Features
Prof Talk with... Todd Franklin
By Robert Marston ’17
October 27, 2016
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Position: Sidney Wertimer Professor of Philosophy & Chair Africana Studies
At Hamilton since: 1997
What was the last book you loved?
Love is a strong word. The last book I loved would probably be one of the many books I return to now and again, which always renews my spirit and strengthens my resolve. Having just reread Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave—as Written By Himself, I would have to say that one. However, as far as more recent works, one that I’ve enjoyed and found stimulating is Larose T. Parris’ Being Apart: Theoretical and Existential Resistance in Africana Literature.
What is one book that helped make you who you are today?
There are obviously many, but if I were to make mention of one, it would be James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time; for in it I found a fearless voice that spoke to me—it spoke to my identity, it spoke to my own nascent insights and it spoke to my personal hopes and ambitions.
What do you like about teaching?
I love the opportunities it provides me to help bright young people come into their intellectual own as thoughtful, critical, active, and compassionate agents in the world. Hopefully they see and appreciate the way in which I find such a role so fulfilling and go on to play some similar role in relation to those following close behind them.
Which figures—historical or contemporary—do you most admire?
Those I most admire are the ones who are unsung. I admire the lady in my neighborhood who would hand out mittens and hats to kids who would otherwise go cold. I admire the teachers who would spend their own money to make sure that kids in their classrooms had basic supplies and spend their own time making sure they had special experiences that would spark their intellectual curiosity and inspire them to learn. To my mind, and in my experience, these people and those like them are the ones most worthy of my admiration. Others will certainly loom larger in relation to public consciousness, but none have a greater impact on the daily lives of individuals than those who selflessly care and share in such seemingly small but oh so significant ways.
W h i c h m u s i c a l a r t ists mean the most to you?
I love jazz, but the artists who speak to me most are probably vocal artists of conscience like Curtis Mayfield.
What is something you know now that you wish you had known when you were 20?
I’ve had a really good life—I certainly didn’t know it all at 20, but the experiences along the way that gave rise to what I know now were invaluable and I wouldn’t go back and change things.
What is one thing you wish you could change about Hamilton?
The frenetic pace of it all. I wish students would have more time and more opportunities to meaningfully connect and bond with one another beyond the boundaries of their comfort zones.
What talent or skill don’t you possess that you wish you did?
I wish I had a talent for languages. I’ve studied two languages, French and German, and I’m terrible at both. French and German have been prominent in my life for professional reasons, but I think the ability to speak multiple languages really enhances one’s very humanity; for becoming conversant in some other tongue often entails becoming cognizant of other ways of seeing, other ways thinking and other ways of being.
What would make you happy on an average day at Hamilton?
Seeing a student perform well in class or on an assignment and growing in self-confidence.