Prof. Franklin Knight attended Calabar as a boarder boy from 1955 through 1960. While at Calabar, he excelled at academics, represented the school in athletics, edited the school magazine, and served as Deputy Head Boy. He graduated from the University of the West Indies with a BA in 1964 and from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1969 with a PhD in History. He spent five years on the faculty of the State University of New York at Stony Brook and has been on the faculty of John Hopkins University in Baltimore since 1973. In 1991 he was appointed the Leonard & Helen Stulman Professor of History. More information can be found on his John Hopkins University web site at http://history.jhu.edu/Faculty_Bio/knight.html
Franklin has provided us with two articles. The first is an interview based on his book Slave Society in Cuba derived from doctoral dissertation and published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1970. The second A Caribbean Quest for the Muse of History appeared as a chapter in a book Becoming Historians. Franklin mentions Calabar in glowing terms in this article, for the excellent quality of education and the great emphasis placed on thinking and expressing one’s self.
Franklin maintains an active interest in things related to Jamaica and Calabar and the University of the West Indies. He writes a regular column in the Jamaica Observer newspaper, the proceeds of which go to the University of the West Indies. He gives a CAPE History Seminar for Sixth Formers at several locations (including Calabar) in Jamaica. He is an advocate for restoring boarding schools in Jamaica, for molding character and developing leadership skills. With an eye on the Calabar Centenary Celebration in 2012, he has articulated a vision of high rise green building, to take the Calabar building infrastructure into and past the current century.
Prof Franklin Knight
Book Review
Slave Society in Cuba