“Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin” is a lesson in friendship for young children delivered by characters who used to be as popular as Bluey, Peppa Pig and the Paw Patrol are today.
But for Gen Xers and those older, the AppleTV+ animated special premiering Feb. 16 is a moment that’s been overdue for more than 55 years. Finally, the first Black character in “Peanuts” is getting a starring role.
Franklin’s history in popular culture is tied to national tragedy. In the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination on April 4, 1968, a schoolteacher named Harriet Glickman wrote a letter to Charles M. Schulz suggesting that he add a Black character to his comic strip to help change “the vast sea of misunderstanding, hate, fear, and violence” that existed in the country.
At first, Schulz was reluctant to integrate the “Peanuts” gang because, as he wrote in reply, he was…
