Franklin Armstrong

Inspired by Charles Schulz’s reasoning to bring the Franklin Armstrong character to life, Oronde Kairi elected to recreate the likeness of this iconic creation. After the death of Dr.Martin Luther King Jr, Schulz was instrumental in contributing to racial harmony by implementing diversity to the beloved Charlie Brown series via introducing Franklin Armstrong to a racially divided society still mourning the passing of King.

An interesting fact about Franklin is that he originally did not have a last name. Schulz asked Rob Armstrong, the first black person to have a syndicated comic strip, if he could give Franklin his last name. Armstrong was honored, because Schulz was his idol when he was growing up. Therefore, one can imagine that this was a full circle moment for Armstrong.