Harriet Glickman, who was responsible for Peanuts' first black character Franklin, dies at 93

The New York Times

Glickman was a former schoolteacher in April 1968 when she wrote a letter to Charles M. Schulz shortly after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination urging him to add a black character. “I’m sure one doesn’t make radical changes in so important an institution without a lot of shock waves from syndicates, clients, etc.,” she wrote. “You have, however, a stature and reputation which can withstand a great deal.” Schulz replied later that month. Many cartoonists, he wrote, “would like very much to be able to do this, but each of us is afraid that it would look like we were patronizing our Negro friends.” Ultimately, Schulz did create Franklin, who debuted on July 31, 1968 with some criticism.