110: Identity Politics from the Comics to the Playground: Robb Armstrong and Tiffany Jewell

‘Peanuts’ creator Charles Schulz once shared that a news editor from the South told him, “I don’t mind you having a Black character [on your comic strip], but please don’t show them in school together.” Racial tensions were heated back then when Schultz introduced Franklin, the first Black character in ‘Peanuts,’ in July of 1968—just three months after the assassination of civil rights icon, Martin Luther King, Jr. Despite Franklin’s historic arrival to a legendary comic strip, pushback remained for quite some time.Join us as host Eddie Robinson dedicates a powerful episode to two individuals who are making a profound impact on the lives of young students – syndicated cartoonist, Robb Armstrong and bestselling author, Tiffany Jewell. Armstrong, who would later become Schultz’s close friend and protégé, chats unguarded about the impetus to create Franklin and how the character has evolved—as he’s co-written a new origin story entitled, “Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin,” now available on AppleTV+. Later in the episode, Jewell explores highlights from her latest book, “Everything I Learned About Racism I Learned In School,”—a collaborative memoir of her own story, along with other contributors, about how they were often racialized, at times subtle or blatant, both in and out of classrooms.While children of any race absorb coded messaging and information—whether from a ‘Peanuts’ comic, a playground incident or an experience with a teacher—I SEE U takes on a provocative conversation that helps identify opportunities to course correct generations of systemic racism in places and spaces of education once thought to be safe, fair, inclusive and equitable.