Sad news: we’ve lost 2 giants

We’re mourning two great losses over here at the Press this afternoon.

In addition to being UNC Press authors, both men were giants in their fields, and indeed helped establish and define new fields of scholarship.

Both lived long, fulfilling lives in which their pioneering intellectual pursuits served the public good.

Both gave of themselves tirelessly, mentoring and inspiring multiple generations and earning countless admirerers.

Both took their expertise to Washington to help drive positive institutional change at the federal level.

We’ll be offering more tributes to these two great men in the coming days. For now, we grieve with those who knew and loved them, we celebrate who they were and all they gave to us, and we look forward to carrying on their legacies.

John Hope Franklin (Jan. 2, 1915 – Mar. 25, 2009), historian of the South and of African American experience, cultivator of orchids. See the News and Observer’s obituary, photos, and video.

Archie Green (Jun. 29, 1917 – Mar. 22, 2009), folklorist, musicologist, shipwright. Listen to Morning Edition’s moving tribute.

rest in peace, o good ones,

ellen