Author Award, a career literary award given annually by the Tulsa Library Trust. Franklin was the first (and so far only) native Oklahoman to receive the award. During his visit to Tulsa to accept the award, Franklin made several appearances to speak about his childhood experiences with racial segregation, as well as his father's experiences as a lawyer in the aftermath of the 1921 Tulsa race riot. In 1998, Franklin received The Lincoln Forum's Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante included Franklin on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans. Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry presented the Governor's Arts Award to Dr. Franklin in 2004. In 2005, Franklin received the North Caroliniana Society Award for "long and distinguished service in the encouragement, production, enhancement, promotion, and preservation of North Caroliniana." On May 20, 2006, Franklin was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters at Lafayette College's 171st Commencement Exercises. On November 15, 2006, John Hope Franklin was announced as the third recipient of the John W. Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in the study of humanity. He shared the prize with Yu Ying-shih. On October 27, 2010, the City of Tulsa renamed Reconciliation Park, established to commemorate the victims of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, as John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park in his honor. It includes a 27-foot bronze entitled Tower of Reconciliation by sculptor Ed Dwight, expressing the long history of Africans in Oklahoma. On November 2, 2019, Franklin was recognized as a Main Honoree by the Sesquicentennial Honors Commission at the Durham 150 Closing Ceremony in Durham, NC on November 2, 2019. The posthumous recognition was bestowed upon 29 individuals "whose dedication, accomplishments and passion have helped shape Durham in important ways. Marriage and family Franklin married Aurelia Whittington on June 11, 1940. She was a librarian. Their only child, John Whittington Franklin, was born August 24, 1952. Their marriage lasted 59 years, until January 27, 1999, when Aurelia succumbed to a long illness. Partial bibliography The Free Negro in North Carolina, 1790–1860, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1943, 1995. The Diary of James T. Ayers, Civil War Recruiter ed., with introd., by John Franklin. Springfield; State of Illinois, 1947. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans, 1st ed. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1947. Last update with Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, 9th edn. McGraw-Hill Education, 2010,