its caliber in how they reflected cultural touchstones of the 20th century. For a series particularly fixated on its philosophical portrayal of kids, creator Charles M. Schulz had more than one opportunity for it to make meaningful changes to its world or character roster without feeling forced. Such was the case with the inclusion of Franklin, a recurring character introduced in 1968, the second person of color, and first Black recurring character to feature in Peanuts.